UP bill aims to incentivise sticking to the two-child norm

Incentives for couples limiting their children to two or less and disincentives to those who do not adhere to the two-child norm have been suggested in the first draft of the population control bill released by the Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission for public scrutiny and comments by July 19.The Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilisation and Welfare) Bill, 2021, comes shortly after chief minsiter Yogi Adityanath said his government would unveil a new population policy for 2021-2030 soon.Couples having more than two children will not be able to claim benefits of state-sponsored welfare schemes or receive subsidies. Limit of ration card units up to four, bar on contesting local body elections, bar on applying for government jobs and bar on promotion in government services have been proposed in the draft law. The rules will not apply to those who have government jobs or are emmbers of local councils.84278273On the other hand, it has sought to reward those couples who undergo “voluntary sterilisation” after having two kids or one. They will be given rebate on utilities, nominal interest on loans for housing, among other incentives, if they undertake sterilisation after two kids, and additional benefits for undergoing the surgery after only one child like free education up till graduation. Public servants will be entitled to additional increments during their service and a 3% increase in employer’s contribution fund under the National Pension Scheme, among others. Similarly, BPL couples will be entitled to a one-time lump sum amount of ₹80,000 (for single boy child) and ₹1 lakh (for single girl child) from the government if they limit the family to one child.Reasonable exceptions to contravention of the law have been mentioned in case of adoption, multiple births like having twins or disability or death of a child, leading the couple to have a third one.In a crucial point, for polygamous or polyandrous marriages governed by personal laws of different religions, contravention of the two-child norm will be considered if a man (in case of polygamy) has more than two children from all his marriages put together. However, action of the husband will not preclude the individual wife and children from the benefits if they are eligible for it.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3wFH11f