Population Control Law and Constitutional Perspective

Increasing population is a very serious problem for any country and India is also not immune from this problem. Increasing population creates hurdles in the development of a country. Various factors create problems in the development of a country like illiteracy, lack of awareness, poverty, etc. increasing population is one of the problems which needs to be controlled for the welfare of the country. According to the latest census report of 2011, the estimated population of India is 1.38 billion. The population of India is 17% of the total world population. According to the report statistics, India is the second most populated country across the globe. This is the alarm for India to control the population for the welfare of the country. 

NEED FOR THE POPULATION CONTROL

Recently United Nations reported that India crossed 1.4 billion population such reports clearly state that an immediate solution is required for the control of the population otherwise in the future, it creates a problem in the future. The burden of 1.4 billion is not so easy for the government to handle the population. The increasing population directly or indirectly affects our country like the economy, per capita income, natural resources, etc.  Population control is very much required in India due to the following reason:  

• Per Capita Income – the rapid growth of population shows the result in low per capita availability of capital. According to the political economy and weakly report India’s national income increased at an annual rate of 3.6% per annum but per capita income had risen by one % due to population growth having increased by 2 %. 
• Unemployment- the current population of India is 1.4 billion. It is a very difficult task to employ every hand because resources are very limited. In modern days most of the work is being done by the machine. With the growth in the labour force at an average annual rate of 2.4%, there is only a slight possibility to reduce unemployment.
• Poverty- poverty, and unemployment are directly linked with each other because resources are limited for every country. Article 39 (b) and (c) state the distribution of natural resources in a just and equitable manner. But it is a misfortune for the country because most of the resources are concentrated in the few hand due to this reason India faces the problem of poverty. 
• Environment- fresh environment is required for everyone and it is essential for the life of a people. But overpopulation leads to environmental degradation. The growing population leads to more pollution and the generation of more toxic materials which are harmful to any country. For the protection of the environment population growth should be controlled. 
• Lack of resources- due to the growing population it is not possible for the government to provide the resources to every hand because the resources are limited. Growing population lead to the exploitation of natural resources and due to this reason concept of sustainable development is not being followed by the people. 
• Inflation- due to the growing population food production and distribution have not been able to catch the overpopulation due to this reason cost of production is increased. 
• Standard of living- overpopulation in India leads to a low standard of living because natural resources are very limited.
• Social problem- the population is growing day by day and people are getting more unemployed. The people stars robbery, protection, and crime these are punishable in India. Few people have been involved in anti-social activity this lead to creates a hurdle in the development of a country.

EFFORTS OF POPULATION CONTROL

After the independence, the government introduced 35 times two-child policies through the Parliament but it failed. In 1952 National Population Policy was introduced by the then government. In this policy, there was a need for family planning that would improve the individual welfare and health. This policy was not mandatory it was voluntary. The main of the policy is to provide free and compulsory education for up to 14 years children. The second objective of this policy is to reduce the child mortality rate. In 1952 India also try to implement the policy of China for population control. One child policy was in our mind but the Indian government had never implemented such a policy because of various reasons and political pressure.

In 1976 during the emergency, the government was led by the Indira Gandhi. India launched a force sterilization program to overcome the population. Indira Gandhi was in the absolute majority she had implemented the forced sterilization policy. In this policy, people have been forced sterilization. One of the estimated data 10 million people were sterilized. But still, India is facing the problem of overpopulation. This means that forceful sterilization and unplanned policy is not a suitable solution for control of the population and it is also unethical to sterilize someone because reproduction is a basic human right. 

In 1976 the subject matter of population control and family planning was added to the concurrent list through the 42^nd amendment. The central government and state government both can enact a law to control the population. The state government may make a child law through an indirect method. In the case of Javed v. State of Haryana, the apex court upheld the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, which disqualified a person for holding the office of Sarpanch or a Panch of a Gram Panchyat, etc. if he had more than two living children. The provision was held to be not discriminatory and the classification made by it (person having more than two children and person having not more than two children) is based on intelligible differentia having nexus with the object of popularization of family planning programme.  

POPULATION CONTROL LAW

According to the report of the United, Nation India has reached a population of 1.4 billion which is the second-largest country in terms of population. United Nations predicts that India will take over China by 2030 if the growth of the population is not controlled.

THE POPULATION REGULATION BILL, 2019

The Population Bill, 2019 was introduced by the Raya Sabha Member of Parliament on July 12, 2019. This bill states two children policy for a spouse and if anyone violates the policy penalty shall be given to him. This bill also gives some benefits to the person those having two children. The benefits are adequate housing, access to quality children, economic livelihood opportunity, tax benefits, and public distribution system. 

The policy aims to control the growing population in a just and equitable manner. The political leaders and academician criticizes the bill. The argument of the critique is there is a huge gap between poor and rich people in India and it is not possible to implement the law for everyone. Through this scheme, poor people will suffer because they will not get the benefits of the public distribution system and they have also faced the problem of penalties. Therefore, this policy may not be suitable for the poor and the poor do not understand the family planning system because they believe that the more hands more we will earn. The population control bill of 2019 was withdrawn in 2022 and proposed a two-child couple policy for the couple.

CONSTITUTIONALITY OF TWO-CHILD POLICY  

Article 22 of the Declaration on Social Progress and Development, 1969 states that couples have the right to choose freely and responsibly the number of children they have. The bill violates the Declaration on Social Progress and development, 1969. The Bill also violates Article 21 of the Constitution of India because reproduction is a basic human right. The two-child policy has been introduced in the Parliament 35 times namely,  Two Child Norm Bill, 2005, Promotion of Two Child Norm Bill, 2015 but it has been never passed because of various reasons. A Constitutional Amendment Bill 2020 has been proposed to insert article 47A to implement family norm and for population control.

THE ALTERNATIVE METHOD TO CONTROL THE POPULATION IN INDIA 

There are various alternative methods for the control of pollution in India which are as follows:

• Legal marriage age- the legal age of marriage should be increased. Presently the legal age of marriage for a boy is 21 years and for a girl is 48 years. The age of the girl should be increased from 18 to 21 years because most of them do not understand the family planning. Recently our prime minter constituted a task for the examining of legal age of marriage. The task force submitted its report and recommended that the age of girls should be increased from 18 to 21 years.  
• Health Care System – there is a lack of health care system facilities in the developing country. In rural areas, most people are facing the problem of health due to a lack of health care systems. In developing countries, the infant mortality rate is high due for this reason people want more children because they have a risk that they may lose their child at any time. Therefore, health care system facilities must be installed in the appropriate number 
• Living standard of women- in our country living standard of women is not too good. If the standard of women is appropriate they can understand the concept of family planning and the population growth may be reduced. 
• Literacy – in rural areas most people are illiterate they do not understand the family planning system. They are also not aware of the contraceptive method for the prevention of children. Therefore, the government should launch an awareness program for population control.

ROLE OF JUDICIARY 

The constitutional court pronounced various judgments on family planning including the Javed Case. Recently a Public interest has been filed by Ashwni Kumar Upadhaya challenging the high court order dismissing a plea seeking certain steps for the two-child policy. The center told the Supreme Court in 2020 that India opposed family planning. In 2018, a petition has been filed before the Supreme Court asking the court to direct the Center to make a two-child policy for population control growth. Supreme Court dismisses the petition.

CONCLUSION 

There are various pros and cons of population growth but population growth is a very serious problem for India. Population control should be as soon as possible otherwise it affects the development of the country. If overpopulation is not controlled by India then India will become the largest country in terms of population. I believe that urgent legislation is required for the explosive population and because we have limited natural resources it is not possible to provide the natural resources to every hand. The population control law should be within the constitutional framework.

Bablu Kumar has qualified UGC JRF 2020 July Cycle and has completed his LLM from Central University of Punjab, Bathinda and B.Sc LLB from Central University of South Bihar

Disclaimer:  The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author and not to the Jurisedge Academy.

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