Nitish Kumar's Party Lists Objections On Proposed Population Control Law

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United today signalled its contrary stand on population control by law, a path some of the BJP-ruled states are taking. Calling the law "coercive", senior JD(U) leader KC Tyagi pointed out that last year, the Centre,  in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, said the country's population has "dipped for the first time in the last 100 years and it is not necessary to enact a separate coercive law".

Yesterday, Mr Kumar -- whose state has a chunk of Muslim population -- made his stance clear, declaring that women's education is the way forward in this matter.

Today Mr Tyagi said it would be wrong to assume and propagate that any Muslim-dominated area will have a higher population.

"Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Qureshi has said in his book that the fertility rate in 100 per cent Muslim dominated areas of Lakshadweep, Kerala and Srinagar division is 1.4 per cent while in Uttar Pradesh the fertility rate is 2.4 per cent," he told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

While population control is necessary in the country, it will not be right to proceed in this direction by making laws, he said.

"We are of the opinion that the government should not proceed by making laws to deal with the problem of population control. Nitish Kumar has clarified the stand of the Bihar government on this issue," he added.

Yesterday, Mr Kumar said data has shown that the more educated the women of the family, the lesser the fertility rate.

 "When women are aware and educated, that is how the population growth rate will reduce.... I clearly believe that it is not possible to ensure population control with a law. Look at China or any other example," he added.

So far, Assam and Uttar Pradesh are making preparations for a law to control populations through rewards and penalties.

The proposed law in Uttar Pradesh proposes that people with more than two children will be barred from contesting local bodies polls, applying for government jobs or receiving any kind of subsidy. It also bars government employees from getting a promotion.