India has a current population of over a billion and it is the 7th largest country. With increased population, India is all set to surpass China and become the most populous country by the year 2027, meaning eight years from now.
A United Nations report adds that Earth will be home to 9.7 billion people in 2050 and by 2100 the number will hike to 11 billion. India will hold a massive population 10 times higher than America despite the fact that it is one-third the size of the US.
The UN report also added that the population would grow at a steady pace than it had predicted two years ago.
In a recent development, the Assam cabinet on Monday has sanctioned a policy, stressing the fact that those with more than 2 children will be ineligible for government jobs from January 2021, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) added in a statement.
“In a revolutionary move, the Cabinet approved Two-Child norms and Prohibition of Child Marriage Act norms for entry and continuation in govt service,” Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s office tweeted Tuesday.
A senior government official has also alerted that if the serving state government employee has a third child after January 2021, s/he could face disciplinary proceedings.
KK Dwivedi, Commissioner and Secretary, Government of Assam in-charge of the Department of Personnel added: “We have made new rules, that anyone who has a third child after January 1, 2021 will not be eligible for a state government job and if any of the serving state government employee has a third child after January 2021, he/she could face disciplinary proceedings as per the service rules,” Dwivedi said. Even those who have opted for child marriage will also not be eligible, he added.
The two-child rule follows the State Population and Women Empowerment Policy of 2017 which stated that “candidates having two children only will be eligible” and “Government servants shall strictly follow norms of two children family to serve as role model for the Society.”
The state had earlier passed the Assam Panchayat (Amendment) Act, 2018 which barred anyone with more than 2 kids from contesting the Panchayat polls.
“We oppose this move. It is no way to control the birth rate. There are two reasons for high fertility rate, illiteracy and poverty. The government should address them first. Three communities are impacted by high fertility rate, the schedules caste, the scheduled tribes and Muslims,” said Aminul Islam, General Secretary of the AIUDF.
It should be noted that Assam’s total fertility rate stands at 2.3 at par with India’s average, according to government data.