PIL filed in SC seeking effective implementation of two-children norm

A Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Supreme court seeking appropriate directions to the Central government in order to ensure that two-children policy is followed by all the families across the country. The petition also stated that the government should promote family planning and adopt all such measures to encourage the people of the country to follow the two-children norm. The petition has been filed by activists Anupam Bajpai through Advocate Shiv Kumar Tripathi, which states that the citizens should have a limit in giving birth, which should be fixed as maximum of two children failing which the concerned person shall attract disqualification with respect to government facilities and other benefits being provided by the government to its citizens. The petition further stated that the current state of increasing population is putting the natural resources under immense pressure, thereby causing a tremendous and hazardous effect on environment leading to pollution. Anupam further said that “ If the population of India continues to multiply with the existing rate, the impact on the environment could be devastating.” He also said that the growth of population was contributing to the generation of poverty and depletion of the environment. As a result, the demand for the food, energy and housing are increasing every day, thereby leading to severe degradation of the environment. Hence, there is a need to control the increasing population by adopting family planning measures. The two-children norm is India's target-oriented, family-size control policies, which encourages parents to limit their families to two children and creates disadvantages for couples with more than two children. The disadvantages include disqualification from panchayat council positions, denial of certain public services and government welfare programs, including maternal and child health programs. In India, apart from national level family planning policies, the two children norm is effective in states like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan.