Panchayat Raj Minister Danasari Anasuya Seethakka.
Credit: X/ @seethakkaMLA
Hyderabad: The Telangana Assembly on Saturday passed the Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2026, abolishing the two-child norm that barred individuals with more than two children from contesting local body elections.
Panchayat Raj Minister Danasari Anasuya Seethakka, who tabled the bill, explained that the 1994 policy aimed to curb population growth amid 1980s-90s challenges like food insecurity, unemployment, and poverty.
After 30 years, the government reviewed its population strategy, noting Telangana's rural fertility rate of 1.7 below the replacement level of 2.1. Sustaining this rate could harm future generations, she added, factoring in Panchayat Raj representatives' views.
The amendment to the 2018 Telangana Panchayat Raj Act seeks to boost fertility while enabling local polls. The bill, replacing an earlier ordinance, secured House approval.
On Friday, the Assembly also adopted a resolution urging the Centre to preserve the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in its original form. It denounced the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Rural) Act, 2025 (VBGRAMG), as harmful to rural poor, women, and vulnerable groups by eroding job guarantees.
The resolution highlighted MGNREGS delivering at least 100 days of minimum-wage work annually to rural households. Over 20 years, about 90 percent of Telangana beneficiaries came from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Classes, with 62 percent women. Dalits, tribals, persons with disabilities, Adivasis, Chenchus, and other poor communities gained most. Removing Mahatma Gandhi's name, it argued, dilutes the scheme's Gandhian ethos.