The Andhra Pradesh government has proposed giving a cash incentive of Rs 25,000 for couples who have a third child. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday, March 5, announced this while unveiling a draft population management policy in the state Assembly, proposing various measures to address declining birth rate.
The government also proposes to give Rs 1,000 per month as nutrition assistance for the third child for five years and free education till 18 years. To encourage more childbirths, the government is planning to provide 12 months maternal leave and two months paternal leave.
Voicing concern over the state’s current Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 1.5, he said the government was taking steps to improve the TFR to 2.1 which is ideal to maintain demographic balance.
CM Chandrababu said that the population management policy, the first of its kind in the country, will be a gamechanger to increase population.
The CM announced that the 'Population Management' policy document will be made available online to everyone. The Chief Minister suggested that public representatives in every constituency in the state should hold a discussion on this issue among the people for a month.
The policy will be finalized by the end of this month and will be implemented from April 1. He revealed that changes will be made in the policy after examining the results after a year.
Expressing serious concern over falling Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in Andhra Pradesh from 3.0 in 1993 to 1.5 at present, the Chief Minister said this posed threat to economic growth with a fall in the number of young working people. He cautioned that the state will face an ageing problem like in Japan, South Korea and Italy.
Citing the report of 2023, he said 6.70 lakh births were reported per year. If the same situation continues by 2047 the ratio of aged people will increase up to 23%.
He warned that if the TFR decreases further, the workforce will decline, resulting in slowing down of economic growth. He explained that this draft policy was designed with the idea that if the government does not intervene, more damage will be done.
Under the population management policy, the government planning to introduce five stage lifecycle system including Matrutva (motherhood), Shakti (strength), Kshema (well-being), Naipunyam (skills) and Sanjeevani (longevity).
The Chief Minister said, 'The women's workforce is currently only 31 percent. If it reaches 59 percent, the state's GSDP will increase by 15 percent. He said there will be government support at every stage of life from pregnancy to old age. “We will support those who are childless and suffering from fertility problems. We will set up a Maternity Center of Excellence and provide IVF services in government hospitals under PPP mode.”
The government will take steps to reduce caesarean sections. The government has also set a target to reduce teenage pregnancies, which is currently 8.8 percent, to less than 3 percent. Stating that women work force participation stands at 31 per cent and it should be increased to 59 per cent to achieve 15 per cent GSDP.
“If there are 50 children and women in an area, we will set up child care centers and pink toilets. We will make she-cabs available. We have undertaken the construction of a working women's hostel in Visakhapatnam with a cost of Rs. 172 crore. We are ready to set up new working women's hostels in any area where women employees work,” he added.