Dhanbad, Jharkhand

One such rally took place in Randheer Varma Chowl, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, where Hindu Janajagruti and Tarun Hindu organised a protest against the Waqf Board Act and the perceived conspiracy of “Land Jihad.” The participants demanded the repeal of the act and the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code. They argued that previous governments had unfairly favoured Muslims through the Waqf Board, leading to the usurpation of Hindu homes, fields, shops, and temples. The protesters also claimed that this was a conspiracy against the Indian nation. The rally garnered attention on social media with a video posted on Twitter account of HindutvaWatch on July 12, 2023. 

Location: Dhanbad, Jharkhand

Hindu Janajagruti organised a rally to protest against the Waqf Board Act and the conspiracy theory of “Land Jihad”. pic.twitter.com/FjNb6W9hTH

— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) July 12, 2023

Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh

Similarly, in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bajrang Dal organised a rally at Ramlila Maidan where fear-mongering against Muslims took place, and a population control bill was demanded. Posters at the gathering urged people to abandon secularism and embrace the slogan “Vande Mataram.” One poster also read “Scrap the Constitution’s Article 30, institute the teachings of the Veda-Purana to be compulsorily followed.”

There was, according to the video, a heavy presence of Police. The following video capturing the event was shared on Twitter on July 12, 2023.

Location: Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh

Bajrang Dal organized a rally where its members indulged in fear-mongering against Muslims and demanded a population control bill.

Fact-check: https://t.co/kqSR3YjJ0y pic.twitter.com/nnn9Sr7OC1

— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) July 12, 2023

Jalna, Maharashtra

Moving west to Jalna, Maharashtra, a rally organised by Sakal Hindu Samaj featured a speech by Dhananjay Desai, President of Hindu Rashtra Sena. Desai’s address was filled with hate speech and conspiracy theories targeting Muslims. The video of the event was posted on Twitter on July 13, 2023.

Durg, Chhattisgarh 

Further north in Durg, Chhattisgarh, and a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) delivered a communal speech stoking fear against the Muslim community. The speaker alleged that ‘Jihadis’ would acquire land by exploiting religious institutions such as Waqf boards, shrines, and graveyards. Furthermore, the leader claimed that intruders of Pakistan, Rohingya, and Bangladesh nationalities and ethnicities had also settled in Chhattisgarh, and expressed disappointment with the government for providing them with ‘Jaati Pramaan Patra’ (caste permits). A video recording of this event was uploaded on July 12, 2023.

Related 

CJP sends comments to UP Law Commission on ‘Population Control’ Bill

Have the RW’s “land jihad” claims been busted?

False claims about ‘Muslim population explosion’ busted!

Busted: Growth in population does not mean all is well for Muslims in India

How to detect whether the WhatsApp forward you just received is true?

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposed its own member of Parliament Rakesh Sinha’s private member’s Bill that had asked that a “two-child law” be passed that had “penal provisions for violations”. However, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday shot it down and told the  Rajya Sabha that instead of using “force (jabran)”, the government had “successfully used awareness and health campaigns to achieve population control” reported the Indian Express.

Rakesh Sinha had introduced the ‘Population Regulation Bill’ in the Rajya Sabha in July 2019 and had to withdraw it on Friday. The intent of such a law has been seen in Bharatiya Janata Party governed states in the past. In july 2021, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, had said that the implementation of the “two-child” policy will be toughened. The Assam Cabinet had approved the “two-child” norm as mandatory for getting a government job or continuing in one,  in 2019. In 2017, the Assam Assembly had already passed a Population and Women Empowerment Policy according to which people with more than two children are barred from contesting local body elections. These moves have been seen as an attempt to restrict the number of Muslims in the state administration given their traditionally large families.

Other BJP states had voiced similar intentions, Lakshadweep administrator Praful Patel had tried to implement similar measures to disqualify candidates with more than two children from contesting local body elections. And in his August 2019, speech Prime Minister Naredns Modi said small families were “an act of patriotism” and asked state governments to launch policies to deal with this issue. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath had supported the idea instantly.

सरकार चाहती है कि सबको संसाधन मिलें, सबके जीवन की गुणवत्ता और बेहतर हो, लेकिन जनसंख्या विस्फोट समाज और देश के सामने एक विकराल चुनौती बन गया है।
हर एक को अच्छी स्वास्थ्य सेवाएं,बेहतर शिक्षा,सड़क,पेयजल और अन्य मूलभूत सुविधाएं मिलना चाहिए और यह तभी सम्भव है जब जनसंख्या नियंत्रित हो। pic.twitter.com/wzSIu2nldF

— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) August 15, 2019

Now the union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said “family planning and healthcare policies are working well in the country without making them compulsory.” According to Mandaviya, there were “extensive public awareness campaigns on family planning” and the government was working to provide affordable healthcare .

He told the RS that “the total fertility rate has come down to around 2%. . . It tells us that the family planning mission is moving towards success.” According to a report in Times of India, the Opposition raised the point that “states that have successfully implemented family planning programmes must not be penalised and any law to control population should be through democratic means, not coercion”.  According to Jairam Ramesh (Congress) and Tiruchi Siva (DMK) “states must not be made to lose out on central allocations which are based on population numbers.”

BJP run states want population control laws

However, in BJP ruled Karnataka party member and MLC Bharathi Shetty has now raised the issue and said a “UP like population control bill” should be brought in her home state too.

#BJP MLC Bharathi Shetty has raised the issue of population control. She says UP like population control bill should be brought in #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/Lv7VDccVGb

— Imran Khan (@KeypadGuerilla) March 30, 2022

In 2021, Uttar Pradesh Law Commission had submitted to chief minister Adityanath a controversial draft population control bill that proposed  to “bar people with more than two children from local elections, government jobs, increments etc.” the draft was 232-pages long and the bill titled: Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill, 2021. According to a report in Hindustan Times, Justice (retired) AN Mittal, chairman of the commission, had written to the UP CM, saying “Rising population is a cause of concern for every nationalist…” The report also quoted Justice Mittal, a former judge of the Allahabad high court, who said “The state law commission has submitted the draft bill on population control to the chief minister, recommending a specific law for checking population growth.” 

In July 2021 Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) sent comments/suggestions to the Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission over the proposed Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill, 2021. The CJP stated data that proved it was better to “”invest in better resources, higher literacy for women, empowerment and education of women to help control the population.”

Related

Is the Assam CM’s push for a “two-child policy” a tactic to exclude minorities?

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A Brief History of the Insider vs Outsider debate in Assam

The post Center says ‘no need for law on population control’, but are states listening? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On the question of whether the Government proposes to bring in a two-child policy in the country, the Minister of State in the Health Ministry, Bharati Pawar has answered in the negative.

Her written answer on July 23 stated that various initiatives have been taken under the National Family Planning Programme (2000), that has controlled the population and other factors related to population. The Total Fertility Rate has declined from 2.7 percent to 2.2 percent from 2005 to 2006 to 2015 to 2016, she said.

In addition to this, 28 out of 36 States and Union Territories have already achieved the replacement level fertility of 2.1 percent or less. The Crude Birth Rate has also declined from 23.8 percent to 20 percent from 2005 to 2018.

Her answer also read, “India’s Wanted Fertility Rate has come down to 1.8 in NFHS IV indicating that couples want only 1.8 children on an average…States like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and other States/UTs have succeeded in reducing their fertility rates by adopting a holistic approach towards family planning without resorting to any stringent population control measures.”

Interestingly, the Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission has released a draft Bill on population control titled “The Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilisation and Welfare) Bill, 2021”. Section 4 of the Bill states that those government employees who adopt the “two-child norm by undergoing voluntary sterilisation” shall be entitled to various benefits. These benefits can also be availed if the spouse of the government employee undergoes sterilisation.

Citizens for Justice and Peace has sent its comments to the state commission regarding the proposed bill and how it will disturb the sex ratio, lead to increase in foeticide, and adversely impact the marginalised sections who will get barred from receiving government subsidies, ration and other schemes.

But Pawar’s answer contradicts the stance of the Uttar Pradesh Government. “International experience shows that any coercion or diktat to have a certain number of children is counter-productive and leads to demographic distortions like sex selective abortions, abandonment of the female child and even female infanticide due to intense son preference. All this eventually resulted in a skewed sex ratio”, she said.

In another answer provided by Health and Family Welfare Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya on July 23, he listed down other figures indicating that India is not witnessing a population explosion for having to introduce a law to control it. He provided that:

• The Decadal growth rate has declined from 21.54 percent in 1990 to 2000 to 17.64 percent during 2001 to 2011
• The Crude Death Rate has declined from 7.6 percent in 2005 to 6.2 percent in 2018
• India’s Wanted Fertility Rate was 1.9 percent in NFHS III and has further come down to 1.8 in NFHS IV.
• The teenage birth rate has halved from 16 percent (NFHS III) to 8 percent (NFHS IV)
• The teenage marriage has halved from 47.4 percent (NFHS III) to 26.8 percent (NFHS IV)

As widely reported in the media, three Bhartiya Janta Party Lok Sabha members and one from the JD(U) will be moving Private Members’ Bills on population control. Out of the four only BJP Members of Parliament from Gorakhpur, Ravi Kishan is from Uttar Pradesh, who according to the media, has four children.

According to an Indian Express report, Lok Sabha members data shows that 168 out of 540 MPs have more than two children, and out of them, 105 are from the Bhartiya Janta Party. Further, 66 Bhartiya Janta Party MPs have three children, 26 have four children and 13 have five children. Three MPs namely Maulana Badruddin Ajmal of the AIUDF, Dileshwar Kamait of the JD(U), Pakauri Lal of Apna Dal have seven children each. Mohammad Sadique of the Congress and P Abdussamad Samadani of the IUML have six children each.

The answers may be read here:

Related:

CJP sends comments to UP Law Commission on ‘Population Control’ Bill
CJP writes to Zee News over their Population Politics show

The post No intention to bring in two child policy, fertility rates have declined: Centre in LS appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In roughly five years, or by 2024, the population of India is expected to surpass that of China, according to this 2017 United Nations (UN) projection. China’s population will peak at 1.44 billion in 2029 and start declining. As per current estimates, due to what is called population momentum–a higher proportion of people in the reproductive age group–as well as higher life expectancy, India’s population will only peak in the 2060s, before it starts to decline.

However, Indian fertility rates are declining quickly, and some of these estimates are being revised constantly. For example, according to earlier UN estimates, India was to overtake China in 2022. Ten years ago, India had a total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.68; today, according to the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS 4), out of 36 states and UTs, only four–Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Meghalaya and Nagaland–have a TFR more than or equal to 2.68.

India was the first country in the world to formulate a National Family Planning Programme in 1952, with the objective of “reducing birth rate to the extent necessary to stabilise the population at a level consistent with requirement of national economy”. The current TFR, at 2.2, is close to the replacement-level fertility rate of 2.1. According to NFHS-4, TFR has declined considerably and between 1992-93 and 2015-16, it declined by 1.2 children (from 3.4 children in 1992-93 to 2.2 in 2015-16).

Source: National Family Health Survey, 2015-16

It is often said that “development is the best contraceptive”. The two-pronged approach of health system strengthening and population control may still work in states such as Bihar and UP, but for other states that are near or under replacement fertility, more resources should move into health system strengthening and core health priorities–communicable diseases, drug availability, and human resource deployment, to name just a few. A low child mortality rate and accessible health services would be good incentives for family planning.

This is one of many decisions facing India’s public healthcare sector that this second story under an IndiaSpend-Observer Research Foundation (ORF) series highlights, which the new government must address. Healthcare has received unprecedented attention from political parties during the ongoing elections for the 17th Lok Sabha, even as better measurement, greater evidence and more informed reporting begin to expand voter awareness and deepen policy debates, as we argued in our previous story.

Here are some of the crucial areas on which India must focus more attention, efforts and funds.

Child and maternal mortality rates

However, India’s achievements in preventing child deaths have not been as spectacular, mostly because of meagre fund allocation, over the decades.

When it comes to child mortality, Kerala (ruled by a coalition let by the Communist Party of India-Marxist, CPIM+), Punjab (Congress+), Tamil Nadu (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, or AIADMK) and Maharashtra (Bharatiya Janata Party and allies, or BJP+) have already attained the National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 neonatal mortality rate target of 16 deaths per 1,000 live births, ahead of the 2025 deadline.
Kerala (CPIM+) has achieved the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 target of 12 deaths per 1,000 live births.

On the other hand, Odisha (Biju Janata Dal, or BJD), Madhya Pradesh (Congress+), Uttar Pradesh (BJP+), Rajasthan (Congress+) and Bihar (BJP+) still have very high neonatal mortality rates..

The Niti Health Index provides state-level scores and ranks for health indicators, and uses the Sample Registration System (SRS), which tracks deaths and births in a sample of villages and urban blocks but does not provide data on infant, child or maternal mortality (NMR, U5MR, MMR and IMR) for eight smaller states and seven UTs.

The National Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS-4) offers data for almost all states and UTs, and shows that over the last decade, under-five mortality rate (U5MR) came down from 74.3 to 50 and infant mortality rate (IMR) came down from 57 to 41, both per 1,000 live births.
The rate of decline, however, was much slower than that of maternal mortality ratio (MMR).

The global U5MR target–collectively set by the UN–is 25 per 1,000 live births by 2030, and according to NFHS-4 (2015-16), only Kerala (CPIM+), Goa (BJP+), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (UT), Puducherry (Congress+) and Lakshadweep (UT) have an U5MR lesser than 25. (Union Territories are normally governed directly by the President through an administrator. However,  the National Capital Territory of Delhi and Union Territory of Puducherry each has a legislative assembly and a council of ministers.)

Manipur (BJP+), Tamil Nadu (AIADMK) and Maharashtra (BJP+) are close to achieving the target with an existing U5MR of under 30. Despite being better performers in health indicators on an average, Delhi (AAP) and Himachal Pradesh (BJP+) are the only states (for which data are available) whose progress over the last decade has been insignificant or negative.

Himachal Pradesh, which was ranked five from the top among 29 states and UTs a decade ago (with a U5MR of 41.5), is now at rank 18 from the top, among 35 states and UTs. Worst has been Delhi’s case where U5MR seems to have worsened over the last decade, and from being in the top 10 performers just a decade ago, Delhi is one of the bottom 10 now, in the company of Uttarakhand, Odisha, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

In terms of percentage reduction in the last decade, the top five performers have been Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Odisha and Tripura.

Source: National Family Health Survey, 2015-16

India has less than 15 years to halve its MMR from 130 per 100,000 live births to under 70, in order to meet a global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target–MMR lower than 70 by 2030.

Currently, India’s Sample Registration System, which tracks deaths and births in a sample of villages and urban blocks, does not generate data on MMR for smaller states or union territories (UTs). However, historical data on the larger states show most states are doing well. Almost all large states have nearly halved their MMR in the last decade, reducing India’s MMR from 254 to 130.

However, in states such as Punjab and West Bengal, which were among the better performers a decade back, the rates of improvement in MMR have slowed down. Currently, only Kerala (CPIM+), Maharashtra (BJP+) and Tamil Nadu (AIADMK), have achieved an MMR of less than 70 in India.

Source: Sample Registration System

Tuberculosis

The Niti Health Index also looks at indicators such as tuberculosis treatment success rate. All the top five states have a success rate of more than 90%: Bihar (BJP+), Rajasthan (Congress+), Madhya Pradesh (Congress+), Mizoram (MNF+) and Jharkhand (BJP+).

Most of the better performing states are also high burden states, and will contribute to India achieving the ambitious ‘TB elimination’ status in the future. According to the Niti data, only three states, Nagaland (BJP+), Sikkim (BJP+) and Daman and Diu (UT), have a treatment success rate of less than 80%.

Source: Niti Health Index

Institutional delivery, immunisation

The states which have achieved more than 90% ‘institutional delivery’ (births at a health facility as opposed to at home), according to the Niti Health Index, which depends on the government’s Health Management Information System data, are: Chandigarh (UT), Puducherry (Congress+), Gujarat (BJP+), Mizoram (MNF+), Kerala (CPI-M+) and Goa (BJP+).  

Looking at NFHS-4 data, 14 states and UTs, a considerably larger number, are listed as having achieved more than 90% of institutional delivery. The map below uses Niti Health Index data. Only 19 states and UTs have more than 90% of their children fully immunised, according to the Niti Health Index. However, NFHS-4 paints a more sobering picture with only one UT, Puducherry (Congress+), achieving more than 90% coverage in immunisation.

Source: Niti Health Index

One of the biggest drawbacks of the Niti Health Index is that it does not allow for disaggregating health indicators across socio-economic categories. However, using NFHS-4, data can be disaggregated for a select set of indicators. Arguably, the most far-reaching progress over the last decade has been that while wealth-based inequities remain, caste-based inequities in access to institutional delivery and immunisation are fast disappearing due to focused attention by the central as well as state governments.

Perhaps a first in India’s history, Dalits (Scheduled Castes) have a higher proportion of children fully immunised (63.2%) than the national average (62%). However, Adivasis (Scheduled Tribes), Muslims as well as those from the lowest income quintile (the 20% lowest earners) have significantly lower coverage of immunisation, and need focused attention. A similar trend is visible for institutional delivery as well.

In the Niti sub-domain index focused on outcomes and access indicators, Mizoram (MNF+), Kerala (CPIM+), Lakshadweep (NA), Punjab (Congress+) and Jammu & Kashmir (NA, because currently under President’s rule) were the top performers. Among states, Bihar (BJP+), Madhya Pradesh (Congress+), Odisha (BJD), Uttar Pradesh (BJP+) and Rajasthan (Congress+) were the lowest performers.

Shifting focus

Given the remarkable improvement in child mortality rates, and healthcare service access in a context of very little investment in healthcare services, it is an ethical imperative to shift expenditure and efforts away from a narrow focus on family planning–a euphemism for population control–to core health priorities such as communicable diseases, drug availability, and human resource deployment

Currently, only 12 states and UTs, starting with Bihar (BJP+), Uttar Pradesh (BJP+), Madhya Pradesh (Congress+), Jharkhand (BJP+) and Rajasthan (Congress+) have a fertility rate higher than replacement level.

The data show that many of the better performing states such as Mizoram, Kerala and Telangana have been ruled by non-mainstream, regional parties like the MNF, CPI-M or the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. However, barring Odisha (BJD), all the low performing states are under either BJP or INC coalitions. The large parties, as well as the laggard states they have ruled such as Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, must step up.

A common minimum programme agreed upon by a multi-stakeholder consensus involving all political parties could be a way forward. It could effectively address misalignment between central and state efforts, as well as delays and derailments due to regime changes.
  
The next piece will focus on governance issues in the provision of public healthcare, as well as on how synergies must be harnessed in a context of policy fragmentation for the larger public good.

This story was first published here on HealthCheck.

(Kurian is Fellow at Observer Research Foundation’s Health Initiative.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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