Andhra Plans Rs 25,000 Incentive for Second Child

'We will give Rs 25,000 to parents having a second child or more at the time of delivery itself.'

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday told the assembly that the government is considering a Rs 25,000 birth incentive for couples from their second child onwards to boost the falling birth rate in the state.

At least since July 2024, the chief ministers of some of the southern states, including Naidu and Tamil Nadu's M K Stalin, have flagged concern about the region's diminishing demographic dividend in the decades to come on account of the strides the South has made in population control.

Rs 25,000 Birth Incentive Plan

Addressing the assembly, Naidu said the government aims to raise Andhra Pradesh's Total Fertility Rate (TFR) -- to 2.1 from the current 1.5, which is below the replacement level.

"We are looking at a novel method. We will give Rs 25,000 to parents having a second child or more at the time of delivery itself.

"This will be a big game-changer. If we can do it, it will be very useful," a PTI report from Amaravati quoted Naidu as saying.

The Andhra CM said his government plans to bring out a policy on population management by the end of March and implement it from April.

Andhra Pradesh Falling Fertility Rate

At the NITI Aayog's ninth meeting -- chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- in New Delhi on July 27, 2024, Naidu had spoken of the need for the states to devise their own respective demographic management policies.

In his concluding speech, according to the official press statement, the PM 'encouraged states to initiate 'demographic management plans' to address the issues of population ageing in future'.

TFR Target Raised to 2.1

A fortnight later, the Naidu-led government scrapped an earlier law that mandated that only those with not more than two children could contest local body elections.

Several other states have similar 'two child' norms, such as making those with more than two children ineligible for state government jobs or debarring them from contesting local body elections.

The states include Assam, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Odisha.

The TFR of South India has dropped below the replacement level, bringing in train the economic challenges the region would face because of an ageing population, as also the decline in its political influence after the delimitation of the Lok Sabha seats, which will be based on the data of the ongoing census.

Population Policy Coming in April

Naidu and Stalin have urged people to have more children, bringing into question the country's decades-long policies on population management.

The Andhra CM had earlier said that the government was mulling over legislation to incentivise families to have more children, reversing earlier policies aimed at population control.

He has said an increase in the proportion of the elderly could strain the region's economy as was being witnessed in Japan, China, and parts of Europe, where ageing populations outnumbered younger people.

Delimitation Debate Over Population

Stalin has sought to frame the debate on population control in the context of the "threat" the delimitation process would pose to his state's political influence.

Addressing a gathering at a mass wedding ceremony of 31 couples that the state government's Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department in Chennai organised in October 2024, Stalin mentioned how blessings for newlyweds had changed over time.

He said an old Tamil saying from the book Manamakkalukku enumerated 16 forms of wealth -- from cows and land to children and education.

But with the likely reduction of South India's share in parliamentary seats due to lower population growth rates, Stalin said in jest: 'Why not aim for 16 children?'

'The Parliament delimitation process may encourage couples to have many children and give up thoughts of a small family.

'But whatever be the outcome, provide Tamil names to your children,' he said.

In a post on X, Congress General Secretary (Communication) Jairam Ramesh had earlier said that the southern states were pioneers in family planning, and their success 'should not be penalised' when the delimitation was undertaken once the census is completed.

'Will this (census) be used for allocation of seats in the Lok Sabha?

'There can be no doubt that success should not be penalised. Suitable formulae can be worked out to ensure that this does not happen,' Ramesh said.

According to the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS5) data, only three states -- Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand -- have TFRs more than the replacement level of 2.1.

Birth rates have fallen sharply in the southern states.

Kerala was the first to reach replacement levels of fertility in 1988, followed by Tamil Nadu in 1993, Andhra Pradesh in 2001, and Karnataka in 2005.

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government amended the Constitution (Article 82) in 2001 to make the readjustments in the Lok Sabha dependent on the publication of the first census taken after the year 2026, which in the normal course would have taken place after the 2031 Census.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff