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‘Two-child norm affects panchayat aspirants’

BHUBANESWAR: Although women Panchayati Raj representatives are at the receiving end of the two-child norm, Orissa Government is giving the cold shoulder to growing demands by activists to do away with the guideline.

Experts and women activists here recently said it that the notion that growth of population could by checked by forcing Panchayati Raj representatives to adhere to the norm was wrong.

The two-child norm stipulated in Orissa Panchayati Raj Act bars persons having more than two children from contesting panchayat elections.

Addressing a conference organised by The Hunger Project, Abhijit Das from Health Watch said the State’s population growth had been slow owing to different reasons such as low TFR (total fertility rate) and high infant mortality rate but not because of the two-child norm.

THP State Project Coordinator Aradhana Nanda said the norm proved to be a powerful tool to settle personal and political scores than the ‘pious’ objective of setting a good example .

“This norm has especially been used to unseat elected representatives (mostly women, dalits and advasis who had dared to challenge existing caste and power equation) from their positions,” Ms. Nanda said.

A study on the impact of norms revealed that 54 Panchayati Raj representatives including 20 elected women representatives were affected by the guideline.

She said Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and recently Bihar, which had opted for the two-child norm, had since rescinded it from their panchayat and municipal acts.

Activists felt since Biju Patnaik (the legendary leader who the present ruling party owed allegiance to) was credited with initiating Panchayat Raj as well as the two-child norm in the State, it had become an difficult issue for the Government.

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