Nitish calls Giriraj’s ‘nasbandi’ comment as ‘bakwaas’

Union Minister Giriraj Singh has advocated 'nasbandi' (sterilisation) after demonetisation for population control to spur development, but the idea was on Monday trashed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who said the country has seen the effect of such a move in the past.

The Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) had come up with the idea yesterday and said that after "notebandi" (demonetisation), there is an urgent need to make laws for "nasbandi" (sterilisation) in the country.

"India has 17 per cent of the world population which adds population equal to Australia every year. The country only has 2.5 per cent of land mass of the globe with only 4.2 per cent of water resources. In this scenario, the population explosion in the country is proving to be a big roadblock for development. We need a population control act to tide over the problem," Singh had said.

He had also reportedly talked about sterilisation to control the population growth at a function in his Nawada parliamentary constituency earlier.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar trashed the idea as "bakwaas" (nonsense).

"The country has seen effect of nasbandi earlier," he said, referring to the mandatory sterilisation drive during the Emergency period.

Singh's party BJP, however, chose to remain cautious over his remark. The party sought to distance itself from the word 'nasbandi', but asserted the need for birth control for nation's development.