• 2 days ago
Delimitation is set to reshape India's political landscape, raising crucial questions about representation and fairness. With northern states pushing for more seats due to population growth and southern states fearing a loss for successfully controlling their populations, the issue has sparked a major political divide. Will this exercise ensure fair representation, or will it penalize states that implemented population control? Watch the full discussion to understand the implications of delimitation in India.

#Delimitation #IndiaPolitics #ParliamentarySeats #PoliticalDivide #RepresentationCrisis #Elections2025 #PopulationControl #NorthVsSouth #ElectoralReforms #Governance

Also Read

DMK Members Walk Out Of Lok Sabha Over Delimitation :: https://www.oneindia.com/chennai/dmk-members-walk-out-of-lok-sabha-over-delimitation-4097967.html?ref=DMDesc

Revanth Reddy Joins Stalin in Fight Against Delimitation, Accuses BJP of Targeting Southern States :: https://www.oneindia.com/hyderabad/revanth-reddy-joins-stalin-in-fight-against-delimitation-accuses-bjp-of-targeting-southern-states-4094883.html?ref=DMDesc

Telangana CM Revanth Reddy Slams Centre's Delimitation Plan, Calls It Attempt To 'Marginalise South India' :: https://www.oneindia.com/hyderabad/telangana-cm-revanth-reddy-slams-delimitation-plan-calls-it-attempt-to-marginalise-south-india-4094739.html?ref=DMDesc



~HT.336~GR.344~ED.346~

Category

🗞
News
Transcript
00:00Delimitation, which literally means fixing the boundary or limits of something, is the
00:25latest political issue dividing opinions in the country.
00:30With a delimitation exercise to redraw parliamentary and state assembly constituencies scheduled
00:35to take place any time after the much-delayed population census is conducted, political
00:41parties are sharply divided, either in its favour or against it.
00:47For years, states in northern and eastern India have complained of under-representation
00:52in parliament despite having large populations.
00:57On the other hand, parties in the southern states fear that they could be penalised for
01:01successfully implementing population control measures.
01:07I can say that there are a few things which the delimitation is supposed to do through
01:13a delimitation commission, a body that does delimitation exercise in India.
01:19And one is that it has to recommend that what should be the optimum number of seats
01:27in the legislature at the federal level, at the state level, at the union territory level
01:34and the NCT level, that means the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
01:38That is the first thing it has to do.
01:44After the first delimitation exercise in 1952, based on the 1951 census, 494 Lok Sabha seats
01:53were allocated.
01:55The number of Lok Sabha seats increased to 522 in 1963 following the reorganisation of
02:02states in 1956.
02:06In 1973, the delimitation exercise based on the 1971 census raised the number of Lok
02:13Sabha seats to 543.
02:20The reason was that the national population projections were in 2000, they were pointing
02:31to the fact that in the next quarter of a century, the nation will reach a replacement
02:41growth rate, which means that if X number of people are born, then X number of people
02:48will be dying.
02:49That means there was a pointer that by 2026, the replacement growth rate in the population
02:58will probably stabilise the population of the country.
03:06The concern stemmed from the fact that states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have witnessed
03:11higher population growth, while southern states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala have successfully
03:16controlled their fertility rates.
03:21So there is some sort of panic among the southern states and some northern states, smaller states,
03:28northern states, that if delimitation is to be done on the basis of existing or traditional
03:36constitutional basis, then the southern states may proportionally lose seats or they may
03:44not gain as compared to other northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,
03:52West Bengal and so on and so forth.
03:59Some political parties such as the DMK in Tamil Nadu and the BRS in Telangana fear that
04:04a new delimitation exercise could lead to fewer parliamentary seats for their states.
04:10This they say would be unfair, as they have successfully implemented population control measures.
04:20We have achieved this through a successful family-building programme for the past 10 years
04:26through women, education and health initiatives.
04:32Because of the lack of public support, there is a need to reduce the number of MPs in Tamil Nadu.
04:40If the number of MPs is reduced, there is a need to reduce the number of MPs in Tamil Nadu
04:50to 8.
04:54There will no longer be 39 MPs in Tamil Nadu, there will only be 31 MPs.
05:01This is a time for all parties to fight for the delimitation of Tamil Nadu.
05:06Not just in Telangana, not just in Tamil Nadu, but in Kerala, Karnataka, and in the south,
05:14in Andhra Pradesh and all other states, there is a need to reduce the number of MPs.
05:21If all parties fight together, justice will be served to the southern states.
05:31Recently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah sought to allay these fears,
05:36saying that the delimitation exercise will not affect southern states.
05:40The Modi government has made it clear in the Lok Sabha that after the delimitation,
05:48according to the pro rata, not a single seat in the south will be reduced.
05:57The Modi government has made it clear that after the delimitation,
06:05according to the pro rata, not a single seat in the south will be reduced.
06:11And the majority of the seats will be given to the southern states.
06:17There is no need to have any doubts about this.
06:26However, some experts believe that if constituencies are redrawn solely based on
06:32population, northern states will gain seats, effectively penalising southern states.
06:41Whereas states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan will gain MPs.
06:45Now, the exact problem that we saw earlier as a hypothetical or a theoretical idea
06:52has come to, you know, has become reality, which is that the states that implemented
06:58population control successfully are going to be punished in terms of losing political
07:03representation, whereas the states which did not do that are going to gain.
07:07So it is sort of, you know, the Union government asked the states to do X,
07:12the states that did X correctly are now going to lose representation,
07:15and the states that did not do X are going to gain representation.
07:19And, you know, when a situation becomes this, of course, southern states are going to protest.

Recommended