oppn parties On The Verge Of Replacement Level, Coercion Is Not Needed For Family Planning

Story Of The Day

Assessee Not Responsible For Ensuring TDS Is Paid To The Government: Delhi HC
OPINIONS : Strongly Expressed

January 22, 2025

People Are Talking About

Rohit Warns Sarfaraz, Police Use It To Warn Two-Wheeler Riders

News Snippets

  • Sikh extremists attacked a cinema hall in London that was playing Kangana Ranaut's controversial film 'Emergency'
  • A Delhi court directed the investigating agencies to senstize officers to collect nail clippings, fingernail scrappings or finger swab in order to get DNA profile as direct evidence of sexual attack is often not present and might result in an offender going scot free
  • Uniform Civil Code rules cleared by state cabinet, likely to be implemented in the next 10 days
  • Supreme Court reiterates that there is no point in arresting the accused after the chargesheet has been filed and the investigation is complete
  • Kolkata court sentences Sanjoy Roy, the sole accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case, to life term. West Bengal government and CBI to appeal in HC for the death penalty
  • Supreme Court stays criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for his remarks against home minister Amit Shah in Jharkhand during the AICC plenary session
  • Government reviews import basket to align it with the policies of the Trump administration
  • NCLT orders liquidation of GoAir airlines
  • Archery - Indian archers bagged 2 silver in Nimes Archery tournament in France
  • Stocks make impressive gain on Monday - Sensex adds 454 points to 77073 and Nifty 141 points to 23344
  • D Gukesh draws with Fabiano Caruana in the Tata Steel chess tournament in the Netherlands
  • Women's U-19 T20 WC - In a stunning game, debutants Nigeria beat New Zealand by 2 runs
  • Rohit Sharma to play under Ajinkye Rahane in Mumbai's Ranji match against J&K
  • Virat Kohli to play in Delhi's last group Ranji trophy match against Saurashtra. This will be his first Ranji match in 12 years
  • The toll in the Rajouri mystery illness case rose to 17 even as the Centre sent a team to study the situation
Calling the case not 'rarest of rare', a court in Kolkata sentenced Sanjay Roy, the only accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case to life in prison until death
oppn parties
On The Verge Of Replacement Level, Coercion Is Not Needed For Family Planning

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-12-15 14:04:02

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

Should India follow the two-child family norm and should the government force people to adopt family planning for that? The Central government has declined to use force in this matter. In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in response to a petition filed by BJP leader and lawyers Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay challenging the dismissal of his petition in the Delhi High Court seeking to direct the Centre to take steps to control the growing population, the Centre said that forcing people to have just a certain number of children is counter-productive and leads to demographic distortions.

The government also informed the court that India's family planning and welfare programmes were voluntary in nature and people were informed of the benefits of a small family. It was upon them to decide on the size of their family and the family planning methods that they like, without any force and compulsion on part of the government. It also said that health was a state subject and the Union ministry of health just played a supportive and facilitative role.

The Supreme Court was also informed that at 2.2, India's fertility rate is almost at replacement level (which is 2.1) and this shows that its non-coercive family planning and welfare schemes have worked. The government said that since the replacement level will be reached in the next few years there is no need to take coercive steps.

The government is right. India's voluntary family planning schemes have largely succeeded (although financial compulsions and rising aspirations have also played a huge part) in reducing the fertility rate from 3.2 in the 1950s to 2.2 now. The country knows what happened when forced sterilization was introduced during the Emergency. In any case, if the fertility rate falls below 2.1, there will be negative growth and the population will start falling. The government must be focused on how to keep the population nourished and healthy and provide them education and jobs. There is no need for coercion as long as the fertility rate is in control. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

Turmoil In Mollywood

Turmoil In Mollywood

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

In Depth

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Editor's Pick

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.