A visit to Bhadohi shows what's amiss with UP's two-child population Bill

A visit to one of the state's lesser developed districts reveals that the proposed two-child Bill needs to change its focus

On World Population Day on July 11, Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission released the draft Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill, 2021, to promote two-child families in the country’s most populous state. A slew of incentives and disincentives have been laid out — violators of the two-child norm will be debarred from contesting local body elections, applying to government jobs or receiving any government subsidy, while couples below the poverty line who comply by voluntarily undergoing sterilisation after their second child will receive monetary benefits.

Available for comments/revisions till July 19, 2021, the draft has already been criticised by