What happened
Under a provision introduced on January 26, 2001, Madhya Pradesh government employees who produced more than two children faced formal disciplinary proceedings — not as a hiring filter, but as a conduct violation embedded in the same rulebook that governs bribery and insubordination. For 23 years, the state's General Administration Department dutifully maintained the clause while job notices cited it as a bar to employment. Employee unions spent years lobbying for repeal, arguing the state had no business tracking the reproductive decisions of its staff. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav agreed on June 9, 2026, a full 23 years and one Republic Day after the provision took effect. The government did not clarify what action, if any, had been taken against employees who had the audacity to have three children between 2001 and last Tuesday, nor whether those third children are owed a formal apology by the General Administration Department.