Archive · 16 Sep 2026
EAC-PM Urges India to End Sterilisation Incentives
India’s population is now growing more slowly because families are having fewer children.
A government advisory group says the country’s fertility rate is 1.9, below the level needed to keep the population steady.
It says some payments encouraging sterilisation may no longer make sense in states with especially low fertility.
The group wants to stop several payments connected to sterilisation and having no more than two children.
It also wants to end some awards and events focused on controlling population growth.
The group says rules that punish people for having more than two children should be removed.
It wants family-planning policies to match today’s lower birth rates.
India had about 29.3 million births in 2001 and about 23.2 million in 2023.
The recommendations are contained in a working paper, not described as enacted policy.
The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister recommended ending sterilisation-linked incentive payments in states below replacement fertility.
The proposed rollback includes direct transfers, acceptor payments, wage-loss compensation, and enhanced incentives for acceptors and service providers.
The working paper also called for ending two-child-related ASHA incentives, family-planning awards, and population-control observances.
It recommended repealing two-child norm disqualifications and removing fertility-reduction language from policy frameworks.
India’s total fertility rate is 1.9, while annual births fell from about 29.3 million in 2001 to 23.2 million in 2023.
- Who
- The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister made the recommendations.
- What
- It proposed ending sterilisation-linked incentives and rolling back several population-control policies and rules.
- When
- The recommendations were reported on September 16; the article does not specify the year.
- Where
- The recommendations concern India and its states.
- Why
- The council said India’s total fertility rate is 1.9, below replacement fertility, making continued population-control incentives economically unjustified in states below replacement fertility.
- Working paper
- The Ghost of Population Past: How Population Control Persists in India
- India’s total fertility rate
- 1.9
- Fertility rate excluding Bihar and Uttar Pradesh
- 1.6
- Births in 2001
- Approximately 29.3 million
- Births in 2023
- Approximately 23.2 million
- Recommended policy change
- End sterilisation-linked payments and revise population-control policies
- Additional recommendation
- Repeal two-child norm disqualifications across all states