New Delhi:
Meet Dinesh Talwar, a 42-year-old common man from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.
Talwar runs a departmental store; that is when he is not writing memorandums on population control to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Talwar has submitted his memorandum, addressed to the PM, to the district magistrate of Meerut 365 times - one copy per day for an entire year.
Now, on World Population Day, he plans to ask 1,21,000 people to send postcards addressed to the PM asking him to adopt measures to curb the escalating population. "When we got independence in 1947, we were only 33 crore. Today, we have become a nation of 121 crore. What is the PM doing about it?" questioned Talwar.
His memorandum suggests stringent measures like China's one-child policy. Besides, he wants the film stars to publicise the cause. Talwar claims that he has protested 42 times in Delhi since 1994, held street plays in Dehra Dun, Meerut and has conducted padyatras all over Western UP. "We will go to schools, colleges and all other institutions and make citizens write 1,21,000 postcards addressed to the PM," he said.
The man is supported in his endeavour by his mother, wife and two children. Putting her father's crusade into words 13-year-old Simran says, "Desh ka neta hoga woh, jiske bachche honge do" (Only a person who has two children is fit lead the nation).