NEW DELHI: As India’s population continues to grow and threatens to overtake that of China, a campaign started by a group called Taxpayers’ Association of Bharat wants every state in the country to execute a two-child policy so that the resources and taxpayers’ money can be utilised properly. But critics wonder if that’s the right path to tread.

The two-year-old campaign, which now has over two lakh members — including celebrities such as Ajay Devgan, Suniel Shetty, Priyanka Chopra and Virendra Sehwag — has also written to all the chief ministers to come up with a population control policy on the lines of Assam.

Assam in April announced a draft population policy, which suggested denial of government jobs to people with more than two children and making education up to university level free for all girls.

According to the campaign, since independence citizens have been paying tax so that the country could be developed in a poverty-free and crime-free environment, but over the years, both the crime rate and poverty have only increased.

The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) — the number of children who would be born per woman during childbearing age — instead of decreasing, has gone up.

“Over the years, governments have done nothing to control the population, instead they did only caste-based politics. In 1961, the population below poverty line was 19 crore while in 2011 it rose to 36 crore. Why the increase? Is this why the citizens are paying tax for,” questioned Manu Gaur, National President of the campaign, also known as Taxab.

Stating that it was important for every state to have a two-child norm to make the country prosperous, Gaur told IANS that with the continuity in same TFR, India’s population would hit 200 crore in the near future. “Are we ready for such a situation,” he asked.

Source: Economic Times