Amid Population Control Bills Row, Centre Last Year Said No "Coercion"

The affidavit emerges as two BJP-ruled states - Uttar Pradesh and Assam - and several party MPs have proposed controversial population control laws

India is "unequivocally against coercion in family planning" and data shows "couples, on average, do not want more than two children", the centre told the Supreme Court in a December 2020 affidavit signed by an Under Secretary in the Union Health Ministry's Family Planning division. The affidavit - filed in response to a PIL seeking re-introduction of the mandatory two-child norm or the framing of an equal new law - emerges as two BJP-ruled states - Uttar Pradesh and Assam - and several party MPs have proposed controversial population control laws, which include blocking access to government benefits for couples with more than two children. "Family Welfare Programme in India is voluntary in nature, which enables couples to decide size of their family and adopt family planning methods... without any compulsion," the affidavit stated. It also points out India is a signatory to the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994, under which it is "is unequivocally against coercion in family planning".