UP Bill on ‘2-child norm’ proposes cash benefits for 1-child couples

The bill has added a new disincentive for those who will breach the two-child norm — they will be made ineligible for being nominated or appointed as chairman or managing director of any public corporation; or nominated as member to any local authority.

Other disincentives for not adhering to the two-child norm, like being barred from contesting local polls, ineligibility for state-sponsored welfare schemes,

, remain the same.

The panel had received over 8,500 suggestions — one of them was to give couples with one child a one-time lump sum amount. In the first draft, the commission had restricted this incentive to families below poverty line and had also suggested the amount at ₹1 lakh. “One of the suggestions we received was to extend this incentive to all families, and also to not prescribe the amount as the value of money can fluctuate depending on inflation,” chairman AN Mittal told ET.

“We have not given any weightage to any political party, religious organisation, etc while deciding on the clauses and have taken suggestions in totality. Also, the law is about a two-child norm and not a one-child norm,” Mittal said.

The commission has also justified how the bill doesn’t violate Article 25 while dealing with religions governed by personal laws, citing the Supreme Court judgements.

The treatment of polygamous relationships has been kept unchanged — the total number of children to a man (or woman) legally wedded to more than one partner will be considered while deciding the eligibility for incentives or disincentives.

Quoting a SC judgement, the report said: “The Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that no religious scripture or authority has been brought to our notice, which provides that marrying less than four women or abstaining from procreating a child from each and every wife in case of permitted bigamy or polygamy would be irreligious or offensive to the dictates of religion.”