Population control law to be brought soon: Minister       

RAIPUR:  A law for population control will be brought soon, Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said on Tuesday said. “It will be brought soon, don’t worry. When such strong and big decisions have been taken, then the rest too (will be taken),” the Minister for Food Processing Industries said, when asked about a law on population control. He was in Raipur to attend the Garib Kalyan Sammelan at ICAR-National Institute of Biotic Stress Management, Baronda. 

Patel’s assertion is interesting, especially since Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had recently said in Parliament that the government had successfully used awareness and health campaigns to achieve population control and there was no need for a law. 

Requesting a BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha to withdraw a Private members’ Bill that sought to enforce a two-child rule with penal provisions for violations, Mandaviya had, citing statistics, said, “This indicates that government policies on population control without using force, or making it compulsory, and through awareness, are working.” Several MPs from the opposition parties had also opposed the Bill.

However, BJP leaders, including parliamentarians, have been pushing for a law on regulating population from time to time. There has been considerable parliamentary debate on the population control bill. The two-child policy has been tabled in Parliament over 35 times since Independence but has failed to become a law.