Opposition raises questions over Uttar Pradesh's new population policy, gives strange arguments

Samajwadi Party leader Shafiqur Rahman Barq asked that where will the country get manpower in case of war if people are not allowed to procreate.

New Delhi: Yogi Adityanath on Sunday (July 11, 2021) unveiled Uttar Pradesh's new Population Policy 2021-2030, following which the Opposition leaders hit out at the state government. While Samajwadi Party MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq said that the state government should ban marriages if it wants to stabilise the rising population, his fellow party member ST Hasan said that if there's a need for a law, it should be about having three children. 

Shafiqur Rahman Barq also asked that where will the country get manpower in case of war if people are not allowed to procreate.

"It would be better to stop marriages. No one should be allowed to get married for the next 20 years and no children will be born," the MP from Sambhal said.

"Those who will challenge the law of Allah will get finished," he added.

Barq said while China was encouraging its citizens to have more children, India was doing the opposite which might backfire in case of a war.

"A lot of births are taking place in China and you (India) are stopping people from having children. A time will come when we will be very few. If there is a war, then from where will you bring people to fight," he asked. 

ST Hasan said that in the coming years, the population of the country will get old.

"There are pros and cons of the larger population. There'll be more vehicles and more fuel tax can be collected from it," the Moradabad MP added.

According to the draft of the population control bill, people having more than two children in Uttar Pradesh will be debarred from contesting local bodies polls, applying for government jobs or receiving any kind of subsidy.

The draft bill, for which suggestions have been invited from the public till July 19, also prohibits promotions in government jobs for such people, while offering incentives to those limiting their children to two.

The draft states that it is necessary to control and stabilise the population of the state for the promotion of sustainable development with more equitable distribution.

The bill also says that because of the state's 'limited ecological and economic resources at hand, it is necessary and urgent that the provision of the basic necessities of human life are accessible to all citizen'.

This is to be noted that if Uttar Pradesh were a country, its 240 million people would reportedly make it the world's fifth-most populous. India, on the other hand, is likely to overtake China as the world's most populous country by 2027.

(With agency inputs)