UP population control bill draws ire from Hindu bodies; experts advise caution, more dialogue

The draft proposal on population control, released by the Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission, that seeks to exclude people with more than two children from availing government schemes and proposes incentives for those with less than two children, has invoked strong reactions from Hindu bodies and experts on women’s health.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international working president Alok Kumar said the proposal to incentivise couples to have just one child will "further the demographic imbalance in society."

“The government should think again about this because it leads to negative growth in population.”


The VHP is set to send an objection to the UP law commission suggesting that incentivising of families with one child be removed on Monday.

Experts on gender and public health have advised caution against any population policy that puts women's health and well being at risk.


Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India, said the concern around “population explosion” is not substantiated by national or global data and there is no evidence that there is population explosion in India or Uttar Pradesh.

Muttreja said the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is decreasing in India ––from 3.4 in 1992-93 to 2.2 in 2015-16 (NFHS) –– and, as per the National Family Health Survey, NFHS 4 (2015-16), Uttar Pradesh had a TFR of 2.7, which was above the national average and replacement level of TFR.

“However, the Technical Group on Population Projections for 2011-2036, constituted by the National Commission on Population (NCP), has projected that UP will achieve the replacement level of TFR by 2025. Due to efforts of subsequent state governments, health outcome has improved and will continue to improve. This will impact the fertility rate positively,” she said,

“The UP government is incentivising male and female sterilisation. But given that the burden of contraception and family planning disproportionately falls on women, it is likely that female sterilisation will increase further. There continues to be widespread aversion to vasectomy, very low condom use, and a lack of male responsibility in family planning which results in the overwhelming dependence on female sterilisation. The contribution of male sterilisation in use of any modern contraceptive methods is less than 1% in UP,” she said.

Muttreja said latest data clearly indicated an alarming trend in sex selective practices in the state, and added that stringent population control measures can potentially lead to an increase in these practices and unsafe abortions given the strong son-preference in India, as has been witnessed in a few states in the past.

“India needs to learn from Bangladesh, which brought down its fertility rate by expanding contraceptive choices for people. Kerala and Tamil Nadu saw significant reduction in fertility rates without any coercive methods,” she said.

She added that the urgent requirement is to address the unmet need of family planning and ensure access to quality family planning services.

"China that enforced a one-child and a two- child policy had to eventually abandon both after finding itself in the midst of a demographic disaster and an abnormally high male-to-female sex ratio and aging population. Today, it faces a crisis of shortage of young, working people, which will have a deep influence on its economy," she said.

According to public sociologist Suryakant Waghmore who teaches at IIT-Bombay, the policy is likely to have “more performative and affectual value” and fits into the “general Hindu rhetoric and grandeur of Yogi Adityanath that rather seeks to further the Hindu embodiment of the state in UP.”

“What percent of Muslims get government jobs or how many underclass citizens benefit from any kind of government subsidy... Our welfare system is not so robust that the government can bargain in return for substantial changes in traditional values like male child preference,” he said. In the last three decades, at least 12 states have brought in population control policies in different formats. Four have revoked them, while others have shown questionable implementation, he said.

Waghmore said incentivising measures like paternity leave for government employees or universal cash rewards for tubectomy/vasectomy may work better than force or exclusion.

Meerut-based public health specialist Harivansh Chopra said: “We saw how resources are already overstretched, be it medical facilities, foodgrain, and jobs. It is good that the government is talking more about incentivising vasectomies and making men an important part of this approach.”