Amravati, May 17 (IANS). The financial incentives for third and fourth children have been announced by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu amid growing concern over the continuously declining fertility rate (TFR) in the state.
Addressing a public meeting in Srikakulam district, the Chief Minister announced that the government will provide Rs 30,000 for the third child and Rs 40,000 for the fourth child.
Chandrababu Naidu, who was a strong supporter of population control when he was the Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh from 1995 to 2004, now believes that population is not a burden but an asset.
According to officials, the incentives given beyond the second child are inspired by the model of countries like France and Hungary, where such policies have been adopted to avoid future demographic crisis.
According to the data of the state health department, Andhra Pradesh is aging faster than India. The average age of the state is 32.5 years, while the national average is 28.4 years.
Officials say that Andhra Pradesh will continue to enjoy demographic advantage only till 2040, after which the proportion of elderly population may increase rapidly.
The total fertility rate (TFR) of Andhra Pradesh was 3.0 in 1993, which has now come down to 1.5. This is well below the replacement level of 2.1. According to officials, this situation points towards a demographic crisis similar to that in developed countries like Japan, South Korea and Italy.
Since becoming the Chief Minister in 2024, Chandrababu Naidu has been continuously advocating population growth and calling it necessary to increase the TFR to 2.1.
Taking the first step in this direction, his government had abolished the two-child limit applicable for contesting local body elections.
In March, he introduced the country’s first ‘Population Management Policy’, which was described as a game-changer for population growth. Schemes like nutritional support of Rs 1,000 per month for the third child for five years and free education till 18 years have been proposed in this policy.
The Chief Minister had said in the Assembly that the government was planning to provide 12 months of maternity leave and two months of paternity leave to encourage the birth of more children.
He also warned that if the fertility rate declined further, the working population would reduce, which would affect economic growth.
State Health, Medical and Family Welfare Secretary Saurabh Gaur had said that now the state is facing the same problem that many developed countries are facing, where the population of non-working age group is increasing rapidly.
Under the population management policy, the government is preparing to implement a five-stage life cycle system like ‘Matritva’, ‘Shakti’, ‘Kshem’, ‘Naipunyam’ and ‘Sanjeevani’.
The government has assured support at every stage from pregnancy to old age. The Chief Minister said that IVF services would be provided under the PPP model in government hospitals for childless couples and people suffering from reproductive problems.
The Health Department has also introduced a plan to set up ‘Fertility Colleges’ for reproductive medicine. At these centres, experts will be trained and infertile couples will be provided IVF treatment with government assistance.
The government has also set a target of reducing the number of cesarean deliveries and reducing the teenage pregnancy rate from the current 8.8 per cent to below 3 per cent.
Population management and human resource development have been made the third major prong in the ‘Padi Sutralu’ (10 Prongs) under the ‘Swarna Andhra Vision 2047’, reflecting the policy shift from population control to population sustainability.
–IANS
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