The Uttar Pradesh Minority Commission will launch a drive seeking opinion from Muslims on a population control law in the state. A panel will visit districts and areas with over 25 per cent Muslim population to seek opinion and submit a report to the UP Assembly as well as Parliament about its findings. “Our country’s population is already very high and it is continuing to grow. Hence, if a law to control population is not brought, our country will face major issues in future. Therefore, a committee is being formed which will speak to people from the Muslim community about population control, and will seek their opinion about the proposed law to control population,” Ashfaq Saifi, the chairpersons of Uttar Pradesh Minorities Commission, told The Sunday Express. According to him, the panel will comprise members of the Commission, Islamic scholars, volunteers from NGOs and some other renowned people. “This committee will go to all districts with a special focus with districts where the population of Muslims is more than 25 per cent. We are chalking out the details like what specific things they would speak about… After holding such meetings, the committee will submit a report to us, which will then be studied by our Commission, and will then be sent to the UP Assembly and Parliament,” Saifi said. “We have already been running a campaign where people from the Commission have gone to the districts and spoke to people from the Muslim community about their issues, and whether they have availed government schemes,” added Saifi. Last July, the Uttar Pradesh government, led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, had said that “attempts will be made to ensure there is a population balance among various communities” in the state. In its Population Policy 2021-30, the government had also said that “extensive campaigns” would be run in communities, groups, and geographical areas where fertility rates are higher. Newsletter | Click to get the day's best explainers in your inbox The policy aims to bring down the gross fertility rate in the state from the current 2.7 to 2.1 by 2026, and to 1.9 by 2030 “by empowering women to make informed personal choices”. The 40-page Population Policy document was released on World Population Day, days after the UP Law Commission published a draft Bill on population control on its website. “We support the government’s proposal to bring a population control law because it is a good step. If our population is controlled, the country will do better,” said Saifi. When asked about it, Minister of State (Minority Welfare and Waqf Department) Danish Azad Raza said, “We support the initiative by the Commission. Right now, our focus is on the 100 days of completion of the Yogi 2.0 government. After that, we will give out more details about the initiative.”
