On one hand, there is a demand to bring population control law in the country, while on the other hand, the Chief Ministers of two major states of South India are advising their people to have as many children as possible. Let us tell you that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had said last week that in view of the aging population of the state, people should have more children. He also said that his government is planning to bring a law to encourage it. After this, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, referring to an old blessing, advised and wished people to have 16 children. Actually, both the Chief Ministers are giving this advice because soon there will be a fresh delimitation of parliamentary seats in the country. According to this delimitation, there will be one MP for a population of ten lakh people. The southern states have performed well in terms of population control, but now due to this the fertility rate there has reduced due to which they fear that if parliamentary seats are determined on the basis of population, then the national politics of the country will be completely North India centric. It will be done.
Let us also tell you that according to the India Aging Report 2023 prepared by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), the population of elderly is high in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. The report says that the elderly population in these states will increase very rapidly between 2021 and 2036. It is believed that the share of elderly people in Kerala’s population will increase from 16.5% in 2021 to 22.8% in 2036. In Tamil Nadu the elderly population will increase from 13.7% to 20.8% in 2036, in Andhra Pradesh the elderly population will increase from 12.3% in 2021 to 19% in 2036, in Karnataka the elderly population will increase from 11.5% to 17.2% in 2036 and in Telangana the elderly population will increase from 11.5% in 2021 to 19% in 2021. % will increase to 17.1% in 2036.
Also read: Chief Minister Naidu promises to pay outstanding bills of police department worth Rs 763 crore
Broadly speaking, over this 15-year period, the proportion of elderly in the population will increase by 6-7% in the South while it will be around 3-4% in the North. However, one fact worth noting is that most of the South Indian states have reached the fertility level of the developed countries of the world. Furthermore, according to available data collected by the Registrar General of India for 2016–19, life expectancy in Andhra Pradesh was 69.1 years, in Kerala 71.9 years and in Tamil Nadu 71.4 years. Only Karnataka’s life expectancy rate was slightly lower than the national average at 67.9. Apart from this, one problem is that India has reduced its fertility rate very rapidly. Let us tell you that it took 285 years for France, 225 years for England to reduce the number of children per woman from six to two or one child, but India took only 45 years to do this. Although China controlled the population in less time, this was possible due to extremely harsh and punitive provisions.
Apart from this, the major cause of concern for the southern states is the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats that will take place soon. This work will be done immediately after the census. Let us tell you that at present the boundaries of the constituencies in the country are decided according to the population. If the birth rate remains stable, the number of Parliament seats in Andhra Pradesh is expected to reduce from 25 to 20, in Karnataka from 28 to 26, in Kerala from 20 to 14, in Tamil Nadu from 39 to 30 and in Telangana from 17 to 15. On the other hand, due to the higher population of the northern states, the number of their constituencies will increase, giving them a bigger voice in the Parliament. Apart from this, even if a decision is taken to increase the seats in Parliament, only the northern states will benefit more because the south will get less seats as per the population ratio.
As far as the statements of Chief Ministers are concerned, let us tell you that Chandrababu Naidu has even said that only a person with more than two children will be able to contest local body elections. It is being told that there is a demand to bring such a law in the neighboring state of Telangana also so that people produce more children. Talking about the statement of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, let us tell you that he has said that the Lok Sabha delimitation process may increase the hopes of many couples to return to the Tamil proverb of “16 (kind of property) children”. Referring to the census and the Lok Sabha delimitation process, the Chief Minister said that newly married couples can now give up the idea of having fewer children. He said that in the past, elders used to bless newly married couples not only to have 16 children but to acquire 16 types of assets and live a happy life, which includes fame, education, lineage, wealth etc. He said that people now feel that they should literally have 16 children, rather than have a small and happy family.
