Kerala law panel to propose two-child norm

NOT FINE FOR BABY: Families will have to pay a fine and forego free education for a third child.

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Thiruvananthapuram: It has been a dream to have a boy child for Renjit and Archana Nair who already have two daughters. But it will be an expensive affair following Kerala Law Commission coming out with a proposal which says that having a third child in the family will incur a fine to the tune of Rs 10,000.

Not just that, the third child will be refused free primary education. Families like that of the Nairs feel such extreme measures are unwarranted.

"You can't make laws for such things. In our family we have to two girls, so we will obviously feel the need to have a boy. Now Rs 10,000 is not going to stop us from going ahead and neither the withdrawl of free education as most of the parents nowadays sent their wards to private schools," says Renjit.

The Christian community in Kerala is taking serious offence to this proposal. A few months, ago the Catholic Church had taken out pastrol letters urging its followers to produce more children as they felt the need to strengthen the community in Kerala.

Spokesperson of Zero Malabar Church, Paul Thelakkat says, "This proposal is not acceptable as it's a direct infringement on one's rights. It's a repeat of the Draconian laws existing in China which prohibit having a second child."

And the overwhelming oppposition to such a proposal is having its reactions too.

Justice VR Krishna Iyer says, "The law commission has still not recommended any such proposal to the government as of now. But we are thinking of this. It's for the good of the family and the health of the mother that we are asking them to keep it to two babies. I think it's something we need to debate on rather than reject out right."

The idea might only be a proposal at the moment, but with the church already having expressed its reservations, this issue might well become the new flash point between the church and the government whose relations are already at a low.