A plea filed before the Supreme Court has called population explosion to be the root cause of over 50% of problems in India. The petitioner, Firoz Bakht Ahmed, grandnephew of India's first Education Minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, has asked the system to form effective rules, regulations, and guidelines to control the population.
He named high poverty, illiteracy, discrimination, lack of awareness, and lack of medical facilities to be the result of unplanned population growth.
The plea is seeking directions to the union government to ensure the feasibility of making a two-child law as a criterion for eligibility for government jobs, aids, subsidies, right to vote, right to contest in elections, right to property, and right to free shelter reported the Live Law.
The plea also recommended that the government declare the first Sunday of every month as "Health Day' instead of Polio Day. A suggestion to distribute contraceptives is also among the recommendations. Petitioner also suggested that the Law Commission of India prepare a comprehensive report on population explosion within three months and recommend ways to control it.
Mr. Ahmed said that it is essential for the country to adopt a holistic approach to population control. He hinted that the stand-alone, dispersed strategies are ineffective.
The PIL has called on the 24th recommendation of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (Justice Venkat chaliah Commission).