New Delhi, Jul 10 (UNI) Geeta Phogat, the first woman wrestler to win gold medal in India for Commonwealth Games, today took a pledge to have two children in an endeavour to raise awareness for the two children policy. On the eve of World Population Day, a citizens group, Taxpayers Association of Bharat (TAXAB), endorsed by eminent personalities like agronomist M S Swaminathan and actor Adil Hussain, launched a campaign here pressing for two-child policy in India and demanding a central law for restricting the number of children a couple can have. Geeta, the eldest daughter of Mahavir Singh Phogat, who has been awarded with the Dronacharya Award, took pledge with her husband and wrestler Pawan Kumar. Speaking on the occasion, Geeta said,”I want the government to take serious action and pay attention to the society’s growing overpopulation that is being explosive and make a law on it.” The TAXAB, headed by agriculturist and social worker Manu Gaur said,”We occupy 2.5 per cent of the land mass and have over 17 per cent of the world’s population, how is that not an issue that needs to be addressed on an urgent basis.” Mr Gaur said that several State governments, most recently Assam, have linked access to government jobs, facilities and even eligibility to contest local body polls following the two-child norm.
“We want a central law that mandates all that. As a country, the spreading thin of our resources over such a large population has a really bad effect on the future of our children,” he said. The group has launched an SMS campaign in May requesting people to give missed call to a particular number to support the cause. They have also floated a petition signing campaign through their website. The contention of TAXAB is that the taxpayers’ money is being lost as India’s population is growing disproportionate with its landmass and national wealth. “Population in Bharat is growing rapidly. The growth is so alarming that it has nullified the impact of all development. In 1947, population of Bharat was nearly 36 crores which has increased by more than four times? Though taxpayers are regularly increasing their contribution to fight with poverty, the vote bank politics has been misusing the hard-earned money of taxpayers for past 70 years,” an online petition read. In its revised report on world population prospects, 2017, the UN has projected that India’s population will surpass that of China by 2030. The campaign wants every state in the country to execute the two-child policy so that the resources and taxpayers’ money can be utilised properly. TAXAB says that it will put pressure on bringing such a law, under which the ban on the birth of more than two children is banned. In addition to Geeta, the population control campaign will be given speed by the actors Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar and singers Shaan and Kailash Kher. UNI
