"Educating Women My Preferred Way To Control Population": Nitish Kumar

The assertion of Nitish Kumar assumes significance in the wake of a clamour for a law by the BJP which is pushing for a population control policy in some of the states ruled by it like Uttar Pradesh and Assam.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday dug in his heels on the issue of population control, making it clear that he preferred to control demographic explosion by educating and empowering women. The assertion of Mr Kumar, who is the de facto leader of the JD(U), an NDA ally, assumes significance in the wake of a clamour for a law by the BJP which is pushing for a population control policy in some of the states ruled by it like Uttar Pradesh and Assam. "Our experience in Bihar speaks for itself. There has been a notable rise in the proportion of women who complete high school or pursue higher studies. There has been a corresponding decline in fertility rate," he told reporters in Patna. He was replying to queries from journalists after addressing a function where he inaugurated 989 health projects with a total value of Rs 2705.35 crore.