By : Satyaki Paul
On July 11, 2021 the Government of Uttar Pradesh released a draft of a bill named The Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill, 2021. This draft was released on the occasion of World Population Day on the UP-State Law Commission (UPSLC) website, and takes stern steps towards initiating a two-child policy.
The aims of this draft bill are to:
- decrease the total fertility rate (TFR) from 2.7 to 2.1 by the year 2026. Further, to 1.7 by the year 2030;
- increase contemporary contraceptive acceptance rate from 31.7 percentage to 45 percentage by the year 2026. Further, to 52 percentage by the year 2030;
- increase male contraceptive acceptance from 10.8 percentage to 15.1 percentage by the year 2026. Further, to 16.4 percentage by the year 2030;
- decrease maternal mortality rate (MMR) from 197 to 150 to 98, and infant mortality rate from 43 to 32 to 22, and under-5 infant mortality rate from 47 to 35 to 25.
Some important provisions mentioned in the bill:
- The public servants who adopt the two-child policy will get two additional increments during the entire service, maternity or as the case may be, paternity leave of 12 months, with full salary and allowances and three per cent increase in the employer’s contribution fund under national pension scheme;
- A State Population Fund (SPF) will be constituted to facilitate the implementation of the future act;
- The Government of Uttar Pradesh will also introduce a compulsory subject related to population control in all secondary schools; and
- Multiple stakeholders from public and private sectors such as Primary Health Centres (PHCs), NGOs, SHGs will come together to distribute contraceptives and aware individuals about family planning through ASHA workers.
The draft bill then stresses that it is essential to control and stabilise the population of the state in order to promote sustainable development (and SDG) with more equitable distribution (ultimately aiding in poverty alleviation). However, any individual family (be it a public servant or self-employed or businessman, etc.) violating two-child policy in the state of Uttar Pradesh will be barred from contesting local bodies polls (Panchayats and ULBs), from applying for or getting promotion in government jobs, and receiving any kind of government subsidy. In such context, the opposition parties of the state have termed such bill as “murder of democracy”.
In current context, this draft is available for public scrutiny up to July 19, 2021. I hope that responsible citizens would properly critique this bill constructively and propose better amendments to bill, so that the bill becomes all-encompassing and even more transparent.
Note : The author works as a Ph.D. Research Scholar at the Department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta, and the co-author of the book Anthropology For All (2021).