Rajya Sabha MP Harnath Singh Yadav has introduced a Private Member’s Bill seeking a law listing measures to control the population in the country.
The draft said that notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, the Act shall be applicable to all married couples including couples in a live-in relationship, even if the man is less than twenty-one years of age and the woman is less than eighteen years of age.
The draft further said that the Central Government shall ensure that contraceptives are available at all sub-health centres in the country and provided free of cost to EWS and BPL groups. The appropriate Government shall set up a district-level monitoring committee to be known as the District Population Stabilization Committee in all districts.
The Committee shall take steps to encourage the use of contraceptives and control the population growth rate in their concerned district in such manner as may be prescribed.
The First Sunday of Every Month shall be celebrated as Population Control Day and contraceptives etc. shall be provided free of cost to EWS and BPL groups.
There shall be Sterilization Camps on the First Sunday of every month in every Hospital including Primary Health Centers and Recognized Private Hospitals.
The draft states that, if both the husband and the wife, who have only one child, undergo sterilization /operation, the appropriate Government shall provide them with following benefits, namely: –
(a) preference for admission in Central Schools / Navodaya Schools
(b) preference for admission in institutes of Higher Education;
(c) preference to the single child for selection in Government jobs;
(d) Rs 50,000 to wife and Rs 50,000 to husband
(e) such other benefits as appropriate Government deems fit.
The draft submitted that, if both the husband and the wife are living below the poverty line, and having only one child, undergo sterilization/ operation, in addition to the benefits granted under Section 6 by the appropriate government, such married couple shall be eligible for payment from the Central Government a one-time lump sum amount of Rs 50,000 if the single child is a boy or Rs 1 lakh if the single child is a girl.
It stated that the appropriate Government shall introduce a compulsory subject explaining the terrible effects of population explosion and benefits of population control in all schools including recognized -unrecognized minority education schools. Essay competitions and debates etc. will be organized every month.
There shall be constituted a Fund called the National Population Stabilization Fund by the Central Government.
The Central Government and the State Governments shall contribute to the Fund in such a ratio as may be determined by the Central Government Provided that the ratio shall be such that the States with higher fertility rate shall contribute in higher proportion compared to the States with lower fertility rate.
The money collected under the Fund shall be redistributed to the States and Union Territories that have implemented reforms to control population and have been able to significantly reduce their population growth rate, in such manner as may be prescribed.
The draft bill further stated that the Central Government shall provide adequate funds after due appropriations by the Parliament by law in this behalf, from time to time, for carrying out the purposes of this Act. After one year from the commencement of this Act, all employees of the Central and State Government shall submit an undertaking in writing to the respective appointing authority after one year of commencement of this Act that they shall not procreate more than two children:
It is provided that the employees who already have more than two children at the commencement of the Act shall submit an undertaking that they shall not procreate any more children. The Central and State Governments, when recruiting employees, shall give preference to candidates having two or less than two living children.
The employee of the Central and State Government already having two living children may be allowed to procreate one more child in case of disability of living child or any such circumstances as prescribed in the rules.
An employee of the Central and State Government whose action is found to be in violation of any provision of this Act shall be liable for dismissal from service.
“At present, 125 crore Indians have Aadhaar, around 20% viz. 25 crores are without Aadhaar, and around 5 crore Bangladeshi-Rohingya infiltrators illegally reside in India. From this, it is evident that the total population of our country is more than 150 crore and we have marched ahead of China. If we calculate natural resources, then we have around 2% of agricultural land and 4% of the world’s drinking water.
However, our population is 20%. Russia is five times bigger than India but its Population is 15 crores. China is three times bigger than India and its population is 144 crores. America is three times bigger than India and its Population is 33 crores. Canada is three times bigger than India and Population is just 4 Crores. Brazil is 2.5 times bigger than India and its Population is 22 crores. Australia is 2.5 bigger than India and the population is 2.5 crores and we are now 150 crores. Similarly, 5000 children born per day in Russia, 1000 children born per day in Canada, 44000 children born per day in China, 11000 children born per day in America, 8000 children born per day in Brazil, 900 children born per day in Australia. But 70,000 children are born per day in India”, the draft reads.
According to the draft “Clause 5 of the Bill provides for establishment of District Population Stabilization Committees that would work to provide assistance and information regarding population control. Clause 7 provides for a cash amount to be given to couples as an incentive for population control. Clause 9 provides for the introduction of a compulsory subject on population control in schools of certain districts. Clause 10 provides for the establishment of the National Population Stabilization Fund. Clause 11 provides that the Central Government shall provide funds for carrying out the purposes of this Act. The Central Government shall have to incur some expenditure for implementing the provisions of this Bill in respect of Union Territories.
The State Governments will incur expenditure in respect of their States out of their respective consolidated funds. The Bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve an annual recurring expenditure of about Rs 500 crore per annum from the Consolidated Fund of India.
Clause 14 of the bill empowers the Central Government to make rules for carrying out the provisions of the Bill. As the rules to be made relate to matters of details only, the delegation of legislative power is of normal character.”