The Population Control Bill, 2019 (or, Population Regulation Bill, 2019) is a proposed bill introduced in the
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
in July 2019 by
Rakesh Sinha
Rakesh Sinha is a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.
He was serving as a member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Trust Board (2019-2021) and is also a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Ho ...
. The purpose of the bill is to control the population growth of India. According to the ''World Population Prospects 2019'' report by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
, the population of India is set to overtake that of China within a decade. The proposed bill was signed by 125
Members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) and is yet to become an act of law.
Summary
On 7 February 2020, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha by
Anil Desai
Anil Desai ( mr, अनिल देसाई) is an Indian politician belonging to the Shiv Sena. He is a member of the Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliamen ...
, a
Shiv Sena MP. Desai proposed to amend the Article 47A of the Constitution of India to state
-
The 2020 bill proposes to introduce a two-child policy per couple and aims to incentivize its adoption through various measures such as educational benefits, taxation cuts, home loans, free healthcare, and better employment opportunities. The 2019 bill proposed by Sinha talks about introducing penalties for couples not adhering to the two-child policy such as debarment from contesting in elections and ineligibility for government jobs.
In July 2022, it was reported that BJP Mp
Ravi Kishan
Ravi Kishan Shukla (; born 17 July 1969), popularly known as Ravi Kishan, is an Indian actor, politician, film producer and television personality. He currently serves as Member of parliament, Lok Sabha from Gorakhpur. His film works are predo ...
was going to introduce private members' bill on
Population control
Population control is the practice of artificially maintaining the size of any population. It simply refers to the act of limiting the size of an animal population so that it remains manageable, as opposed to the act of protecting a species from ...
.
In the same mouth
Giriraj Singh
Giriraj Singh (born 8 September 1952) is an Indian politician and the Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department in the 23rd Ministry of the Republic of India with a cabinet minister rank. He is the Member of Parliament from th ...
supported calls for
Population control
Population control is the practice of artificially maintaining the size of any population. It simply refers to the act of limiting the size of an animal population so that it remains manageable, as opposed to the act of protecting a species from ...
laws.
Reception
The bill has been criticised by some commentators as rooted in islamophobic sentiment. Columnist Shivanshu K. Srivastava wrote "It is urgently required that our lawmakers pass the Population Control Bill under which an upper limit to the number of children a couple can have is specified. Couples exceeding this limit must be penalised."
See also
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Population control
Population control is the practice of artificially maintaining the size of any population. It simply refers to the act of limiting the size of an animal population so that it remains manageable, as opposed to the act of protecting a species from ...
*
Human overpopulation
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedality, bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex Human brain, brain. This has enabled the development of ad ...
*
Two-child policy
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Family Planning In India
Proposed laws of India
Population
Health programmes in India
Demographics of India
Human overpopulation
Population ecology
Birth control in India