New Delhi, November 6
A new plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking to make the states and union territories parties to a PIL that called for certain measures, including a two-child standard, to control the country’s growing population.
The plea filed by lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay said the population explosion is causing many problems including the excessive burden on the country’s natural resources.
Upadhyay had filed the PIL challenging a Delhi High Court order that rejected a plea requesting certain measures, including the two-child standard, to control the country’s growing population.
The Center previously told the SC that India is unequivocally against forcing family planning on its people and that any coercion to have a certain number of children is counterproductive and leads to demographic distortions.
In an affidavit filed in the High Court, the Center told the Supreme Court that the family protection program in the country was voluntary in nature, allowing couples to decide on their family size and adopt the family planning methods that suit them best, according to their choice and without any constraint.
The PIL said the High Court failed to understand that the rights to clean air, clean water, health, peaceful sleep, housing, livelihood and education guaranteed by Articles 21 and 21A of the Constitution could not be guaranteed to all citizens without controlling the population. explosion.
The plea in the high court had claimed that the population of India had outstripped China, as around 20% of Indians had no Aadhaar and were therefore disregarded, and there were also crores of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis living illegally in the country.
He claimed that the population explosion was also the root cause of corruption, apart from being a contributing factor to heinous crimes such as rape and domestic violence.
It also made the population explosion responsible for pollution and the scarcity of resources and jobs. —PTI