Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta during Monsoon Session of Delhi Assembly in New Delhi on Monday.
| Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Monday defended the three-child limit for beneficiaries of the Delhi government’s Lakshmi Yojana, saying the condition was intended to protect women’s health and that decisions on family size should be left to individuals. Under the scheme, women aged 21 to 60 with more than three children are not eligible for the monthly assistance of ₹2,500.
Ms. Gupta was responding to criticism from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal, who had questioned the condition while citing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks that Hindus should have as many children as possible. “If a family wants to expand, it will not stop after listening to Rekha Gupta. Nor will it expand if Mohan Bhagwat says so. People make decisions about family planning according to their own needs,” Ms. Gupta said in the Assembly. “But no woman is a machine for giving birth to children. Her health is extremely important to us,” she added.
Ms. Gupta also rejected the view that women should have more children if a family does not have a son. “This BJP government in Delhi does not support this narrow mindset,” she said. “My topmost priority is the health of my sisters. The entire world knows and the medical world says how a woman’s body is destroyed due to repeated pregnancies. That is why I have imposed the condition of three children in the scheme,” she said. CM attacks opposition
