Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu stressed the need for the joint family system to return, and said the government was giving incentives to families to have two or more children, treating them as wealth at a time when fertility levels had dropped.

Launching the national Pulse Polio Immunisation (PPI) drive by administering oral polio drops to a few children at his residence on Sunday (June 28, 2026), Mr. Chandrababu Naidu said raising and looking after children should not be limited to women alone, and that in the past, when there were joint families, everyone became partners in raising the young ones.

He recalled that grandmothers, grandfathers and other family members played an important role in raising children with values, and said husbands and men must also take the responsibility of raising children, especially where the women were working.

The Chief Minister said the mindset of viewing children as a burden must go, and that the situation was changing around the world, with children seen as wealth, keeping the future in view.

He advised parents to have all the vaccines provided by the government administered to their children as per schedule, to protect them from crippling diseases.

Officials of the Department of Family Welfare told the Chief Minister that the drive aimed to give polio drops to about 49.2 lakh children under the age of five during the three-day PPI programme starting June 28.

Commissioner of Family Welfare and Director of Secondary Health K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu and other senior officials of the State Health Department and the National Health Mission were present.