Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday announced incentives of Rs 30,000 for the birth of a third child and Rs 40,000 for a fourth as part of efforts to reverse the state’s declining population trend.Addressing a public meeting at Narsannapeta in Srikakulam district, Naidu said he had taken the decision and would announce further details within a month. “We will provide Rs 30,000 immediately after the birth of a third child and Rs 40,000 for a fourth child. Isn’t this the right decision?” Naidu said on the sidelines of the SwarnaAndhra SwachAndhra cleanliness programme.Although he had once advocated population control measures, the CM said the time had now come for society to work together to increase the birth rate. Naidu’s latest announcement follows an earlier proposal to provide a Rs 25,000 incentive for the birth of a second child.On March 5, he informed the Assembly that the state government was considering an incentive of Rs 25,000 for couples having a second child.However, Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav said on Saturday that the government had decided to extend the incentives to families having a third child and beyond.According to Naidu, rising incomes are leading some couples to opt for a single child, while others are choosing a second child only if their firstborn is a girl.As a result, he warned that the state’s population growth rate was declining and stressed the importance of maintaining the replacement-level total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.1. He noted that a population remains stable only when the fertility rate is 2.1 children per woman.He emphasised that declining populations and ageing societies in several countries had adversely affected their economies. Rejecting the notion that children were a burden, Naidu argued that they are an asset and vowed to demonstrate it.