Bihar Dy CM Renu Devi says awareness in men necessary for population control; differs from CM Nitish Kumar

Patna (Bihar) [India], July 13 : Bihar Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Renu Devi on Tuesday said that there is a need to create more awareness among men in order to control the population, a statement that differs from that of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who recently said that women's education was the key to achieve the result.
Renu Devi in a media statement said that awareness in men is more important in bringing down the fertility rate.
The deputy chief minister stated that in order to control the growing population men must be made more aware. She said there was a lot of fear among men about the process of sterilisation.
In Bihar, the rate of sterilisation of men is only 1 per cent, she said.
She further stated, "The facilities regarding reproductive health for women are being provided in the Government hospitals but the benefits of such facilities will only reach women when their husbands will take them to the hospital."
Often, it has been seen that husbands and in-laws put pressure on women to have more children and the practice only increases the size of the family.
She added that in order to control the growing population, it was necessary to work towards gender equality and end discrimination between girls and boys.
In order to achieve the goal of population control, Renu Devi said it is necessary to reduce the malnutrition levels, increase the literacy rates and increase in comprehensive family planning.
She said that all these were being implemented and good results could be seen. However, she said there is a need to work at a war level to achieve the desired results.
When asked about his Uttar Pradesh counterpart's push for a law for population control, Nitish Kumar had on Monday said that it is more important for women to be educated to control the growing population.
"Every state is independent to do what they want. My opinion is very clear that population control can't be attained by just making laws. When women will be educated they will become conscious enough and the fertility rate will decrease," said Nitish Kumar had said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had earlier this week unveiled the State's Population Policy that has set a target to bring the birth rate of the state to 2.1 per thousand population by 2026 and to 1.9 by 2030. He also said that there should be a gap between two children in order to control the population in the state.