India, Aug. 24 -- On paper, the Delhi Lakshmi Yojana, launched with great fanfare recently, is expected to benefit 1.7 million marginalised women from low-income families in the national capital region. Women between 21 to 60 will receive Rs 2,500 a month provided they meet certain edibility criteria, including the number of children. If the woman has more than two children, she automatically becomes ineligible. The reason for imposing this exclusionary clause according to Rekha Gupta, the chief minister of the BJP-led Delhi government, was because 'women are not baby-producing machines'

But is it the woman's fault that she has more than two children? Why is it that women are always held responsible for controlling their family size when...