Hyderabad: A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's 'population imbalance' remark, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi said Muslims were the ones using most contraceptives.
"Are Muslims not natives of India? If we see the reality, natives are only tribals and Dravidian people. In Uttar Pradesh, without any law, desired fertility rate would be achieved by 2026-2030," Owaisi said to ANI today on Adityanath's statement.
Owaisi added, "Their own Health Minister said that no law is needed in the country for population control. It's Muslims who're using most contraceptives. The total fertility rate which was 2.6 in 2016 is now 2.3. Country's demographic dividend is the best among all countries."
After a report by the United Nations on Monday said India was projected to surpass China as the world's most populous country in 2023, CM Yogi Adityanath said the population control programme must go ahead successfully but at the same time, 'population imbalance' should not be allowed to happen.
Adityanath also said, "It should not happen that the speed of population growth or the percentage of some community is high and we stabilise the population of the `moolniwasi' (natives) through awareness or enforcement."
He said programmes pertaining to awareness of population stabilisation have been running for the past five decades. On one scale, population is an achievement of the society, but this will remain an achievement only when the society remains healthy and disease-free, he added.
According to a report by the World Population Prospects 2022 by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division the world's population is projected to reach eight billion on November 15, 2022. The latest projections by the United Nations suggest that the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.4 billion in 2100.
In July 2021, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath unveiled the state's new population policy, which aims to incentivise people to help in population control. The unveiling coincided with World Population Day, which is celebrated on July 11 every year.
"Increasing population can be a hurdle in way of development. Every community has been taken care of in Population Policy 2021-2030," Adityanath said in July 2021. He had also said that population control is directly connected with awareness among masses and poverty.
Jai Pratap Singh, the state's health minister, had said last year that Uttar Pradesh is aiming for stability by 2050. He also said with the new policy, the aim is to reduce population growth rate to 2.1 per cent. —ANI