Delhi population bill to be tabled in Assembly budget session

Apart from the usual free government education for children up to the secondary stage and cash rewards to parents for sticking to the two children limit, the bill proposes to control child birth on a war footing by introducing a number of dis-incentives.

If the bill comes through, after a one-year period, persons not abiding by the small-family norms would be banned from contesting Legislative Assembly elections or those to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. They will also not be eligible for nomination to the New Delhi Municipal Council.

The Delhi Population Bill actually has a list of warnings for husbands and wives flouting the small-family norm. They would be barred from allotment of a house or housing scheme launched by the government or any local authority. They would be barred from becoming members of any cooperative society under the Cooperative Act, 1912 and would not be allowed to avail of any loan from the Delhi Financial Corporation or an institution under the Delhi government.

To get the people at large to comply to the norms, the stringent bill also proposes to put the Fair Price Shop under the Public Distribution Network and LPG supply within the gambit of the bill.

According to Population Studies statistics, Delhi, with the highest density of population of 1,639 persons per square km, is doomed to disaster if the population keeps increasing. The all-India average is not above 267 persons per square km.

Furthermore, Delhi has no hinterland like Bombay or Calcutta where the expanding city could be accommodated. It is a state-locked territory hedged in by the neighbouring states of Haryana, Rajasthan and UP. The geographical area of 1,483 sq km has not increased by an inch since 1912 when Delhi was made the capital instead of Calcutta.

The bill points out that the unprecedented increase in population from seven lakh to over 1.5 crore has made Delhi expand in two direction 8212; authorised and unauthorised construction. With 70 per cent of the population living in either unauthorised colonies or slums.

Just like the Central Population Policy, the Delhi Population Control Bill also proposes to achieve stabilisation by the next millennium and reduce fertility rate to 2.1 children per family through a government incentive programme.

It also incorporates changes that have been adopted in the last five years including the target-free approach. A United Nations agency has warned that Indian cities are likely to become 8220;urban nightmares8221; due to the growing population and lack of planning.

Dikshit, who is said to have given a nod to the Bill, has a slight reservation as she feels that a population policy for Delhi which does not address the issue of ever-increasing migrant labourers is incomplete. The bill is, therefore, likely to be somewhat expanded if not modified.