Govt Not Considering To Bring A Two-Child Policy In Country: Union MoS Health Bharati Pravin Pawar Tells Lok Sabha

The Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar on Friday (23 July) apprised the Lok Sabha that the the government was not considering to bring a two-child policy in the country, reports Indian Express.

In a written reply to a question asked by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Member of Parliament (MP) Uday Pratap Singh on whether the government proposes to bring a two-child policy, Pawar said, "No".

Meanwhile, Pawar's written reply elaborated and said, "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."

Pawar further added 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.

She also said 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.

Pawar elaborated and said that the services provided under NFPP include Mission Parivar Vikas, expanded contraceptive choices, a compensation scheme for sterilization acceptors, post-partum intrauterine contraceptive device 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.