|HT|
BJP MP Ravi Kishan will introduce private members' bill on population control today, days after Union minister Bharati Pravin Pawar told the Rajya Sabha that the government is not contemplating any legislative measures for population control. The actor-turned-politician argued India can be “vishwa guru”, or world leader, only after the population control bill is enacted. Stressing the need to bring the country's population under control, the Lok Sabha member said that the way India's population is rising, “we are heading towards explosion”.
“We can be Vishwa Guru only when Population Control Bill is brought. It is very important to bring population under control. With the way in which it is rising, we are heading towards explosion. I request the Opposition to let me introduce Bill and listen to why I want to do. Discuss!" Ravi Kishan said.
He added, “This is a Bill for development. The day it is passed, the nation will fly towards being a Vishwa Guru. I am viewing this Bill only with an aspect of development and not that of caste or religion.” Many right wing groups and some BJP leaders, including Union Minister Giriraj Singh, have been demanding legislation to check the population growth in India. However, minister of state for health, Bharati Pravin Pawar, informed the Upper House on Tuesday that the government seeks to stabilise population by 2045 and its efforts have been successful in reining in the growth of population.
"Hence, the government is not contemplating any legislative measures," Pawar said in her reply.
A recent UN report said that India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country next year. But the World Population Prospects 2022 also highlighted that India’s Total fertility Rate (TFR) had come down from 5.9 children per woman in 1950 to 2.2 children per woman in 2020, just shy of 2.1 replacement level fertility.
(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)