Andhra Pradesh MP offers incentives for third child even as CM Naidu removes maternity leave restrictions

Hyderabad: Amid concerns about declining birth rates, especially in southern Indian states, Vizianagaram MP from Andhra Pradesh Kalisetty Appalanaidu has announced financial incentives for women who have a third child. Similarly, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has removed restrictions on maternity leave for women employees.

During an International Women's Day event at Rajiv Sports compound in Vizianagaram on Saturday, MP Appalanaidu announced that he would provide Rs 50,000 from his salary to women who give birth to a third child if it's a girl, and a cow if it's a boy.

At a separate event in Markapur, Prakasam district, Chief Minister Naidu declared that maternity leave would be granted to all women employees regardless of how many children they have.

"The Chief Minister has sent a strong message that all women should have as many children as possible," a TDP leader said. This announcement clarified a doubt raised by a constable to the Home Minister the previous day about maternity leave eligibility.

Until now, women employees received six months of paid maternity leave for only their first two deliveries. The Chief Minister's new policy removes this limitation.

This development follows the Naidu government's last August decision to abolish the two-decade-old two-child policy, which had previously disqualified individuals with more than two children from contesting elections in the state's rural and urban local bodies. The government amended the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act-1955, AP Municipalities Act-1965, and AP Panchayat Raj Act-1994 to remove these restrictive clauses.

Naidu has repeatedly expressed concerns about what he terms a "demographic crisis," pointing to declining birth rates and the challenges of an aging population, citing Japan as an example.

With the delimitation process expected to begin in a few years, southern states face the possibility of losing Lok Sabha seats due to their successful implementation of population control measures. According to the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), Andhra Pradesh's total fertility rate (TFR) stands at 1.70, below the national average of 1.91, which has itself dropped below the replacement level of 2.1.

The TFR for other southern states is similarly low: Telangana (1.82), Karnataka (1.70), Kerala (1.80), and Tamil Nadu (1.80).