Naidu Says More the Merrier

SO CONVINCED IS NAIDU THAT HE NOW WANTS TO REVERSE THE LAW: ONLY CANDIDATES WITH TWO OR MORE CHILDREN WILL BE ABLE TO FIGHT THE POLLS

- Amarnath K. Menon

The Andhra Pradesh government has repealed a 30-year-old rule that had made the two-child norm mandatory for those seeking election to local bodies such as the gram panchayats, mandal praja parishads and zilla parishads. The state assembly scrapped the AP Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill and the AP Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill on November 18. The bills were part of many passed in India in line with the family planning initiative pushed vigorously since the 1970s.

Over the past three decades, Andhra's population growth rate has declined; in fact, by 2021, it had come down to 1.5 (the replacement fertility rate to keep a population steady is considered to be 2.1). The state is now among those with the least growth in population. This will over time result in a skewed demographic composition, says the government.