BOMBAY, August 16, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The silent enforcement of India’s coercive two child policy has been identified as the source of the country’s troubles with abortion of baby girls and the resulting deficit of women. Inter Press Service reports that the population control policy includes welfare payments to poor Indians with two children or fewer and rewards couples that marry after age 21 and accept sterilization after having two children. The report also indicates that six Indian states are prohibiting couples with more than two children from participating in local elections, and some states bar those with more than two children from government jobs. India’s National Population Policy (NPP), released in 2000, aims to have the country—now with a population of more than one billion – ‘achieve a stable population’ by 2045.
(Inter Press Service POPULATION-INDIA : Silently, Provinces Enforce Two-Children Norm By T V Padma)