Hyderabad: China has been in the news in recent years for implementing several measures to encourage couples to have more children.
To arrest declining birth rates and address concerns about a demographic crisis, China is offering financial incentives and providing childcare support.
An Indian state may soon be adopting a similar approach.
The Chandrababu Naidu-headed Andhra Pradesh government is seriously considering plans to provide financial assistance to large families. As he had thought aloud earlier, the initiative is aimed at increasing the state’s population.
In a recent interview, Naidu reiterated the need to address the state’s declining fertility rate.
States like Andhra and Maharashtra have, over the years, controlled population growth through public awareness campaigns and government efforts. Andhra Pradesh is now changing its approach by encouraging couples to have more children.
Andhra Pradesh has already amended its laws to bar individuals with more than two children from contesting panchayat and local body elections.
Having revoked the two-child policy, the state government is on way to formulate a policy that will help push up population.
Speaking to The Times of India, the Andhra CM spelt out his government’s plans to consider families as units eligible for financial aid, pointing out that supporting large families is vital to counter future demographic challenges.
The current fertility rate could lead to several challenges for the state in the future, Naidu opined.
“I am looking at giving financial incentives by taking a family as a unit. The bigger families may get higher incentives,” Naidu said.
Naidu spoke about the state’s recent policy changes, such as granting women employees the right to take maternity leave as often as needed. “It was limited to two times only. We have removed the restrictions,” the CM said.
“As part of the ‘Zero Poverty’ initiative, I have already rolled out an interesting model in which wealthier people will adopt poor families. This will not only bridge income disparities, but also ensure welfare of the entire family,” Naidu said.
Two years ago, Sikkim introduced incentives for indigenous populations to encourage larger families. Another northeastern state Mizoram has also been promoting the idea of having more than two children among tribal couples.
Down south, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin recently said with the Central government advocating population-based delimitation of constituencies, there is a need for the state’s residents to increase their family size.
