India’s Population Solution: Should We Punish or Plan Better?

PM Modi encouraged families to have fewer children, calling them “patriotic” for doing so.

Should we punish families who have more than two children or should we provide better access to family planning resources?

(Image: Altered by The Quint)

On Independence Day, Prime Minister Modi said that India was facing an overwhelming risk from population explosion.

We’ve heard it in the past, but how severe is population explosion in India? Is the population growing at an uncontrolled rate and does this speech hint at more intensive population control and family planning measures?

Today we dive into India’s population problem and how to fix it. Should we punish families who have more than two children or should we provide better access to family planning resources?

Poonam Muttreja, the Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India, Ekta Kumar,who is a columnist and also works with the European Parliament on India-EU relations, and senior journalist Vivian Fernandes weigh in on India’s booming population problem.