Mohan Bhagwat advocates for fertility rate above 2.1, warns ‘society may perish otherwise’

New Delhi(The Uttam Hindu): Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday made a strong pitch for maintaining a growth rate of 2.1 and said that this is essential for the "survival of any society."

Bhagwat’s stirring remarks about family, fertility rate and its importance in the preservation of any society came during his address at the ‘Kathale Kul (clan) Sammelan’ in Maharashtra’s Nagpur. The RSS chief voiced concerns over the falling population graph and also cited examples of how certain languages and societies vanished as they couldn’t keep pace with time. “The population should not go below 2.1, our country's population policy was decided in 1998-2002. The population of a society should not be less than 2.1,” Bhagwat opined. He also stated that modern population science says that when the fertility rate of any society goes below 2.1, it marks the beginning of the end of that society. "The decline in population is a matter of concern. Modern population science says that when the population (fertility rate) of a society goes below 2.1, that society vanishes from the earth,” said the RSS chief.

He also called for a reproduction rate greater than 2.1 to ensure the survival of any race. “We need more than two or three, this is what population science says. The number is important because society should survive,” Bhagwat further said. Notably, India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has gone below 2, as per a recent report. This assumes importance in light of the fact that in the 1950s, the TFR stood at as high as 6 per cent but now it has gone below replacement level, on its own, that is, without any coercive two-child norm. A total fertility rate of 2.1 is considered the replacement rate, which is a crucial factor in population growth. It ensures the replacement of a woman and her partner upon death with no overall increase or decrease in numbers.