‘Measures to control population should be implemented with a soft hand’.
New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) wants the issue of population control to be handled with a “soft hand” approach.
Top sources in the RSS said there should be a projection of the country’s requirements in the next 50 years. It is of the view that there should be an assessment on whether India will be able to take care of its people with the existing resources if the population keeps on rising at the current speed.
People should think about it and come to a consensus on the issue, the RSS source said. He, however, added that the measures to control population should be implemented with a “soft hand”.
Similarly, on the issue of Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the RSS feels that efforts should be made to build public opinion on the issue. “Everyone feels that there should be one civil code for the entire country. This is the general opinion across the country as a matter of principle. But there are differences on how to do it. So, there should be an effort to build public opinion on the issue. We should make efforts to unite the nation, not to create fissures. Something which unites the country cannot be polarising,” an RSS source said. Referring to the issue of population control, the RSS source referred to its national level meeting of the Akhil Bhartiya Karyakarini Mandal in Ranchi in 2015 in which a resolution was passed on the issue. The resolution urged the government to “reformulate the National Population Policy keeping in view availability of resources in the country, future needs and the problem of demographic imbalance and apply the same uniformity to all”.
It also asked the government to “totally curb the illegal infiltration from across the border”. “Prepare a National Register of Citizens and prevent these infiltrators from acquiring citizenship rights and purchasing lands,” the resolution further added. The RSS source said the organisation is of the view that the steps taken to control the population have yielded adequate results in the last few years, but severe demographic changes brought forth by the analysis of the religion data of Census 2011 highlights the necessity of review of population policy. There are vast differences in growth rates of different religious groups, infiltration and conversion resulting in religious imbalance of the population-ratio, especially in border areas, may emerge as a threat to the unity, integrity and cultural identity of the country. On the issue of mistrust among people of minority community towards the RSS, the source said: “They should come to RSS and try to understand our point of view. They should visit our shakhas. They should see our functioning and then make an opinion about the Sangh,” he said.