By NNN-PTI,
Kochi : The State Law Commission’s proposal to strictly implement the two-child norm and impose a fine of Rs 10,000 on those violating it has stirred a controversy in Kerala with the Catholic church holding it as ‘draconian’.
The recommendation among the 75-odd draft proposals is prepared by the commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge V R Krishna Iyer to submit to the state government.
In the proposal on “Family Planning and Birth Control”, the commission has suggested that each family should have only two children to control population increase and to ensure the economic welfare of each family and ultimately, of the state as a whole.
Any violation of the family norm will be an offence, which shall be punishable with a fine of Rs 10,000.
Church spokesman Father Paul Thelekat told PTI that this was a ‘draconian’ proposal and Justice Iyer was ‘blindly’ following the Chinese model of penalising couples for having a second child.
Describing the proposal as ‘dangerous’, he said it was against the fundamental human rights of a couple to have children. “It is up to them to decide how many children they want to have,” he said.
The proposal will also go against the Catholic church’s recent proposal to its faithful to have more than two children.
Alarmed by the dwindling birth rates among Christian families, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Conference (KCBC) had recently mooted a project, which stipulates that families should have more than two children.