- The Andhra Pradesh chief minister said rising incomes are leading to some couples having only one child
- Naidu has warned that India should not repeat the mistakes made by countries like South Korea and Japan
- Opposition parties have criticised the incentives
Pivoting further from advocating family planning at one point, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has announced that his government will give incentives of Rs 30,000 to families on the birth of a third child and Rs 40,000 for the fourth.
The decision has sparked criticism from other parties, which have linked it to the Centre's push for increasing seats in the Lok Sabha and questioned why a policy for family planning at the national level is not being implemented.
Speaking at an event at Narsannapeta in Srikakulam district on Saturday, Naidu said, "I have thought about this many times. In the past, I worked towards family planning. But today, once again, children are our wealth, and a need has arisen for all of us to work for their sake."
"That is why I have taken another decision. For the third child, we will give Rs 30,000 immediately upon birth. For the fourth child, we will give Rs 40,000," the Telugu Desam Party chief announced.
Naidu has been speaking about falling birth rates for some time now and warned that India should not repeat the mistakes committed by countries like South Korea and Japan.
The chief minister said rising incomes are leading to some couples giving birth to only one child, while others are having a second child only if the firstborn is a girl.
He emphasised that maintaining the replacement-level Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 2.1 is essential and said a population remains stable only when the fertility rate is 2.1 children per woman.
'Distraction'
Taking a dig at Naidu over the decision, Congress leader and MP Karti Chidambaram responded with just one word.
Posting a video of NDTV's report on the incentives on X, Chidambaram wrote: "Seriously?"
Congress National Spokesperson Alok Sharma had a lot more to say.
"For the last 12 years, there has been hardly any discussion or national policy on family planning and population control in the country. There has been talk of increasing Lok Sabha seats, and in South India, the message has gone out that if their population remains low in the future, their seats will decrease," Sharma said.
"This is unfortunate for the country. Why don't you make any policy on family control, family planning, and population control at the national level?" he asked the Union government led by the BJP, which is a TDP ally.
YSR Congress National Spokesperson Karthik Yellapragada called the decision an attempt to distract from the "failures" of the TDP-led government in Andhra Pradesh.
"The declaration is little more than yet another desperate political stunt aimed at distracting the public from the massive failure of the TDP-led coalition government in Andhra Pradesh. A chief minister who has utterly failed to deliver on even one major commitment is now brazenly announcing new promises that lack both credibility and any financial foundation," he alleged.
"Rather than building economic stability, creating employment, reinforcing welfare programmes, and rebuilding public confidence, Mr Naidu is delivering this dramatic announcement with no accountability whatsoever," he added.
