Uttar Pradesh: The Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission has released the first draft of the bill aimed at population control and has sought public opinion by July 19. The bill has called for incentives for those who have two children or less. In case of non-adherence to the two-child norm, there will be disincentives.
This Act shall be called the Uttar Pradesh population (Control, stabilization, and Welfare) Act, 2021, and it will extend to the whole of Uttar Pradesh, the report said, adding it will come into force after one year from the date of publication in the Gazette.
As per the draft bill, violators of the two-child norm will be debarred from taking benefits of government schemes, and their ration cards would be limited to four units.
They will also be barred from contesting local body elections, applying for government jobs or promotions if they are public servants.
Families following the two-child norm would get incentives like two additional increments during the entire service, subsidized purchase of plot or house, rebate on utility charges and a 3 per cent increase in EPF under the national pension scheme.
The bill added that couples who don’t want to have more than one child will get special incentives like two additional increments.
They would also get free health care facilities and insurance coverage for the single child until they reach 20 years of age. The single child will get preference in admission in all educational institutions including but not limited to the Indian Institute of Management and All India Institute of Management Science.
Free education up to graduation level, scholarship for higher studies in case of a girl child, and preference to the single child in government jobs are other benefits which couples with a single child will receive.
The bill will reward those couples who undergo “voluntary sterilisation” after having two kids or one.
In cases where the religious or personal law governing an individual allows for polygamous or polyandrous marriage, there may be a set of a married couple, each of which shall consist of one man and one woman only. However, the husband or wife may be common in each set.
The draft bill further explains, “(a) The personal law governing A allows polygamy.
A has three wives B, C and D. A and B, A and C, and A and D shall be counted as three distinct married couple so far as the status of B, C and D is concerned but as far as the status of A is concerned, it shall be counted as one married couple for the purpose of calculation of cumulative number of children. For example, A has one child from B, two children from C and one child from D, the total number of children of A shall be four. (b) The personal law governing B allows polyandry.
B has two husbands A and C.B and A shall be counted as one married couple. B and C shall be counted as another married couple.”
A State Population Fund would be constituted, and it will be utilized to implement this Act.
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