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For decades, Indian policymakers have encouraged population control, with the familiar slogan of ‘Hum Do, Humare Do’ (We two, our two). However, the recent drop in India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) — the average number of children a woman would have in her lifetime — has now dropped to 1.9, below the replacement rate of 2.1, with southern States seeing their TFR drop to 1.3. Last month, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu announced cash incentives of ₹30,000 and ₹40,000 to women having their third and fourth child respectively, in a bid to reverse that trend.

Several other southern States have indicated that they also see the benefits of boosting population growth, though not through a cash payout. Should India incentivise bigger families?

Guest: Aparajita Chattopadhyay and Neelanjan Sarkar

Host: Priscilla Jebaraj

Producer: Sharmada Venkatasubramian

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