Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appeared hesitant to back the population policy for Uttar Pradesh, unveiled by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, as he said that population cannot be controlled by laws alone.
According to media reports, the Bihar CM told reporters on Monday that every state is free to come up with the means to control population.
Observing that "laws alone can’t help check the population," the chief minister said it researches have revealed that the rate of reproduction gets reduced when women are educated. "Bihar has experimented with it by promoting education among the girls and achieved success. If it continued, the state would have negative growth of population after 2040," Hindustan Times quoted the Bihar CM as saying.
Kumar said although there may be some exceptions, the overall impact of educating girls has yielded good results in the state.
The Uttar Pradesh Population Policy 2021-2030, unveiled on the occasion of World Population Day on Sunday, states that people having more than two children in the state will be debarred from contesting local bodies polls, applying for government jobs or receiving any kind of subsidy. The document says it is necessary to control and stabilise the population of the state for the promotion of sustainable development with more equitable distribution.
—With PTI inputs
