That is why most opposition parties have hit out at the BJP-led government over the proposed bill, with the Uttar Pradesh-based Samajwadi Party terming the move as “election propaganda”. With “limited natural resources available, it will be difficult to meet the needs of every citizen if there is a population explosion”, he told reporters. At least 152 of the BJP’s 304 elected members to the state assembly have three or more children. “If you do anything by way of taking away certain benefits, that’s coercion, and coercion is not acceptable … You can’t have a state doing something different from the national policy on such an important subject,” she added. However, Muttreja said due to the efforts by subsequent governments in Uttar Pradesh, health outcomes have improved since 2015. Back to the World in the Balance homepage for more articles, interviews, interactives, and slide shows.
Unintended consequences
Yet experience has taught us that the child’s own utterances, tempered by age and comprehension, lend a perspective no Court should ignore. The Supreme Court in Yashita Sahu v. State of Rajasthan, 2020 SCC OnLine SC 360, underscored that while a child’s preference may not be the final word, it can prove an invaluable beacon, guiding us toward a well-rounded resolution. Kavita Krishnan, a feminist and member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), said the Uttar Pradesh bill is “based on the racist premise that India has ‘overpopulation’ and that Indians should thus reproduce less than, say, American, British or Australian people”.
Key stakeholders in addressing the challenges include major ministries such as the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, and Ministry of Education. Additionally, other crucial ministries focus on sectors deeply affected by these issues, including agriculture, mining, tourism, and urban development. Agencies responsible for managing internal and external migration and combating trafficking also play a vital role in this collective effort. UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.
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India’s family planning programme is voluntary in nature, which enables the couples to decide the size of their families and adopt family planning methods best suited to them, without any compulsion. Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of the northeastern state of Assam, last month announced that his government will gradually implement a two-child policy for availing benefits under specific schemes funded by the state. The idea the country should adopt something like China’s former “one-child policy” has been moving from the fringe to the political mainstream. The policy also had worrying consequences for the gender balance as a desire for male children led to reported abortions and infanticide to ensure a couple’s only child was a boy. In 2016 there were 1.15 males for every female in China, one of the most skewed gender ratios in the world. China introduced its one-child policy in 1979 over concerns that the population was increasing at a very fast rate.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics in China, the poverty proportion in China has decreased from 35% in 1978 to 15% in 1985, and there is a continuous decrease in the poverty proportion (see Fig. 1). As too many births links to economic and cultural backwardness, population in India should be controlled to combat poverty. Four Indian states with large Muslim populations have already passed versions of a “two-child policy”. What’s more, built into many of these policies are incentives for families to have just one child.
Existing laws enunciate best interest phraseology but provide no instant remedy or mechanism to air views of children. Child custody battles have become platforms of parallel divorce related allegations to establish superior parental authority for child custody. The polarised, alienated, confused, brainwashed, dejected child is resigned to fate & becomes a piece of property.
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- Population control can help reduce carbon emission in India and help alleviate climate change.
- Even Nitish Kumar, a prominent BJP ally and chief minister of neighbouring Bihar state, and the right-wing party’s ideological partner, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), have raised objections against the proposed law in Uttar Pradesh.
- The fight against child labour in India is a complex yet vital mission, demanding a multifaceted approach grounded in strong policies, efficient enforcement, and collective societal effort.
- In 2016 there were 1.15 males for every female in China, one of the most skewed gender ratios in the world.
- In the southern state of Karnataka, BJP leader CT Ravi on Tuesday called for a population control policy on the lines of Assam and Uttar Pradesh.
The Child Legal Assistance Programme (CLAP) is the watershed in this arena of darkness of the child with no voice. The Kerala State Legal Services Authority (KeLSA)was directed to frame a scheme for Child Legal Assistance in guardianship matters and also in matters involving child sexual offences. Besides domestic Interparental child custody conflicts raging all over internally, a 30 million global Indians over the globe, have generated an immense spurt in intercountry, interparental child abduction both to and from India.
Rigorous monitoring and compliance are essential to fulfill the government’s policies aimed at securing children’s rights. The Committee urges government agencies to embrace seamless collaboration and coordination, leveraging IT-enabled tools and a robust tracking system to monitor every rescued child. This approach is critical to ensuring that no child is subjected to re-victimization. Many working children face a complex web of difficulties, including household poverty, the prevalence of informal economies, and an unregulated agricultural sector. These challenges are further compounded by vulnerabilities linked to conflicts, natural disasters, migration, human trafficking, internal displacement, bonded labour, and social exclusion.
The country is now moving to remove birth restriction overall as concerns one child policy in india are growing over an aging population and a dropping birth rate. The number of people living below poverty line is 22% of the population in India (United Nations). According to the Reserve Bank of India, India’s percentage in poverty is way over the world average. India ranks the first in poverty percentage (United Nations).This is a huge number and most likely caused by lack of resources for the huge population that India has. After the implementation of the one child policy, it has alleviated poverty by promoting family planning, holding population growth under control and raising the life quality of the population in those areas.
Then $75 per month.Complete digital access to quality FT journalism on any device. The Minister also ruled out that there is a higher growth in Muslim population in the country as is being projected by a section of BJP and RSS and also denied any large scale conversions. However, he said it was the stand of his party and not that of the government of India. Today, India’s population stands at 1.31 billion people, second only to China. Experts estimate India will surpass China in just a few years, according to the United States Census Bureau.
- The Committee urges government agencies to embrace seamless collaboration and coordination, leveraging IT-enabled tools and a robust tracking system to monitor every rescued child.
- The far-fetched wisdom and outreach of Justice Mustaque in creating CLAP with a cadre of CSL is therefore a breakthrough.
- The country is now moving to remove birth restriction overall as concerns are growing over an aging population and a dropping birth rate.
- It also suggests incentives such as tax rebates for people with two or less children in the state, home to more than 200 million people.
- Child labour is multi- phenomenon demanding a multitude of solutions for an effective resolution.
And in 2021, a senior government minister proposed a national “one-child” policy. Recently, the Government of Uttar Pradesh (UP) unveiled the draft bill of the UP Population Policy (2021–2030) on World Population Day to bring down the gross fertility rate and stabilization of the population. The proposed policy announces several incentives for parents who follow the two-child policy or have only one child. The projected unemployment will increase from 17.7 million in 2016 to 17.8 million in 2017, and it will continue to increase till 18 million in 2018 (United Nations). With reference to China’s one child policy, the plan of birth control could reduce unemployment. The fall in birth rate offers a demographic dividend, as the economically productive proportion of the population grows more rapidly than the general population.
In the case of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh too, a well-implemented family planning policy/service can bring about a gigantic change and a population control policy will do more harm than good. China’s Communist Party first implemented the “one child” rule—perhapsthe best-known population policy in the world—in the 1970s amidst growingconcerns over whether the famine-prone country could continue to feed itsskyrocketing population. The rule, which reportedly is more lax today, stipulates that urban couples should have only one child. Couples in rural areas, where 80 percent of the population lives, may have two or possibly more children but should delay getting married initially and then space their children. Families that violate the rule where itis most strictly enforced face mandatory abortions and severe financialpenalties, while single-child couples throughout the country are entitled tobetter child care, preferential housing assignments, and cash bonuses. The policy has generally worked, and fertility rates have fallen to anaverage of about two children per woman, down from more than five children perwoman in the 1950s.