Menu Secondary

Aidwa
AIDWA
  • About AIDWA
  • Events
  • What we do
  • Inspiring Stories
  • Resources
  • Videos
  • NewsLetters
  • Press Releases
search
menu
  • About Aidwa
  • Events
  • Inspiring Stories
  • Magazines
  • Resources
  • Reports
  • Publications
  • Posters
  • What We Do
  • Food and Health
  • Women and Work
  • Gender Violence
  • Gender Discrimination
  • Communalism
  • Legal Intervention
  • Media Portrayal
About us
Contact us
Follow us Facebook - Newsclick Twitter - Newsclick RSS - Newsclick
close menu

On SC Verdict on Two-Child Norm

10 Aug 2003
THE Supreme Court judgement upholding the two-child norm for contesting panchayat elections is in contradiction to the Cairo declaration, to which India is a signatory, and to the National Population Policy charter that eschews coercive methods in population control.
THE Supreme Court judgement upholding the two-child norm for contesting panchayat elections is in contradiction to the Cairo declaration, to which India is a signatory, and to the National Population Policy charter that eschews coercive methods in population control. By giving its stamp of approval on laws of some state governments that are highly discriminatory in nature, it justifies the extension of economic and social inequality to democratic process, creating an underclass that is deprived of the basic right to participate in elected decision making bodies.
 
There can be no quarrel with the court's rejection of the preposterous plea made by some complainants that since they had the right to four wives the two-child norm could not be applied to them.
 
However, the reasoning given by the court goes far beyond this objectionable plea, since it justifies disincentives to control family size as being "in the national interest." The court's perception of the 'national interest' ignores the interests of the majority who make up the nation. Global experience, as also the experience of our own country, shows that family size is linked to factors like control of infant mortality, poverty eradication, literacy, access to safe contraception and so on. When these issues are tackled, as is the example of Kerala, then couples opt for a smaller family. In the absence of such measures, a regime of disincentives is actually punishing the poor for their poverty. The Supreme Court judgement has wider implications that are a throwback to the logic of Emergency days when coercive methods of sterilization were justified as being in the 'national interest.' It gives sanction to and opens the floodgate for cruel strategies employed by many state governments of depriving poor families who have more than two children, of government benefits including ration cards, government jobs and so on.
 
In a country where there is a skewed sex ratio based on cultures of son-preference, a two-child norm will lead to further distortions. In many cases women have little choice over family size and therefore are being punished for factors beyond their control.
 
We oppose the judgement of the Supreme Court. We demand that parliament reassert the basic premise of the Cairo declaration and the National Population Policy against coercion, disincentives and targets.

More Stories

  •  Justice for Dr Abhaya, Gang-Rape and Murder Victim of R G Kar Hospital, Kolkata
    Something is Rotten in the State of West Bengal!
    17 Sep 2024
    ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,’ is a famous line from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. The same sentence perfectly fits West Bengal today under Mamata Banerjee’s TMC rule.
  • ALL ROUND ATTACK ON WOMEN! DEFEAT BJP!
    Mariam Dhawale
    ALL ROUND ATTACK ON WOMEN! DEFEAT BJP!
    23 Feb 2024
    The 18th General Election in 2024 is a challenge before all secular democratic forces in the country, and at the same time an opportunity to dislodge the nightmarish regime of violence, fear, hunger…
  • AIDWA
    A Diabolical Plot by the BJP’s Assam State Government to Target Minorities: Report on Recent Eviction and Killings in Dhalpur, Assam
    31 Oct 2021
    The Assam incidents once again prove that targeting the minority community has been at the centre of the hate politics pursued by the BJP with the aim of polarising Indians along religious lines.
  • Tapashi Praharaj
    Opportunity for Livelihood to Financial Abyss: Reality check on MFIs
    31 Oct 2021
    “I had to take loans from three different organizations, namely Spandan, SKS and HDFC. I received Rs. 16000/-, Rs. 10000/- and Rs. 15000/- respectively from those three organizations. I was unable to…
  • AIDWA
    From the Archives of AIDWA: A Report of a Fact-finding Committee of Women’s Organisations on Atrocities on Women in Tripura, 1990
    31 Oct 2021
    Crimes including the most brutal and heinous crimes of murder and rape against women have been committed with impunity by known criminals who enjoy political patronage.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us