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The TDP supremo, denying that his advice to people to have more children was linked to delimitation, said population management is a must to avoid an ageing demographic
Naidu, in his interview, also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, calling him the “right leader for the nation at the right time”. (PTI)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu welcomed the Union government’s decision to conduct the Census with caste enumeration, saying once caste census is available and economic census is updated, “we can plan ahead. That is a game-changer”.
India’s 16th Census with caste enumeration will be carried out in 2027 with the reference date of October 1, 2026, in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and of March 1, 2027, in the rest of the country. It has been decided to conduct the Population Census-2027 in two phases, along with the enumeration of castes, the MHA announced on Wednesday.
In an exclusive interview with CNN-News18’s Zakka Jacob, Naidu admitted that southern states had reservations that Census-linked delimitation may reduce their representation in Parliament. “We had this problem even during the tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. That’s why Vajpayee-ji fixed the 1971 census as the cut-off date.”
Delimitation refers to the process of redrawing parliamentary constituencies and their boundaries. States in South India have emphasised time and again that they shouldn’t be penalised for implementing effective population-control measures, given that a delimitation exercise may give more parliamentary constituencies to states that have higher population growth.
The TDP supremo, however, denied that his advice to people to have more children was linked to delimitation. “Population management is a must to avoid the ageing problem. You see, 4-5 crore population has migrated from India. Today, they are servicing the community through public governance or corporate governance. If 20 crore migrate, you can imagine the economic strength of Indians globally.”
“Second, South India started early when it came to economic reforms. That had very good impact on living standards. We started population planning at the same time. Both acted very fast, leaving behind the ageing population problem. Now, it is our duty to talk about population management; otherwise, we’ll have a big setback.”
Naidu, in his interview, also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, calling him the “right leader for the nation at the right time”.
Sharing his views on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) completing one year of the third term, the chief minister said India’s economy had become the fourth-largest from the 10th place. “The NDA government is doing very well for the last 11 years. In another two years, India will become the third-largest economy. That is when the real fight will start with China and America. So far, what has been done is one thing. What we are going to achieve next is a different ball game. But everything is possible under Narendra Modi-ji’s leadership.”
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d…Read More
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d… Read More
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