Guwahati : Mixed response to 2-child norm

GUWAHATI: The state government's draft population policy, which proposes a two-child norm, has evoked mixed reactions in the state.

Humanitarian agency Oxfam India said though the policy espouses access to better opportunities, it disputes its positive action by proposing adoption of a coercive approach to promote advantages of a small family.

"The Assam government needs to focus on improving women's education, healthcare and access to contraception. These measures can work in a developing country to check population growth. Coercive measures can backfire as we have seen in China, where the sex ratio is skewed due to the one-child policy, which the government had to ease now," said Oxfam India CEO Nisha Agrawal.

Ilias Ali, professor of surgery at Gauhati Medical College, said, "The draft policy encourages families to follow the two-child norm. But nowhere are there suggestions of any coercive measures. Rather, a lot of emphasis has been given on women's education, preventing child marriages and bringing down infant and maternal mortality rates. These recommendations have been misinterpreted and misrepresented." Ali is one of the members of the committee which drafted the policy.

The draft policy recommended that persons having more than two children will not be eligible for government jobs and and also can't be elected or nominated to panchayats and other local bodies.