Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday announced incentives $30,000 for the birth of a third child $40,000 for the fourth, as part of efforts to reverse population decline in the state.
Although he once advocated population control measures, the Prime Minister said it was now time for society to work together to increase the birth rate.
“I have made a new decision. We will deliver it $30,000 immediately after the birth of the third child $40,000 for the fourth child. Isn’t this the right decision?” Naidu said amid cheers from the audience on the sidelines of the cleanliness drive programme.
Addressing the public meeting at Narsanapetta in Srikakulam district, Naidu said the government has taken the decision and will announce more details within a month.
Naidu’s latest announcement comes on the heels of an earlier proposal to introduce $25,000 incentive for the birth of a second child. On March 5, the Prime Minister informed the Assembly that the state government was considering a $100 million incentive $25,000 for couples with a second child.
Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav later told news agency PTI that the government has decided to extend the incentives to families with a third child onwards.
Why the incentive?
According to Naidu, some couples choose to have only one child as their income increases, while others choose to have a second child only if their first child is not a boy.
As a result, he warned that the state’s population growth rate was declining and stressed the importance of maintaining the total fertility rate at the replacement level of 2.1.
Naidu pointed out that the population remains stable only when the average fertility rate is 2.1 children per woman. He claimed that population decline and aging societies in many countries had a negative impact on their economies.
Naidu rejected the idea that children were a burden and argued that they were an asset.
