The total fertility rate (TFR) in Jammu & Kashmir has plummeted to 1.4, according to the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21). This is significantly below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman, the threshold required for a population to sustain itself without growth.This decline is not an accident but the culmination of decades of population control slogans. From “bus do ya teen bachay” (only two or three children) to “hum do hamaray do” (we two, our two), and finally the lethal “pehla baccha abhi nahain, eik kay baad kabhi nahain” (first baby not yet, second never), these policies have effectively hammered the last nail in the coffin of population growth. Sold........

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