VISAKHAPATNAM: Andhra Pradesh chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday announced that the state govt will give incentives to families that go for third and fourth child, as the declining population is worrisome. He said the govt will give Rs 30,000 for a family having a third child and Rs 40,000 for the fourth child.Naidu has been advocating for large families in Andhra Pradesh as the total fertility rate (TFR) in the state has been on the decline. To fight the falling fertility rates, he had earlier announced a series of economic measures that included an incentive of Rs 25,000 for the second child.On Saturday, Naidu expanded the scope of the financial support for large families by announcing incentives for the third and fourth child. Perhaps, AP is the only state that has been advocating for large families through financial incentives to its population. The latest incentives gain significance in view of the proposed delimitation exercise to be taken up across the country. AP has been at the forefront of family planning for decades, and this has led to a gradual decline in its young population. Naidu wants this trend to be reversed by encouraging families to have more children.
With the state’s TFR dropping to an all-time low of 1.5 — significantly below the population replacement-level target of 2.1 — Naidu has been encouraging families to go for more children. If the current trends continue, nearly 23% of the population in Andhra Pradesh could be above 60 years by 2047. The national TFR average is 2.1.Stating that times had changed since govts encouraged family planning, he said children were the real wealth today. “The govt considers them a vital economic resource and national asset. We also plan to enhance the Talliki Vandanam scheme money, under which the govt provides Rs 15,000 annually to mothers or guardians for each schoolgoing child from classes 1 to 12, in the coming days,” he said while addressing a public meeting during the Swarnandhra-Swachh Andhra program at Tamrapalli in Narasannapeta.The mean average age in Andhra Pradesh is 32.5, as against India’s average of 28.4 years. Female workforce participation in AP is 31 against the national average of 37. Naidu had earlier announced free education for the third child up to 18 years of age. He also announced opening of fertility clinics, among other measures, to boost population growth in Andhra Pradesh.Referring to the cleanliness drive, Naidu said, “As part of the Swachhapath campaign, the govt has taken action to clean all roads in rural and urban areas. By the end of June, we will clean 100% of garbage. Operation Clean Sweep has begun in the state from today.”He said the govt had cleared 86 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste in the last 23 months. “We have removed 121 lakh tonnes of garbage. It will be 100% completed by June. Through door-to-door collection, 7,527 tonnes of garbage is being collected in urban areas, and 1,430 tonnes in rural areas every day. The govt is setting up six waste-to-energy projects and six CBG plants at a cost of Rs 1,254 crore. Apart from that, we are setting up 107 integrated waste processing plants at a cost of Rs 603 crore. Once they are ready by October, there will be no dumping yards,” he added.Announcing that the Bhogapuram international airport will become operational in July, he said another airport is coming up in Srikakulam district. “A new airport in Palasa will also be constructed soon. The port of Moolapeta will be an advantage for north Andhra. We will open the port this year,” Naidu said.He said there will be no land dispute in the state by March 2027. “The govt is purging the land records through re-survey and printing and issuing the pattadar passbooks using modern technology without any chance of tampering. We are taking measures so that migrations should come to north Andhra, and not from north Andhra,” he asserted.