Alarmed at the prospect of becoming the world’s most populous nation by at least the year 2050, Indian officials are experimenting with incentives to curb the birth rate. The latest is a pilot program in the Satara district of Maharashtra which offers couples a reward of 5,000 rupees (£62) if they defer having children for two years after their wedding. If they wait another year, they will receive a further 2,500 rupees. They also become eligible for family planning advice and free condoms. The first cheques are going to be issued on August 15.

Over 2,000 couples are participating at the moment. The district has about 25,000 marriages a year and 4 out of 5 couples have a child within the first year.

Other methods are being mooted, as well. Recently Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad made headlines with an impassioned plea at a function to mark World Population Day for India. His solution is to bring electricity to all its villages.

"When there is no electricity, there is nothing else to do but produce babies. If there is electricity in every village, then people will watch TV till late at night and then fall asleep. They won't get a chance to produce children.".

Mr Azad insists that he was being serious, although family planning officials were scornful. "Such bizarre ideas are only suggested when the government has no intentions or is too scared to find solutions," one told AFP.

However, this does seem to be an issue that the Minister feels strongly about, although he has stressed that he does not support coercive measures. "We are sitting on a volcano. But nobody is talking about birth control. The country has to rise to the occasion," he said in a recent speech in Chennai. India has 17% of the world's population, but only 2% of its land mass, he said. Land for agriculture is shrinking and is being used to develop infrastructure like railways and housing.

Mr Azad has urged all political parties to unite and back an "aggressive campaign" in favour of small families. And he denied that there could be any religious objections.

"No religion prohibits control of population. At the most, there could be difference of opinion on the methods to check population." ~ Guardian, Aug 2

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