Parish shuns two-child norm, offers Rs10,000 for fifth child

Even as protest over a draft law that seeks to control population continues, a Catholic parish in Wayanad, Kerala has declared financial incentives for couples having a fifth child.

St Vincent De Paul Forane Church at Kalpetta will offer deposits of Rs 10,000 in the name of the fifth child born to a Catholic family.

"It will be deposited in the name of the child as fixed deposit," said Salu Mecheril, regional coordinator of the programme.

Mecheril, who is also the regional spokesman of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC), told DNA that the offer was accepted by the laity with open arms.

The decision has come close on the heels of a draft bill that would impose a fine of 10,000 rupees or three months jail for couples having more than two children.

The Kerala Women's Code Bill, drafted by a committee headed by former Supreme Court Justice VR Krishna Iyer, has sparked off a controversy with the Church calling it an "invasion on the values of life and motherhood".

Muslim organisations have termed the bill 'outdated' and said it violated individual liberty and fundamental rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

Despite mounting protests from different quarters, Iyer has said that his Commission will not withdraw the recommendations that call for birth control.

Iyer told presspersons that the Commission did not fear anyone and it would fight all criticisms.

The Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) President Mar Andrews Thazeth has termed the Krishna Iyer panel recommendations a challenge to humanity and divinity.

The report of the 'Commission on Rights and Welfare of Women and Children' was submitted to the Chief Minister last Saturday.

Meanwhile, Captain Serena Nawas, a woman member of the 12-member Commission, has written to its chairman asking for deletion of the controversial portions of the draft bill.

Nawas said the report submitted to the government had not represented the unanimous suggestions of the panel. As a mother of four children, she said, she could not agree with the Commission's proposals.