Delimitation in focus as 2 South CMs talk reversing population policies

Over the past three days, the chief ministers of two southern states have flagged concern about the region's diminishing demographic dividend in the decades to come on account of the strides the South has made in population control.

- ARCHIS MOHAN

The total fertility rate (TFR) of South India has dropped below the replacement level, bringing in train the economic challenges the region would face because of an ageing population as also the decline in its political influence after the delimitation of the Lok Sabha seats, which will be based on the data of the next census.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin have urged people to have more children, bringing into question the country's decades-long policies on population management.

On Saturday, addressing a public gathering, Naidu said his government was mulling legislation to incentivise families to have more children, reversing earlier policies aimed at population control. He said an increase in the proportion of the elderly could strain the region's economy as was being witnessed in Japan, China, and parts of Europe, where ageing populations outnumbered younger people.

On Monday, Stalin sought to frame the debate on population control in the context of the "threat" the delimitation process would pose to his state's political influence.