TDP to enforce two-child norm for party cadre

"We are setting an example for other parties to follow. This should send across a message that family planning needs to be taken up as a movement in the country," Naidu said while rounding off a debate on the draft resolution on population policy.

"Let me make it clear that the two-child norm will not be enforced with retrospective affect but only after the cut-off date," Naidu told the 6,000-odd gathering of party leaders, evoking peals of laughter. The two-child norm would also be made applicable to those seeking jobs in government services and the beneficiaries of welfare schemes, the Chief Minister said.

After the cut-off date, the TDP leaders having more than two children would automatically stand disqualified from holding any party position, Naidu said and appealed to all other political parties to follow a similar policy.

With the country’s population touching the one billion mark, there was an urgent need for the Centre and state governments to formulate comprehensive acts on population control and take up the issue as a people’s movement, he said.

Naidu said his government would involve women and self-help groups in a big way to promote family planning particularly in rural areas. The Chief Minister said the Kerala model of population control was the best suited for the country. "We should involve the community in promoting family planning methods and reward those poorer sections who voluntarily adopt the small family norm," he said.

Compulsory registration of marriages, stringent action against parents who perform marriage of their daughters below 18 years and creation of public awareness about post-marital spacing methods were needed to check population explosion, he said.

"As law-makers, we should first set an example for the people to follow. It is with this intention that our party is setting a new trend to popularise family planning," the TDP chief said.