Anita Anand | Three Children For Hindu Families? Women Must Say ‘No’ to RSS’ Call

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is currently marking its centenary year, which started on October 2, 2025, and it will be observed for a full year.

The RSS is a right-wing Hindutva volunteer paramilitary organisation. Established in 1925, it functions as the main branch of a large network of Hindutva groups, widely known as the Sangh Parivar, which has a presence in all aspects of Indian society. It includes the BJP, the ruling political party that is led by Narendra Modi, India’s Prime Minister.

Speaking at the centenary celebrations, the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, urged Indian families to have at least three children to prevent a population decline, emphasising the importance of population stability for societal survival. By this, he was really referring to Hindu survival.

“A population decline is a matter of concern. Modern demographic studies indicate that when the population of a community falls below a fertility rate of 2.1, that society faces extinction,” Mr Bhagwat said. The extinction part is an exaggeration. And it is a country, not a community.

He added: “Societies do not need external threats to vanish; they disappear on their own.” He was pointing to the decline of languages and communities due to low birth rates. Therefore, he urged, India’s population must not fall below this critical threshold.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reports the current global fertility rate at 2.25, while India’s stands at 1.9.

How did we reach this point? The United Nations mapping data from 1950 to 2025 show significant changes. In 1950, the median age at marriage in India was 20 years. By 2025, it has increased to 28.8 years. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in 1950 was 5.7 live births per woman. In 2025, this figure has decreased to 1.9 live births per woman. The TFR indicates the average number of live births per woman.

In 1950, 81 per cent of India’s population was rural and 19 per cent urban. By 2025, the rural population is 63 per cent, and the urban population is 37 per cent.

Mr Bhagwat’s call for Indians to have at least three children per family may go unheard. Most Indians have realised that having fewer children leads to a better life for both themselves and their children.

And, regardless of religion, people are choosing to have fewer children.

Researchers focusing on gender and race have proposed the analytical framework of intersectionality to understand how the social and political identities of both groups and individuals lead to unique combinations of discrimination and privilege.

Examples of these overlapping factors include gender, caste, sex, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, disability, physical appearance and age. These factors can lead to both empowerment and oppression. In the case of Muslims in India, the intersectionality framework has both empowered and oppressed them.

Research has also highlighted the connection between women’s empowerment and fertility. Empowerment means having both the opportunity and ability to make choices. This results in an

improved status for women, characterised by higher educational achievement and increased economic opportunities, which in turn boosts their decision-making power.

Four aspects of women’s empowerment that are generally known to influence women’s fertility include education, participation in the labour force, access to decision-making, and their use of contraceptives alongside population policies.

Countries with birth rates below the replacement level share concerns that the demographic dividend will be affected. Demographic dividend, as defined by the UNFPA, is “the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working-age share ofvthe population (14 and younger, and 65 and older)”.

But this is not the primary concern of the RSS. It’s that Muslims have higher birth rates than Hindus. Muslims are seen as a threat. Current data shows that the TFR of Hindus is 1.9, while that of Muslims is 2.4.

Nonetheless, will Hindu or Muslim women respond to the RSS’ call to have at least three children? I doubt it. Birth rates in India have declined because more women work outside the home, are better educated, have greater access to contraception, and realise that government childcare support is not available. Infant mortality rates have decreased thanks to improved knowledge and healthcare; the desire for many children has diminished as people’s aspirations, regardless of class, increase.

The RSS ideology, in its charter, views national development “through cultural renewal and reaffirmation of Hindu values such as reverence for humans and nature, a life pattern that is non-possessive and non-exploitative, recognising mutuality rather than individual rights as the foundation of the economy, voluntary austerity in consumption, and a focus on self-reliance”.

In its promotion of Hindu values, it ignores the fact that in a secular nation, other religions also have values. However, by making the promotion of a Hindu nation its highest ideal, it dismisses others whose priority is to be this. It defies logic and is discriminatory.

The RSS and the BJP, both male-led, mention women’s empowerment in their manifestos but lack a clear understanding of it in theory and practice. They adopt and enforce policies that reflect outdated views of women, families, and society. The values they promote could set us back centuries. They spread intolerance and hatred.

Countries that offered incentives to women to have more children have not achieved any significant success. For a long time, men have tried to persuade women to have more children, especially sons, to continue the family lineage or to demonstrate their virility and manhood. Sometimes, they have succeeded. But now, fewer and fewer women choose to do so.

Mr Bhagwat’s call will probably lead to the same result. Women will not comply.

The writer is a development and communications consultant