Rajasthan health minister Raghu Sharma on Friday backed population control measures and said it was time to adopt the one-child policy. He cited the Sample Registration Survey, 2018, and added the state’s total fertility rate was 2.5% against the national average of 2.2%. “As per the Millennium Development Goals, our target is to bring the total fertility rate down to 2.1% by 2025, and for that, we need to adopt a policy of one child per family.”
The comments came in the backdrop of plans in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states such as Uttar Pradesh and Assam for introducing population control laws. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday last unveiled a population policy aimed at stabilising the state’s population. This came after a draft of the Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill was made public.
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Sharma said about 250,000 sterilisations are done every year in Rajasthan under the family welfare programme. He said that Rajasthan is counted among the leading states of the country in sterilisations.
Health secretary Siddharth Mahajan said the contribution of women in the sterilisation programme is about 99% and that of men only 1% even as a vasectomy is very easy. He said that efforts were being made to encourage sterilisations among men to make the family welfare programme a success.
Laxman Singh Ola, a doctor, said the total fertility rate in Rajasthan was 4.1% in 2000, which came down to 2.5% in 2018 and is presently around 2.3%.
{{/usCountry}}Laxman Singh Ola, a doctor, said the total fertility rate in Rajasthan was 4.1% in 2000, which came down to 2.5% in 2018 and is presently around 2.3%.
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