Gujarat will study other states' laws on population control before taking any decision: Nitin Patel

The Gujarat government will first study the new laws being introduced by several states on population control and based on state's requirement decision will be taken at an appropriate time, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said on Tuesday in Gandhinagar. He said that Gujarat already implemented measures of population control in the local body elections and if needed the government will think of bringing the new laws.

Patel said this during a press conference held on occasion of the inauguration of Maharashtra Samaj Bhawan in Gandhinagar. Responding to a question on Uttar Pradesh (UP) government's bill on population control, Patel said that Gujarat introduced two children norm in local body polls a few years back. The UP government has proposed to prohibit those with more than two kids from contesting local body polls, government jobs, or availing government benefits.

"The state government has already barred people from contesting local body polls like municipal elections, taluka panchayat or gram panchayat if they have more than two children. This shows that state government implemented the idea of family planning or population control several years back. To implement it further in other insitutions, we will study the new laws that several states are implementing," Patel said.