New Delhi:

In a snappy response to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks on India’s declining population growth and his advice to every couple to produce at least three children, Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury pointed to unemployment and said no one is ready to marry off their daughters to jobless men. She also asked, “Are we rabbits that we will keep reproducing?”

Speaking to NDTV at Parliament, the Rajya Sabha member said, “The unemployed men in the country cannot get married because no one is willing to fix their daughters’ wedding with a jobless man. They don’t have jobs. How will they take care (of their partners)? There is no money. Elderly parents are working and looking after their children. And he is saying produce more children. Are we rabbits that we will keep reproducing? Those who are talking, how many children can they bring up? What is their experience? We know.”

The Congress leader pointed to adulteration in food items, price rise of essential items and rising travel costs. “If anyone gets sick and is hospitalised, the treatment costs are huge.”

The veteran Congress leader was responding to Mr Bhagwat’s remarks at an event in Nagpur yesterday. The RSS chief said that the country’s declining population is a serious concern. “Demographic studies suggest that when a society’s total fertility rate falls below 2.1, it risks facing extinction. This decline does not necessarily require external threats; a society can gradually fade away on its own,” he said.

“Many languages and cultures have already disappeared due to this issue. Thus, it is essential to maintain a fertility rate above 2.1,” Mr Bhagwat said. He stressed that “kutumb” (family) is an integral part of society and every family serves as a vital building bloc of the country.

“Our country’s population policy, formulated either in 1998 or 2002, clearly says that the total fertility rate should not be below 2.1. Now when we say 2.1, it is not feasible to have children in fraction. So when we say 2.1, this means it should be more, at least three. The (population) science says so,” the RSS chief said.

India’s Total Fertility Rate, a key indicator to track the country’s population change, has declined from 2.2 to 2. A TFR less than 2.1 indicates that the population is shrinking and the median age is increasing. This points to an aging population.