Will encourage people to have more children, South representation in House at risk: Naidu

This is not the first time the TDP leader and NDA ally has spoken about the proposed population growth policy. In October 2024, he had warned against the effects of Andhra’s ageing population and said his government was contemplating legislation to incentivise families to have more children.

Another Chief Minister of a southern state, Tamil Nadu’s M K Stalin, has urged people to have more children as higher population is a criterion to get more MPs after delimitation.

Naidu said on Friday: “To avoid a human resource crisis in the future, the fertility rate in the state must rise. Joint families are disappearing. There’s growing concern about the declining population in South India. While Parliament seats may increase in the future, southern states could see reduced representation.”

The Chief Minister expressed concern that declining population growth would hamper economic growth.

Acknowledging the impact of the rising cost of living, he said the government will introduce a plan to incentivise couples. Among the proposals on the cards is to increase the amount of PDS rice given to beneficiary families from 25 kg per month to 50 kg per month if the family size increases. Another proposal to encourage female government employees is to have child care centers to set up in government offices.

Naidu said that while in the past the state government had launched a movement for population control in united Andhra Pradesh, the need of the hour is population management. He said India has the ability to compete with developed nations because of its population.

“Once, population was seen as a major problem. Before 2004, as CM, I incentivized family planning. We even brought a law disqualifying those with more than two children from contesting local body elections. But today, there’s a need to amend the law to allow those with more than two children to contest,” the CM said.

He expressed concern that while the global population is increasing, birth rates are declining, and the population of the youth is shrinking while the elderly population is increasing.

“Wherever aging becomes an issue, growth stagnates. In rich nations, low birth rates are becoming the norm. When the rate falls below 2.1, the population starts declining. In India, Bihar is at 3.0, Meghalaya 2.9, UP 2.4, Jharkhand 2.3, Manipur 2.2, Tamil Nadu 1.8, Telangana 1.8, Kerala 1.8, Karnataka 1.7, and Andhra Pradesh 1.7. To maintain population equilibrium, a 2.1 rate is essential,” the CM said.