The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a PIL filed by a Delhi BJP leader for controlling population explosion as he contended that it was more dangerous than a bomb explosion, and the fundamental rights to clean air, water, health, shelter, and livelihood can't be secured without effective measures for it.
A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant sought a response from the Union government on a petition filed by Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who is an advocate, against the Delhi High Court's order of September 3 declining to issue directions for it.
The petitioner said that till now, the Constitution has been amended 125 times, the decision of the apex court has also been altered, hundreds of new laws have been enacted, but the population control law, which is required for the country, was not made although it will curtail more than 50% of the problems of our country.
“Population explosion is the root cause of most of our problems including shortage of drinking water, forests, land, food, clothes, house, poverty and unemployment, hunger and malnutrition and air, water, soil and sound pollution. It is also the root cause of crowds in trains, police stations, tehsils, jails, and courts,” he contended.
In China, 11 children are born every minute and in India, 35 children are born every minute, the petitioner pointed out. At present, around 125 crore Indians have 'Aadhaar', around 25 crore citizens, including children, are without it. Besides, around five crore Bangladeshi and Rohingya intruders illegally reside here. From this, it is evident that the total population of our country is more than 150 crore and we have marched much ahead of China, he stated.
The petitioner said that the High Court failed to appreciate that after detailed discussion, debate and feedback, Entry 20-A was inserted in List III of the 7th Schedule through 42nd Amendment in the Constitution in 1976, which permitted the Centre and state to enact a law on population control and family planning.
