Giriraj Singh's 'Nasbandi' advice shot down by Nitish Kumar

Patna: Union Minister Giriraj Singh has advocated 'Nasbandi' (sterilisation) after demonetisation for population control to spur development, but the idea was trashed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as "bakwaas" (nonsense). The Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) had come up with the idea and had said 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 on Sunday last. 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 Emergency period.