Drop population policy norm

The Assam government’s population policy has several sound features but is marred by the prescription of a two-child norm and penalties for those who violate it. As per the policy, those who have more than two children will not be eligible for government jobs and benefits provided by the state. They will be barred from running for public offices and contesting elections held by the state election commission. These are coercive measures which should have no place in an enlightened population policy in a democratic framework. The policy goes counter to the national population policy in this respect. The national policy does not prescribe punishment for exceeding a norm. A policy becomes stringent and discriminatory when it lays down such a rule. It is violative of the rights and freedoms of citizens guaranteed by the constitution.

The policy aims to reduce the state’s population growth rate by bringing down the fertility rate which is 2.3 at present to the replacement level of 2.1. The decadal growth rate in the state has been falling and is 17.7% now. It is the same as the national rate. The policy proposes some very acceptable and widely recommended measures for this by improving health facilities, reducing maternal and child mortality, raising literacy levels through education and undertaking effective information campaigns. It also focuses on reproductive health with women and girls at the centre of the strategies. These are the best and right elements of a progressive population policy.  While the policy dwells on the need for action in these areas, the coercive two-child norm that it prescribes does not agree with the right approach to achieve the best results.

Large investments in the social sector are needed to achieve results on the population front. A burgeoning population puts pressure on resources but that is no reason to adopt a punitive strategy to curb population growth. Coercive methods to reduce births, like the sterilisation programme during the Emergency in India and the one-child norm in China, which was dropped last year, have been counter-productive and had unsavoury consequences. The state should not dictate the personal choices of citizens and intrude into their private lives. Any government policy will be legitimate only if it is based on informed popular consent. Population policies should aim at voluntary compliance if the results are to be stable, and should not be exclusionary. The two-child norm will hit the poorer people and disadvantaged sections more than others by denying them access to welfare programmes. It will make women more vulnerable. Assam should drop this norm.