PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday disfavoured legislation to control birth rate. Without naming the Uttar Pradesh chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Nitish said a law to control families was no solution.
Talking to media after he reintroduced weekly Janata Darbar, Nitish also opposed idea of an uniform civil code. BJP which is campaigning for birth control laws and Uniform Civil Code is an alliance partner in the JDU led government in Bihar.
Nitish said "Bihar model to control birth rate should have been applied. With promotion of education among the girls, the fertility rate has come down drastically. When Bihar government made free education for girls, the fertility rate was 2 percent, when it was raised to intermediate stage, it reduced further to 1.6 against the national average of 1.7".
He claimed with the help of education, women become conscious of their physical and emotional issues and this helped them to control families.
Without naming Lalu Prasad, he said there are some people who have many children ..Nitish said the family control through promotion of education among the girls has benefitted families of all communities.
He cited the example of China to suggest legislation on family control was no solution and said now China is also supporting two plus children per family.
"Every family, irrespective of community should think of population control. Bihar model has been successful and now the average family size in the state has reduced to three children", he pointed out. He hoped by 2040, a declining trend in population would come.
Reacting to the recent recommendation of Delhi High Court for an uniform Civil Code, Nitish said why focus on article 44 of the directive principles of the Constitution which provides the state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens an uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.
Nitish said why there is no focus on directives contained in article 45 which calls for early childhood care and education for all children .He said prohibition should also be adopted as national policy for better care to women and children.
