A woman harvesting tea leaves in a tea garden of Assam state. The state government has proposed a two-child norm attempting to check overpopulation. (ucanews.com photo)
Assam state in India's northeastern region proposed a draft policy to restrict couples from having more than two children but Christian and Muslim leaders see it as ploy to target religious minorities.
The state government, run by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had announced the draft policy as a measure to check population growth. Couples having more than two children would not be eligible for government jobs and other social welfare government benefits, it said.
People who parented more than two children would also become ineligible to contest elections at the village-level, civic or other autonomous council elections, it said.
State Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Assam has been witnessing a "dangerous population explosion." The population grew from 26.7 million in 2001 to over 31.2 million in 2011, he said, quoting national census records.
He attributed high population growth to early marriage in communities living in the riverine, tea gardens and tribal areas. The minister said he also wanted people to debate increasing the legal age for marriage currently set at 21 for men and 18 for women.
The move has not gone down well with Christian and Muslim communities in the state.
"We are not happy with the proposal as many of our Catholics are from tribal groups and have more than two children," Archbishop John Moolachira of Guwahati who is based in Assam, told ucanews.com, adding that the government's purpose was to harass religious minorities.
Bishop Thomas Pulloppillil of Bongaigaon, also in Assam, told ucanews.com that if the draft proposal became a policy, it would not be a good sign. "All communities would be affected," he said.
The 2011 government census showed that Assam has a high percentage of Muslims and Christians. Some 35 percent of state's 31 million people are Muslims, 4 percent are Christian and Hindus are 61 percent. Across India, Hindus are 80 percent, Muslims only 18 and Christians 2.3 percent.