Uttar Pradesh has not implemented the Population Control Bill which disincentivises couples having more than two children
A post accompanying a video clip from Republic Bharat that reports UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath preparing to introduce a draft of the Population Control Bill, is being widely shared across social media platforms (here, here, here, & here). The claim accompanying the post suggests that the state of Uttar Pradesh has implemented or passed a Two-Child Policy prohibiting people with more than two children from availing government jobs and schemes. In the video, we can hear the anchor discussing how, if passed, this law would prevent families with more than two children from accessing up to 77 government schemes, other jobs, and facilities. He also mentions how members of these families would be unable to contest elections, avail subsidies, or get promoted in their jobs. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: The state of Uttar Pradesh has implemented or passed a population control bill, a law prohibiting people who have more than two children from availing government jobs and schemes.
Fact: The Uttar Pradesh government has not implemented the Population Control Bill. According to reports, a draft of the Uttar Pradesh Population Control Bill was created and released by the state law commission in 2021. According to this draft bill (The Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization, and Welfare) Bill, 2021), couples adhering to the two-child mandate would be given incentives in the form of healthcare, subsidies, and other special benefits. However, those who do not adhere to this policy would not be allowed to apply for government jobs, seek promotions, or benefit from government welfare schemes. However, this bill has not yet been presented in the Legislative Assembly. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search. However, we could not find any reports from credible sources regarding the implementation of the Population Control Bill in Uttar Pradesh.
During this search, we found several reports (here, here, here and here) from 2021 stating that a draft of the UP-Population Control Bill was created by the Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission and released in July 2021. According to this draft bill, The Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization, and Welfare) Bill, 2021, couples adhering to the two-child mandate would be given incentives in the form of healthcare, subsidies, and other special benefits. Further, those who do not adhere to this policy would not be allowed to apply for government jobs, seek promotions, or benefit from government welfare schemes. However, we did not find any reports indicating that Uttar Pradesh has implemented this law. A similar policy is in place in Assam, which bars parents with more than two children from government jobs under the Assam Public Services (Application of Small Family Norms in Direct Recruitment) Rules, 2019.
We then explored the Uttar Pradesh government’s website, which led us to the website of the state’s legislative assembly, where the bills passed, or the laws implemented in various years are listed. We noticed that the population control bill or two-child policy doesn’t feature among them. This confirms that the Population Control Bill has not been passed yet.
On reverse image searching the viral news clip, we found the original video uploaded on the YouTube channel of Republic Bharat (archived here) on 11 July 2021. The viral portion can be seen around the timestamp 16:30 and ends at the timestamp 18:11. In this video, the news anchor states that the Uttar Pradesh Law Commission has recommended that people with more than two children be barred from government jobs and be ineligible for certain government welfare schemes and benefits. It is clear that the video report on Republic TV’s YouTube channel was discussing the draft and not the implementation of the bill.
To sum up, as of 11 June 2024, Uttar Pradesh has not implemented the Population Control Bill which restricts families with more than two children from accessing government schemes and benefits.