Population Control through coercive measures has always appeared to be a policy short cut to deal with a host of development issues from environmental degradation to food crisis. However after the ICPD in 1994, there has been an international consensus that population policies should facilitate people’s abilities to make informed choices about family planning and development is a product of all equitable and sustainable economic policies and not a product of growth rates. In India the two child norm restrictions, especially with respect to political participation at the Panchayat level is part of the policy reality in many states, However such policies not only militate against civil and political rights, but also discriminate against the very poor by preventing them from availing government schemes and benefits.

CHSJ is continuing to work with the Jan Adhikar Manch (JAM) a network formed in Bihar that successfully advocated against the introduction of the two child norm in the state. This year CHSJ supported the Jan Adhikar Manch, in its efforts to get 2CN repealed from Municipal Corporations and Councils in Bihar. A process for energizing civil society advocates in Orissa for demanding repeal of the two child norm in the state was also initiated but it could not proceed because of the unprecedented floods and the communal tensions that gripped the state.

In order to understand the state level actors and factors who support and resist coercive population policies and to understand the processes which are responsible for continued support or resistance to such policies CHSJ requested a MPH student from the Univeristy of Washington, Seattle to conduct a two state study The review of the Two Child Norm Policies: State and Civil Society Responses in the post ICPD India This review, which covered Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh is expected to strengthen the ongoing advocacy action around this issue in India. The report is available for download below:
 

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