UP likely to table population control bill in Assembly during monsoon session

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Law Commission, headed by Justice AN Mittal, presented the proposed Population Control draft Bill to CM Yogi Adityanath on Monday.

The state government is expected to present the bill in the monsoon session of the state legislature commencing on Tuesday.

The sources said that in the final draft bill, the commission has recommended that persons with more than two children should be barred from contesting local elections. Moreover, stress has been laid on the enforcement of the one-child policy.

According to Justice Mittal the bill draft was handed over to the state government after incorporating all the relevant suggestions given by the people about the population control in the state.

Interestingly, amidst all the hue and cry raised over UP Law Commission’s proposed Population Control Bill draft, it received overwhelming support from the people and only around 0.47% of the 8,500 suggestions received by the Commission opposed the bill. Rest all other suggestions are either for modification, clarification, or addition.

The Law Commission sources claimed that it was an elaborate exercise to vet the suggestions received from the public at large. All the suggestions were taken out in the printed form that came to around 2,000 pages, added the sources.

After going through each and every suggestion, the commission divided them into around 53 different categories with each having suggestions of similar nature under it, sources further added.

Interestingly, only around 30 to 40 persons have completely opposed the bill, rest others accepted it. However, some wanted after modification, some sought clarifications while rest others accepted the bill in letter and spirit.

Interestingly, the majority of suggestions spoke about barring those violating the Population Control Act from contesting even MLA and MP elections, while the Commission had already recommended debarring such violators from contesting local elections.

Significantly, the commission has proposed in the final draft bill to debar those having more than two children from availing the benefits of a number of welfare schemes like state’s health programmes, said the sources.  Moreover, the subsidy on ration should also be stooped for such persons, and a limit for only four persons in the ration card should be made a norm.

The draft bill also reportedly proposes that persons with over two children should not be allowed to apply for a government job and if they have more than two children while being in a government job, their promotion should be barred.