This article is written by Beejal Ahuja, from New Law College, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune. This article aims to give a brief introduction to the Population Control Bill, 2020 to explain its importance and the need today in India on how it can help in eradicating many problems.

Introduction

India’s population is going to overtake that of China in no more than a decade according to the report released by the UN- ‘World Population Prospects 2019’. The Economic Survey held in 2018 stated the term ‘son meta preference’ which means having the desire of a male child which consequently resulted in 21 million “unwanted girls”. In a desire for a male child, people have more than 4 children, which not only affects the health of the woman creating a burden on her but also the financial health of the family. Even after being poor most of them just care for a male child rather than looking for a healthy and prosperous family. 

This ever-increasing rate of population in India is the root of most of the problems like poverty, starvation and malnutrition, exploitation or overuse of natural resources, etc. The need for the hour is to control the population and in order to solve this problem, a private member bill is to be introduced in Rajya Sabha i.e. Population Control Bill, 2020.

History is Evident

This is not the first time our government is looking over this issue. The 79th Constitutional Amendment Bill introduced by health minister ML Fotedar also proposed the amendments to be made in the Directive Principles of State Policy- Article 47 regarding the promotion of controlling the population and also to promote the adoption of small family norms as a fundamental duty of every citizen (Article 51)  but it could not move ahead of discussions at that time.

Despite having a National Population Control Policy (2000), India stands as the second-most populous country.

This year February 2020, Shivsena MP Anil Desai proposed a Constitutional Amendment to be made to Article 47 A promoting population control which stated that State shall promote small family norms or two-child policy by incentivising taxes, employment, etc. and depriving those who don’t adopt this policy.

The think tank of India i.e. NITI Aayog also held a meeting on the realisation of population stabilisation in order to discuss and analyse how the gaps in family planning programmes could be filled and to overlook the map to population stabilisation.

Population Control Bill, 2020

A private member bill is to be introduced by a congress MP and a Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Sanghavi in Rajya which is to enforce a two-child policy in the country i.e. Population Control Bill, 2020. This bill not only includes the benefits for the ones adhering to the rules and regulations of bills but also some disadvantages for the ones not following the proposed policy.  The objective of the bill is stated in its long title/preamble as “ providing the measure to control the population of the country and matters and incidents related thereto”. The bill also provides for the definition of certain terms like “appropriate Government”, “committee”, “employee of the Union Government”, “fund”, and, “prescribed”. And it states that this is only applicable to married couples according to the law.

This bill offers some financial benefits to the couples adhering to this two-child policy. The couple having only one child and if undergoes sterilisation operation on their own then the government will provide them the benefits according to the single child preference. The bill also calls upon the Central Government to set up a National Population Stabilisation Fund (Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh) in order to ensure that contraceptives are available at reasonable rates at sub-health centers. Moreover, there are different financial benefits for the couples living below the poverty line and undergo sterilisation voluntarily.

Since this policy has some financial implications, it needs the permission of President Ram Nath Kovind in order to introduce it in Rajya Sabha which has been granted by him.

Important Provisions

Some of the key features of this bill are as follows:

1. Section 5 states about the forming of the District Population Stabilisation Committee to monitor and work in order to fulfill the purpose of the bill or policy proposed.
2. Section 6 of the bill mentions the other benefits for the one having a single child and voluntarily undergoes sterilisation. They will be given first preference for government jobs and admission in the institute of higher education also and many other benefits.
3. Section 7 talks about the incentives to the couple having one child but are living below the poverty line and voluntarily undergoes sterilisation then the center will give them an amount of sixty thousand rupees in case of a boy and Rs. 1 Lakh in case the single child is a girl. This will strengthen the financial health of that family which might lead them towards a better life and moreover it will help in controlling the population growth.
4. Section 8 talks about debarring the couples not adhering to the two-child policy. The couples having more than two children will be debarred from contesting or getting elected in Rajya Sabha, State Legislature, Panchayat, and other similar elective bodies. They won’t get a promotion in government service and also would not be allowed to apply to ‘Group A’ jobs neither in Central nor in State Government. Moreover, they will be deprived of government subsidies, in the case if the couple belongs to the Above Poverty Line group.
5. Section 9 states about introducing a subject compulsorily relating to population control in senior secondary schools of those states where the average fertility rate is higher than that of replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. This is in order to create awareness among the people and students about the benefits relating to the population control and the incentives offered to the one adhering to the rules and regulations mentioned in the policy. 
6. Section 10 mentions the formation of a national population stabilisation fund by the Central Government. The objective behind creating this fund is to redistribute the money collected to the States and Union Territories who have successfully implemented the policy and followed the reforms constituted to control the population and have succeeded in making a significant reduction in their population growth rate.
7. Section 11 talks about providing appropriate funds by parliament whenever needed in order to carry out the purpose of the act.
8. Section 12 is for the central government employees. After one year of commencement of the act, it is a duty of all the employees to submit an undertaking in writing that they will adhere to the policy and will not procreate more than two children, along with the proviso mentioning about the employees already having more than 2 children at the commencement of the act will also submit an undertaking that they shall not procreate any more children after this. And violation of this will lead to the dismissal of the employee.
9. Section 13 talks about the Central Government’s preference for the employee having two or less than two children while recruiting employees. So, people will follow the policy strictly in order to get a government job.
10. Section 14 provides the power to the Central Government to make appropriate rules to carry out the purpose from time to time.
11. Section 15 empowers to override the laws and shall have an effect on anything inconsistent therewith.

District Population Stabilisation Committee

If something new is being introduced, then there must be an authority ensuring that the states or districts are adhering to the rules and make sure the purpose of the act is being fulfilled. And the Central government is already burdened with many other things, so there should be another authority at a lower level than central which would monitor each and everything.

Similarly, if population control provisions are introduced by the Central Government then there must be an authority at a district level to ensure proper working in all the districts. Section 5 mentions the setting up of district-level committees to monitor a hundred districts with the highest rate of population growth. Those committees are called the District Population Stabilisation Committee. 

It further mentions about who shall the committee consists of-

1. The Chief Medical Officer of the respective district,
2. The District Collector,
3. Anyone representative from each Panchayat Samiti in that district.

The responsibility or duty of the committee is to promote awareness about the benefits of a small family and the incentives provided if couples follow the two-child policy, to encourage the use of contraceptives and finally to ensure the control in population growth rate in their respective district.

Advantages

The natural resources are now very limited. There has been already an overuse and exploitation of these resources. Soon, there will be a scarcity of water, food, etc. People will starve and malnutrition rates will go on increasing. The future generation might have to starve just for a piece of bread. This is high time, our government needs to take strict actions in order to control the ever-increasing population growth rate now.

The advantage of introducing and taking into the action of this bill is not only to the nation worldwide but to the individuals as well. It could be referred from above that this bill brings a lot of incentives to the couples be it the below poverty line or the above poverty ones. 

• Educational benefits

If a family has two or less than two children then both of them can get a good quality education. When there are more children then due to poor financial conditions only one or two of them are able to get education barely. But under this bill couples adhering to the rules will get benefits such as admission of their children in good schools by the government. 

• Better employment opportunities 

As mentioned above, this bill ensures government job opportunities to the ones adopting this policy and the preference will be given to them while recruiting.

• Less exploitation of resources

 If the population growth will be in control it will lead to lower demand for resources which will consequently result in the proper utilisation of natural resources.

• Other Benefits

There will be many more benefits such as tax cuts, free health care, various government subsidies, and all this will help in eradicating most of the problems like poverty. Hence, population control is the need of the hour and will contribute to the development of the country.

Disadvantages

There are two sides to a coin. Nothing is without flaws. This bill does not define what actually it demands, whether a smaller rate of growth, smaller population size, or fewer people of a kind. The country in which we live is not that friendly, the rich make fun of the poor. Instead of making the lower strata people understand about the contraceptives and perks of having two or less than two children. Most of the people belonging to lower/poorer strata of the society have more than two children, they are not much aware about how the contraceptives are used, they want a male child, and are unaware of the problems which they can prevent by having a small family. 

So, this bill will be a disproportionate one and will target the poor and marginalized groups; because of illiteracy, lack of opportunity, and  awareness. Due to their lack of awareness, they will be debarred from the government job opportunities, good education system and moreover this bill penalises the ones not adhering to it.

The one-child policy was relaxed by China as it was resulting in some undesirable incidents like sex-selective abortions, depressed fertility levels, labor shortage, and much more. 

Even when we didn’t have this policy till now then also people in India are involved in sex-determination practice and they abort if it’s a female child. Most of the couples just throw away their female child on-road or in the trash box. The introduction of this bill might result in more number of such cases, so the law-makers need to keep every aspect of the country in mind while enforcing the law. This uniform law might drive into other problems in society.

Conclusion

The Population Control Policy is applied to everyone irrespective of religion, race, caste, and color. It just focuses on stabilising the growth rate of the population. It has provided many incentives including free healthcare, tax cuts, to the couples following the two-child policy, and also the ones having a single child have other benefits as well. 

These all contribute to the benefit of the nation and natural resources. But as nothing serves everyone. Similarly, the introduction of this population control bill is not going to serve everyone and this might get worse in lower groups resulting in the burden over women or abandonment of a female child. So there must be proper awareness among all the people about the perks and disadvantages of the bill one will have. 

This bill should come into action but should contain the provisions keeping in mind all the groups in India. In this case, India can learn a lesson from China and look at those areas because of which one-child policy was relaxed in China.

References

https://theprint.in/india/tax-sops-incentives-in-jobs-and-education-new-bill-proposes-to-promote-2-child-policy/364053/

https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/population-control-bill-india-crisis-1313179-2018-08-13

https://taxguru.in/corporate-law/constitution-amendment-bill-2020-small-family-definition-children.html

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