VHP Wants Clarity on AP Scheme for Increasing Population
The VHP secretary maintained that Hindus have strictly followed population-control measures advocated by successive governments over the past five decades, leading to a sharp decline in the Hindu birth rate.
Vijayawada: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has welcomed the Andhra Pradesh government’s proposed incentive scheme for increasing the population, as announced by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. At the same time, it demanded that the benefits be restricted exclusively to the Hindu community.
VHP Bhagyanagar Kshetram secretary Thanikella Satya Ravikumar said their organisation supports the government’s move to encourage larger families in view of AP’s declining birth rate, which reportedly stands at 1.5 per cent.
The CM had recently announced that parents having a third child would receive an incentive of ₹30,000 and those having a fourth child would get ₹40,000.
c The organisation sought to point out that slogans, such as “Two children are enough” and later “One child is ideal”, had significantly reduced family sizes among Hindus.
Satya Ravikumar maintained that during the time, Muslim population increased at a higher rate due to polygamy and larger families, while Christian communities became larger through religious conversions. He expressed concern that the proposed scheme, if implemented without clear guidelines, would disproportionately benefit communities already recording a higher population growth.
The VHP demanded that the Andhra Pradesh government issue a clear notification specifying that the incentives would apply only to Hindus in order to restore demographic balance. It warned that extending the scheme universally could disturb social equilibrium and further weaken the Hindu birth rate.