Why UP’s proposed population control bill is bad as policy and politics

Synopsis:

UP’s population control measures should tackle the socio-economic issues in the UP rather than seeking a stringent approach towards population control.

Introduction:

A new draft Bill prepared by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Law Commission seeks to control the population by introducing a two-child policy.

Challenges with UP’s Population control policies:

• Unlike in the past, the population is growing not because couples have more children, but because we have many more young couples today.
• The argument that controlling the population will increase the natural resource base is also faulty. The rich consume far more natural resources and contribute much more to greenhouse gas emissions than the poor.
• The law discriminates against the youth. As the draft bill did not cover, all couples with three or more children, who have completed their reproductive lives, will not fall under the ambit of the law. So, all older persons are automatically exempt, younger couples will be at risk of population control.