Catholic World News reports that India's Supreme Court ruled that legal measures designed to punish large families, as part of a population-control effort, do not violate constitutional rights to life and liberty.
The high court dismissed petitions from the northern Haryana state, which has enacted legislation making parents ineligible for public office if they have more than two children. Several Indian states, says CWN, have established similar laws — and policies making large families ineligible for housing loans, government jobs, and school admissions.
India's central government is also contemplating harsh new population control laws. According to a July 17, 2003 report in the Times of India, those with more than two children would be banned from government jobs and from running for elected office.
Quoted in The Times, deputy prime minister L. K. Advani promised “persuasive” methods to curb population.
Even more radical measures are being discussed in the media, including heavy fines for families with more than two children and huge rewards for couples who sterilize themselves or obtain abortions. India's Financial Express columnist S.S. Tarapore wants to double the fee for a marriage certificate, quadruple the fee for a birth certificate and to raise the latter by ten times for those with more than two children. He wants “handsome” financial rewards for “males undergoing a vasectomy and females a tubectomy.” He would reward women for having an abortion “up to the third month,” and double subsidies for “family planning.” He says “availability of contraceptive devices should be flooded in the market and distributed at virtually zero cost.”
Click here, for Tarapore's opinion column.
See Times of India coverage.
See also:
Women Becoming 'Scarce' in Abortion-Plagued India
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
