‘Like mouth of Sursa’: Giriraj Singh seeks tough population control law, draws comparison with China
Drawing comparisons with China, the firebrand BJP leader said that while India lost out to its big neighbour in terms of economic progress, it surpassed the nation in population growth.
Union minister Giriraj Singh on Monday demanded a stringent law on population after the United Nations released a report that projected India to surpass China as the world’s most populous country next year. The report was released on the occasion of World Population Day.
"We have limited resources, but our population is expanding like the mouth of Sursa (a mythical female demon believed to have an ever-expanding mouth),” Singh said in a video posted on his Twitter account.
“The perverse mindset (vikrit mansikta) out of which one person sires 10 children can not be allowed," Singh, who often makes headlines for making controversial comments, further said.
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Drawing comparisons with China, the firebrand BJP leader said that while India lost out to its big neighbour in terms of economic progress, it surpassed the nation in population growth.
He added that the need of the hour is a stringent law ('kada kanoon') for population control that would be applicable across the country and to people of all religious affiliations.
"The demand for such a law must be raised, from Parliament to the streets ('sansad se sadak tak')," said the BJP leader.
The comments of Singh, who represents the Begusarai Lok Sabha seat in Bihar, exhibited a completely different position taken by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, whose JD(U) is the BJP's largest ally at the national level. Kumar has frequently disproved the legislative route for achieving population stabilisation as he believes that birth rates could be better controlled by educating women and girls rather than enacting laws.
World Population Day is observed every year on July 11 to raise awareness about the global population issues, including population control. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), the day “offers a moment to celebrate human progress”.
The World Population Prospects 2022 by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, said that the global population is projected to reach eight billion by mid-November, around 8.5 billion in 2030, and 9.7 billion in 2050.
India was among the 10 countries whose estimated net outflow of migrants exceeded 1 million from 2010-2021. In many of these countries, the outflows were due to temporary labour movements. The highest net outflow of migrants was reported from Pakistan (-16.5 million)
