Assam government has decided to roll out its 2017 policy that disqualifies a person having more than two children for government jobs.

Debate on two-child policy is back in India courtesy the Bharatiya Janata Party government of Assam which has decided to implement a law passed two years ago. Under the two-child policy, no person having more than two children would be eligible for government jobs in Assam from January 2021.

The law, Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam, was passed by the Assam Assembly in September 2017. Besides putting a two-child norm for government employment on new job seekers, the policy also calls for strict adherence by the existing government staff.

The story of population control through family planning is a curious case in India, which holds the distinction of being the first among the developing countries to officially launch a family planning programme as early as 1951. The first Lok Sabha had not yet been constituted. India elected its 17th Lok Sabha earlier this year.

Family planning centre to family expansion centre

The policy to control expansion of population in 1951 was revolutionary in idea particularly when seen in the background of Mahatma Gandhi's disapproval of such a government-backed campaign. Gandhi opposed the idea of contraception to control family size. He supported the idea of abstinence to control population growth.

The focus, however, was on convincing people to limit the size of their family. But in the backdrop of almost no modern healthcare facilities in small towns and villages, the family planning centres practically functioned as the family expansion centres with people approaching the health workers for assistance in child birth.

India was the first among the developing countries to formulate family planning programme under Jawaharlal Nehru as the first prime minister in 1951.

It was during Emergency, imposed by the Indira Gandhi government in 1970s, that the two-child policy got an aggressive push. This was the decade when China shifted from its two-child policy to one-child policy.

In India, the zeal of the government agencies was such that they resorted to forced sterilization. This backfired when Emergency was lifted and the country saw an unprecedented population explosion.

Policy confusion

Then during 1980s, "Hum Do Hamare Do" (We Two Ours Two) was popularised through mass campaign. The National Health Policy was adopted. The National Population Policy came in 2000 with long-term objective of stabilizing population by 2045.

However, there is a contrast in government's overall approach towards population control through family planning. While the emphasis has been on limiting the size of family - resulting in success as well with total fertility rate coming down from over 3 births per woman in 2000 to around 2 births per woman now - India became a signatory to the International Conference on Population and Development Declaration in 1994.

This means India made a commitment to international community that it will honour the individual right of the couples to decide freely the number of children they want to have and also decide spacing between the births of their kids.

This could explain why no central brought a bill to regulate population growth. A private member bill was, however, introduced in the 16th Lok Sabha by Prahlad Singh Patel, now a minister in the Narendra Modi government. The Population Control Bill 2016 never came to the voting stage till it was dissolved for 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The government spends crores of rupees every year for creating awareness among people to limit their family size. (Photo credit: Population Foundation of India)

Two-child policy in states

But attempts have been seen at the state level. And, Assam is not the first state in India to have such a policy in place. However, in most cases, the bar is on contesting local body elections.

In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the 1994 Panhcayati Raj Act disqualifies a person with more than two children from contesting election. Those who already had more than three could, however, contest these polls.

In Maharashtra, people having more than two children are barred from contesting gram panchayat and municipal elections.

Also, the Maharashtra Civil Services (Declaration of Small Family) Rules of 2005 disqualify a person having more than two children from holding a post in the state government. Women are not allowed PDS (public distribution system) benefits if she has more than two children in Maharashtra.

Rajasthan is more like Assam in declaring candidates with more than two children ineligible for government jobs. The Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act 1994 makes a person disqualified from contesting panchayat election with a relaxation if one of the two children is a disabled child.

In the neighbouring Gujarat, the Local Authorities Act was amended in 2005 - Narendra Modi was the chief minister then - to disqualify anyone with more than two children from contesting elections to panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his 2019 Independence Day speech, said having small family is also a reflection of patriotism. He is seen in this photo with the granddaughter of BJP leader Satyanarayan Jatia. (Photo: Twitter)

Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh implemented the two-child policy in 2001 for both the government jobs and local body elections. In 2005, both states discontinued it for elections after complaints that such rule is not applicable in assembly and parliamentary elections.

In Madhya Pradesh, however, two-child policy continues for government jobs and judicial services.

Odisha disqualifies individuals with more than two children from contesting urban local body elections. States such as Bihar and Uttarakhand, too, implemented two-child policy in various spheres but currently it is limited to municipal elections.

In this connection, Karnataka's case stands out for its uniqueness. Here a 1993 Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act declares a person ineligible for contesting local body polls if she/he does not have "a sanitary latrine" in the family. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan was still 21 years away.

Two-child policy and religion

Two-child policy is often seen in India through the prism of religion. Clerics of all hues and organisations claiming to represent specific religious community have opposed two-child policy.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organisation for the BJP that governs majority of the states at present, has in recent years shown inclination for population control. Though, in 2013, it had said that the Hindu couples should have at least three children.

However, in 2015, at its Ranchi meet, the RSS passed a resolution calling for a two-child policy. This year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort emphasized the need for regulation of population growth.

Assam's decision to implement its two-year-old two-child policy is a step in that direction. But there are views saying that the BJP government is targeting the Muslims, who make up around one-third population of Assam and form majority in nine districts of the state. Assam would be going to assembly polls in 2021.