Look how UP shoots desperately for its sterilisation target

What's the link between getting sterilised and owning a gun? Uttar Pradesh doesn’t treat that as a joke. With a high enough population ...

What’s the link between getting sterilised and owning a gun? Uttar Pradesh doesn’t treat that as a joke. With a high enough population and considering the demand, not enough gun licences, some district magistrates in the state are now offering the same to anyone in their region who opts for sterilisation. The incentive rises if you convince more people to go in for the procedure.

However, the scheme is already threatening to run into controversy, something that India’s family planning programme can definitely do without.

An FIR was registered less than a month ago after a farmer allegedly got five of his labourers—including a bachelor—forcibly sterilised in Lakhimpur Kheri district when offered a revolver licence in exchange. But now the District Magistrate of Bareilly is following in the footsteps of his Lakhimpur Kheri counterpart.

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‘‘Any person who opts for sterilisation will be given topmost priority for granting a gun licence.

We have done this as almost each application that comes to my office is for a gun licence. The family planning programme is lagging behind,’’ Bareilly DM Dr Moolchand Yadav told The Indian Express.

He goes on to lay down the rules: ‘‘If you want licence for a single-barrel gun, you must get yourself sterilised plus get one more person. For a double-barrel gun, the applicant must bring two persons. For a rifle, the applicant should get three persons and for a revolver, there should be four other than the licence-seeker.’’ He is confident he will meet his district’s sterilisation target with his plan.

Clearly, Yadav is not bothered by the Lakhimpur Kheri case, which is currently being probed by a magistrate. While DM S B S Solanki is tight-lipped, police say farmer Avtar Singh was urged by the officer to ‘‘encourage’’ five people to get sterilised if he wanted the licence he had applied for.

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According to the FIR with the police, Singh ‘‘abducted’’ five labourers, drugged them and got them sterilised at a district primary health centre. The victims went to the police. ‘‘There have been no arrests yet. Perhaps, the sterilisation can be reversed,’’ explains Superintendent of Police (Lakhimpur Kheri) P N R Padamja.

But not all DMs in UP have taken up the scheme. ‘‘We only carry out sterilisation programmes with persuasion and education; there is no incentive involved,’’ says DM of Unnao district Anil Kumar Sagar, who says he has over a lakh pending applications for gun licences.