EAC-PM member Sanjeev Sanyal suggests ending population control policies amid falling fertility
India should end population control policies as fertility rates have sharply dropped. A government advisor suggests realigning family planning with demographic changes. Incentives for sterilizations and two-child norms should be repealed immediately. Fertility reduction language must be removed from all policy frameworks. Family planning for health and personal choice remains important.
New Delhi: India should abandon population control goals in state policy, according to Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Sanyal's working paper argues that the government should realign family planning with the country's changing demographic reality, as fertility rates have dropped sharply.
The paper, titled "The Ghost of Population Past," co-authored by Aakanksha Arora and Virat Singh, suggests ending sterilization-linked incentives, family-planning awards, and even the two-child norm disqualifications. The national total fertility rate currently stands at 1.9, well below replacement fertility, and is comparable to Northern Europe and the United States. The paper emphasizes that population control is no longer a relevant objective of state policy.
Written by urgent.news from The Economic Times - Economy's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
