The civil society has geared up to address the challenge. The Coalition has been formed in 2011 as an outcome of concerns around population control and related coercion and for promoting policies that empower people to exercise their reproductive rights and choices. It is aimed at strengthening of civil society partnership to voice people’s concerns collectively.
It is a non-party group consisting of individuals and organizations who believe in human/rights particularly reproductive and civil rights of all individuals and are willing to take action to address and redress violation of these rights. It was established to tackle the growing fears, myths and misconceptions around population growth. The need for a coalition with the aim to monitor and respond to the policy environment, was realised. in view of the sheer scale of political and civil rights violations due to the two-child norm clause in some state Panchayat acts/ development schemes or the deaths and failures due to poor quality sterilisations. The media reporting around the seven billionth baby in India at that time had revived the fear that ‘population is a problem’, which set into action some of the organisations in Delhi and other states to regroup in order to revisit and review the implications of population control policies like the two child norm.
The National Coalition Against Two-Child Norm and Coercive Population Policies has been formed as an outcome of concerns around population control and related coercion and for promoting policies that empower people to exercise their reproductive rights and choices. Goal of the coalition is to raise awareness among different stakeholders about the coercive nature of different population control policies like the Two-Child Norm and to advocate for the removal of such policies at the State and Central levels.
The Coalition seeks to educate and share information among different stakeholders on issues related to population and development, build awareness and consensus among different stakeholders about the principles of reproductive rights, collect and share evidence and materials related to reproductive rights and coercive population policies, advocate with different policy stakeholders at the national and state level to conduct and/or collaborate with documentation and research exercises and monitor the policy environment at the national and in state levels.
The challenge of
moving away from the mindset of target oriented, coercively persuasive practices
continues. There is special need to explore and educate about the special
gender implications of such practices and laws.
