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Women's groups oppose population control bill

Representatives of leading women's groups met Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in New Delhi today to lodge a strong protest against the controversial Delhi Population Control Bill moved by Congress MLA Kiran Choudhury in the last assembly session.

In a two-page memorandum to the chief minister, the women's groups said the basic premise of the bill that high fertility rate was responsible for the capital's burgeoning population was incorrect. The main cause of this was the high migration into the city.

The groups also said that poor people went in for more children because they were not sure how many of them would survive.

Instead of proposing ''anti-people'' laws, the government should lay stress on increasing employment opportunities and providing extensive education and healthcare facilities, they added.

According to the activists, Dikshit said Choudhury had tabled the bill as a private member and the government had not yet taken a decision on whether to adopt it. The groups' objections would be considered before taking any decision, she said.

The bill proposes a two-child family and provides for stiff ''penalties'' for those exceeding the norm. Besides barring such people from contesting elections for public offices, the bill also says that they would be ineligible to get ration cards, loans for housing and promotions in government jobs besides other disincentives.

''The proposed bill is wholly misconceived, unconstitutional and discriminatory and also objectionably elitist in its assertions. It also reveals the big gap that exists in understanding the real problems of the people of this city. Moreover the reports that your government is considering adoption of the bill raise serious questions about the direction of your own policies,'' the memorandum said.

Strongly objecting to ''insulting remarks against the city's Poor,'' the memorandum said the bill virtually accused them of being responsible for the city's ill health. ''Instead of expressing concern that city has hardly any public toilets in slum settlements she blames poor people for insanitary lifestyles,'' it added.

Among the activists who met the chief minister were Ashalata of Janwadi Mahila Samiti, Sahiba Farooqui of National Federation of Indian Women, Jaya Shrivastava of Ankur, Madhu of Joint Women's Programme, Preet Rastogi of Centre for Women's Development and Neelam of Jagori.

At a public convention yesterday, the activists had warned of spearheading a mass agitation if the government persisted in continuing with the bill.

UNI

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