Putin Re-introduces ‘Mother Heroine’ Award to Combat Crippling Demographics
- Putin brings back Soviet era award- Mother Heroine.
- Under the award, mother giving birth to 10 children will be given 1 million rubles on the 1st birthday of the 10th child.
- The move comes as the country witnesses demographic crises.
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin revived the Soviet era award for mothers of ten- ‘Mother Heroine’ in a bid to boost Russia’s population that has been facing a compounding effect of ongoing war and the rise in COVID-19 infections.
Under Putin’s decree, the order will be bestowed upon Russian mothers who give birth to and raise 10 or more children who hold Russian citizenship. According to the decree, qualifying mothers will receive the award once their tenth living child turns one year old. Women awarded the “Mother Heroine” title will also be given a one-time payment of 1 million rubles ($16,000). According to the law, women will still be eligible for the reward if they lose a child during a conflict, a terrorist incident, or an emergency circumstance.-the govt quoted.
The ‘Mother Heroine’ award was founded by former Soviet leader Josef Stalin in 1944 after the country lost a huge population during World War II. More than 400,000 Soviet citizens received this honorary title. The title was abolished when the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991.
The country’s population has been steadily declining for decades, decreasing to 145.1 million in early 2022. Also, Russia’s population decrease has almost doubled since 2021, when the coronavirus epidemic caused the country’s biggest natural population decline since the Soviet Union’s demise, and nearly tripled since 2020.
