Declining birth rate worries AP govt

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government is laying greater focus in organizing awareness programmes to check fall in birth rate and encourage the concept of having more than two children.

This assumes importance in the wake of drastic fall in the birth rate in the southern states, including Andhra Pradesh. It may be mentioned here that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu during his Independence Day speech and from other platforms has been emphasizing on the urgent need for demographic management and has been expressing concern over the drastic fall in birth rate.

Naidu had said the birth rate in Andhra Pradesh had fallen to 1.5 percent as against the national birth rate of 2.1 per cent. He said if this was not checked, by 2047 the number of the old people will outnumber the young not only in the state but across the country. The state government is also planning to raise the issue in Niti Aayog and G20 summits.

It may be recalled that as a first step the state government had removed the conditions that those having more than two children were not eligible to contest in the local bodies’ elections. This issue also figured at the recent Cabinet meeting where it was noted that youth was a big asset for the country and the Chief Minister had appealed to give up one child norm from now onwards and asked all the ministers and public representatives to promote this concept in a mission mode.

As per the UNO Population Fund report, the senior citizens rate in India which was 10.1 per cent during 2021 will increase to 15 per cent by 2036 and 20.8 per cent by 2050. The fall in the ratio of youth had begun from 2010. As per a World Bank study, the average life span of men in the country stands at 68 years and women at 71 years. Even China, which encouraged one child norm in the past, is now campaigning and encouraging more children. China had removed the one-child norm way back in 2016 itself.