Amid plummeting birthrate, AP CM calls on Andhra women to have more children

Amaravati, Oct 21 (PTI) Flagging Andhra Pradesh’s falling birthrate, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has called on women in the state to bear at least two children to stabilise its population, remarks welcomed by the AP Congress unit while ruling TDP’s rival, YSRCP questioned the CM’s ‘vision’ on the matter.

South India was witnessing an aging problem, Naidu said, adding each woman should give birth to more than two children in their lifetime.

Incidentally, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin also touched upon the population issue on Monday in Chennai, linking it with the delimitation exercise.

Andhra’s birthrate is under the replacement level of 2.1 live births per woman.

“There is a need to manage our population. Till 2047, we will have the demographic dividend, there will be more youngsters. After 2047, there will be more old people…if less than two children are given birth (per woman), then population will reduce. If you (each woman) give birth to more than two children, then the population will increase,” the CM said during a recent public meeting in Amaravati.

Noting that the southern state’s birth rate has plummeted to 1.6, he feared the continuation of the current situation could lead to further decline of the birthrate to 1 or lower, where only “old people will be visible in the society”.

“To avoid such a situation in the future, everybody should consider having more children as a responsibility. This work I am doing (calling for more children) not only for you but also for the nation, for the greater good. We can earn money by doing any work but we will work only when we have children or when there is population,” said Naidu, adding, he will take up this issue as a mission.

Citing Europe, Japan and other regions as countries facing an aging problem where old people increased and youngsters decreased, Naidu argued that south India is also staring at such a situation.

Recalling his past call for population control, stressing on the finite availability of land, water and air resources, he claimed people heeded his word and reduced AP’s birthrate within 10 years, which now risks the “danger of its population falling down completely”.

Further, he recollected he had barred people with more than two children from contesting local body polls but vowed to remove those conditions and introduce legislation on enabling only those with more than two children to contest such polls.

Unlike earlier times when he restricted government benefits to families with more members, the CM promised to reverse those norms and extend more benefits to families with more members.

“You should remember that I am thinking about the future. We are very clear, we want to go for population management, instead of population control. Now the time has come, every family has to think how to manage the population, then only there will be a future.”

If proper population planning could be achieved, then Indians can do wonders at the global level for centuries, especially by becoming service providers in the knowledge economy, Naidu said.

Responding, senior YSRCP leader Jupudi Prabhakar Rao questioned the efficacy of Naidu’s ‘vision’ of asking people to have fewer number of children about 10 years ago and more now. “What about himself (Naidu). He has only one son and his son (Nara Lokesh) also has only one son. He is a visionary right,” Rao told PTI.

Further, the YSRCP leader asserted that the people of the state did not follow birth control heeding Naidu’s advice, advising the CM to refrain from comparing himself to some erstwhile Chinese leader who had given such successful calls in the past.

The state Congress unit welcomed Naidu’s call for raising the population. Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) vice president Kolanukonda Sivaji observed the CM gave such a call keeping the best interests of South India in mind.

“Because, under delimitation, Parliament seats in our region (south India) will reduce and they will get added to the northern states. That’s why, to overcome this there is no time. So, when the population here increases, our seats will be with us,” said Sivaji.

Saving South India’s Parliament seats as the correct interpretation of Naidu’s call, Sivaji noted the NDA ally did not directly drive home this message but subtly chose the plummeting birthrate ploy to avoid friction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sangh Parivar.

Meanwhile, TN CM Stalin said the Lok Sabha delimitation exercise may make people to think about raising “16 children,” alluding to a Tamil saying.

He was alluding to a Tamil saying “pathinarum petru peru vazhvu vazhga,” meaning acquire 16 different kinds of wealth and lead a prosperous life, while referring to the census and delimitation process which will redraw the electoral map of India.

“The Parliament delimitation process may encourage the couples to have many children and give up thoughts of a small family. But whatever be the outcome, provide Tamil names to your children,” he said.

In the past, the elders used to bless the newly married couples to acquire 16 kinds of wealth (pathinarum petru peru vazhvu vazhga) including fame, education, lineage, wealth, and not 16 children. Gradually, people have come to believe in raising a small family for prosperity, he said.

“That blessing doesn’t mean beget 16 children. Now a situation has arisen where people think they should now literally raise 16 children and not a small and prosperous family.”