It may be a real issue but rather than using coercion, bringing about more awareness is the best way forward
India’s huge population is a national issue. It is neither a nationalist nor communal issue. And it is certainly not a State or regional issue. Unfortunately, however, the narrative has been divisive ever since the Uttar Pradesh Government proposed a two-child policy in the State with incentives for followers and disincentives for violators. The latter would be debarred from contesting local body elections, applying for Government jobs or receiving subsidies. It is a typical law and order approach of the State to what is essentially a social issue. There is enough empirical evidence that the rate of population growth is directly proportional to the level of education and social awareness among the people. It is also known that the States with the highest fertility rates also have the lowest socio-economic indicators and this is particularly true of women. The Uttar Pradesh draft Bill does mention an awareness campaign in terms of making population control a compulsory subject in secondary schools, increase awareness and accessibility of contraceptive measures, improved health facilities and reducing the newborns’ and maternal mortality rates. However, the political discourse ignores all that, limiting it to discussing the communal implications. The BJP-ruled States are intent on following the UP example, with the non-BJP parties and States dissenting.
The BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad as well as the Darul Uloom Islamic seminary would do well to recall the words of the Prime Minister in his Independence Day address of 2019. Referring to the population problem, for the first time since coming to office, Narendra Modi said the country should take inspiration from a small, socially aware section of the population that plans a small family to be able to better provide for it. Social awareness is what the Government should be promoting and the debate should not be hitched to nationalism. Secondly, India should be moving away from coercive population control policies. The country has had a disturbing history in this regard and the practice continues. Disincentivising violators is as coercive as the sterilisation drive of the mid-1970s or limiting family planning programmes largely to female sterilisation. Until the Supreme Court banned mass sterilisation camps in 2016, poor women were pressured to undergo operations without even informing them of other family planning options. Thirdly, the Uttar Pradesh draft Bill should truly be debated for what it ignores. It simply does not apply to a large section of the poor population that can never aspire for a Government job or contest a panchayat post. As the saying goes, “development is the best contraceptive”. If Bihar has a high fertility rate and perhaps the largest percentage of illiterate women, Kerala with a high literacy rate has a low fertility rate. Despite all this, India’s growth rate is slowing down in recent decades and is shortly expected to hit replacement fertility levels thanks to anti-poverty measures, rising education levels and growing urbanisation. All that is required is a dose of rational thought.