After ‘notebandi’, govt should consider ‘nasbandi’, says Union minister Giriraj Singh; kicks up row

Patna: In view of rapid population growth, there is an urgent need for ‘nasbandi’ and it should be the government's next logical step after 'notenabdi', Union minister Giriraj Singh said, kicking up a major controversy.

The Minister of State of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises made the remarks during a function in his parliamentary constituency of Nawada on Saturday.

Singh said India needs a strong population control law, including sterilisation, to rein in unchecked population boom which is impeding development.

“India has 17 percent of the world population and adds population equal to Australia each year.

“The country only has 2.5 percent of world's land mass with only 4.2 percent of water resources.

“In this scenario, the population explosion is proving to be a big roadblock for development,” the Hindustan Times quoted Singh as saying.

The comments comes a week after another senior BJP leader Sanjay Paswan, also from Bihar, backed sterilisation for population control in the country.

“There are population control laws in Bangladesh and Malaysia. So, there is nothing wrong if it happens in India,” the paper quoted him as saying.

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dismissed these calls for mass sterilisation by the senior party functionaries.

The party said Giriraj's comments are his “personal opinions” and the party and the government has nothing to this.

"There is no doubt that the population of this country is rising. To reduce the population growth, there must be an awareness and advertisement.

Everyone should come forward to spread the cause and create awareness to control population," ANI quoted BJP leader Rahul Sinha as saying.

Sinha clarified, "The party does not have any agenda nor does the government, but the government wants to control the rising population by making people understand and aware about it."