Govt not considering to bring two-child policy: Union MoS Health

The revelation came during a recent Lok sabha session, wherein a question was raised by BJP MP Uday Pratap Singh regarding the Two Child Policy.

Responding to the query, Pawar pointed out that India's wanted fertility rate has come down to 1.8 in NFHS 4, an indication that couples only wanted 1.8 children on average.

She added, "International experience shows that any coercion or diktat to have a certain number of children is counter-productive and leads to demographic distortions like sex-selective abortions, abandonment of the female child, and even female infanticide to intense son preference", all resulting in an unbalanced sex ratio.

It was also mentioned that the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 1994, to which India is a signatory, unequivocally opposes coercion in family planning. Pawar added that states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and other states/UTs have succeeded in reducing the fertility rate by adopting a holistic approach towards family planning without resorting to any stringent population control measures.

Pratap further questioned whether the government is considering formulating a policy to check population growth which could be applicable to all citizens regardless of their religion or sex and act as one nation one law across the country.

Responding to the same, the minister explained that the National Family Planning Programme (NFPP) implemented by the government, which provides voluntary and informed choices to citizens without any discrimination through a target free approach, is aimed at checking population growth.

Moreover, a National Population Policy was formulated in the year 2000 with the long-term objective of attaining population stabilization by 2045 and various initiatives have been taken under the National Family Planning Programme providing a broad range of services including Mission Parivar Vikas, Expanded Contraceptive Choices, Compensation scheme for sterilization acceptors, Post-Partum Intrauterine Contraceptive Device (PPIUCD) incentive scheme, Scheme for Home Delivery of contraceptives by ASHAs, scheme for Pregnancy Testing Kits in the drug kits of ASHA and Family Planning Logistics Management Information System (FP-LMIS)

With these initiatives, the total fertility rate has declined from 2.7 per cent in 2005-06 to 2.2 per cent in 2015-16, she added.