Lucknow
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has raised serious questions over the draft of the population policy of Uttar Pradesh government. VHP, the sister concern of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has written a letter to the law commission of UP raising objections on the certain clause of the population bill draft. The chief minister Yogi Adityanath had released the draft of population policy on Sunday.
While the executive president of VHP, Alok Kumar in his letter to law commission has welcomed the move to stabilize the population in UP, he has raised question over bringing down the fertility rate to 1.7 in a certain period. He said that in the section 5, 6 and 7 of the proposed bill, it has been said that those having one children would be given certain facilities by the state government. Kumar in his letter said that population in a society stabilizes when the average number of children born to a woman in her reproductive life is above two. This happens when the total fertility rate (TFR) of a woman is 2.1, which is also defined as the replacement rate.
At this level of TFR, on the average two children are born to replace two parents. The VHP president has asked the law commission to reconsider this clause in the proposed bill.
Meanwhile the experts in the field of population control too have raised questions over the draft of the policy. The executive director of Population Foundation of India, Poonam Mutreja has said that no data anywhere in the country and outside claim that there is a population burst in UP.
EXPERTSPEAK
-- Mutreja said that TFR in India is going down with 3.4 in 1992-93 to 2.2 in 2015-16.
-- The National Family Health Survey figures show that TFR of UP was 2.7 against 2.2 of all India level.
-- She said that by 2025 the population growth in UP will match the national level without taking any step. According to her, any strict measure taken by the UP government will only have an adverse impact on the health of women in the state.
VHP ALSO SAID
-- The population growth imbalance is very stark between different communities in Assam and Kerala. “In both those States, the TFR of Hindus has declined far below the replacement rate of 2.1, but that of Muslims is 3.16 in Assam and 2.33 in Kerala.”
-- As a consequence, both in Kerala and Assam “one of the communities has thus entered the contraction phase while the other is still expanding”.
-- The VHP says UP should avoid getting into the problems of Assam and Kerala.
Nitish’s no to policy
LAW KUMAR MISHRA
Patna
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday disfavoured legislation to control birth rate. Without naming Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Nitish said a law to control families was no solution.
Talking to media after his reintroduced weekly Janata Darbar, Nitish opposed the idea of a uniform civil code. BJP, which has been campaigning for birth control laws and Uniform Civil Code, is an ally in the JDU-led govt in Bihar and at the Centre.
Nitish said the 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 the Bihar government made free education for girls up to matriculation level, the fertility rate was 2%, when it was raised to intermediate stage, it reduced further to 1.6% against the national average of 1.7%.
He claimed with education, women become conscious of their physical and emotional issues and this helped them control families. He cited the example of China to suggest legislation on family control was no solution and said now, China is also supporting 2-plus kids per family.
Every family, irrespective of community should think of population control. The Bihar model has been successful and now the average family size in the state has reduced to three children. He hoped by 2040, a declining trend in population would come.
ATS seizes maps of major cities from Qaeda ultras
Security has been beefed up in Mathura following the arrest of two operatives of the Al Qaeda-linked Ansar Ghazwatul Hind in Lucknow who were planning to attack several places across the state including the temple town. The police claimed that they were planning to cause disruptions through pressure cooker bombs in Lucknow and surrounding areas before Independence Day.
The two terrorists, identified as Minhaz Ahmed and Maseeruddin, both residents of Lucknow, were arrested on Sunday by the state police's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). The network of terrorists was in touch via Telegram and WhatsApp. The police have got their hands on some of their chats.
Ex-bureaucrats’ open letter: Breakdown of governance in UP
A group of 74 former bureaucrats and police officers have written an open letter alleging a “complete breakdown of governance” and “blatant violation of rule of law” in UP. The letter has been endorsed by over 200 eminent citizens. In the 4-page letter, the IAS, IPS, IFS officials alleged arbitrary detentions and torture of and police attacks on peaceful protesters, demanded an end to extrajudicial killings, targeting of Muslim men with the law against “love jihad”, alleged misuse of the National Security Act in the name of cow slaughter and against dissenters. —Agencies
‘Yogi must have policy of having more kids or no child’
Sanjay Jog
Sanjay.jog@fpj.co.in
NCP chief spokesman and Maharashtra Minister of Minority Affair Nawab Malik on Monday lashed out at the Yogi govt over its 2-child policy in UP.‘’ The way the news appeared in the media about Yogi’s 2-child policy as it is a new one. But let me tell you that in Maharashtra and few other states this policy is already there. In Maharashtra, you can’t contest the local body elections if you have more than 2 children,” he said.
Malik suggested UP CM Yogi Adityanath should bring either the no-child policy or more child policy. “At one side many BJP & RSS leaders are unmarried and don’t have children whereas BJP leaders like Sakshi Maharaj ask Hindus to give birth to more children. Hence yogiji should pay heed to demand by his party leaders and bring such policy,” he noted.
Cooperation Ministry
Malik said cooperation is the state subject and reminded that during the UPA government the Constitution was amended to avoid political interference in the functioning of the cooperative bodies.
"During the UPA government in 2013, the former union minister Sharad Pawar worked to give autonomy to the co-operatives. But if anyone is attacking this autonomy, we will talk about it later. No one is greater than the law. Just because a person becomes a minister does not mean that he gets all the rights," said Malik.
