These states could meet the labour deficit in states with an ageing population. However, the challenge will be to convert this ‘young population’ to employable manpower. “In Bihar, around one-third of men, and in UP, one-fifth, are illiterate.
In 2016 there were 1.15 males for every female in China, one of the most skewed gender ratios in the world. The bill – which never even came to a vote – listed measures that the Indian government would take if they wanted to check the ever-growing population. If passed, the bill would make it mandatory for individuals to seek permission from officials if they want to have more than two children, permission that could be denied if sufficient cause was not met.
The real issue is that while India has propagated birth control since 1952 as a national policy, the burden for family planning has largely been on women. Men in India hardly opt for contraceptives such as sterilisation or even condoms because of the cultural perception that birth control is not a “masculine” thing. Only 25 per cent of married men use contraceptives as against 48 per cent of married women.
No particular increase in Muslim population, says Minister.
Not only will the policy help control head counts, but it will also provide any advantages socially and economically. The irony is that India’s birth rate and the size of families are decreasing because of women’s own reproductive choices. Many women are getting surgical contraception after having two children (or after having a son). As in China, in some states in India, women’s education and their aspirations for their children have contributed to lower birth rates.
And it was immediately executed with an almost demonic fervor and thoroughness. The votaries of population control got a big boost immediately after Narendra Modi returned to power in May 2019. During his Independence Day speech that year, the prime minister raised concerns over India’s “population explosion”, underlining the need for greater discussion and awareness on the issue.
Favorite songs (cont.)
Chaudhari points out that sterilisation is a popular choice for women because it involves just a single visit to the clinic. For an Intra Uterine Device (IUD), one must return in five years for a check-up. At over 38 million people, according to the 2011 census, UP is home to the highest number of Muslims in the country. But the community still accounts for less than 20 per cent of the state’s population.
- In 1979 there was a push for families to limit themselves to one child, but that was not evenly enforced across China.
- Regardless, a long tradition of venerating sons over daughters, due to their differential roles in marital arrangements, religious rites, inheritance, and economic activities, has coincided with shrinking family size to “squeeze” daughters out.
- According to the National Bureau of Statistics in China, the poverty proportion in China has decreased from 35% in 1978 to 15% in 1985, and there is a continuous decrease in the poverty proportion (see Fig. 1).
- Four of these states—Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, MP and Haryana—subsequently revoked the norms.
- Without the rapid decrease in fertility, China’s economy would not have grown by 7-8% in a year (Potts).
- Speaking at an event in October, Revanth Reddy said that the southern states have implemented the family planning policy efficiently, but the Centre is not ready to appreciate the south.
Unintended consequences
“China is just a little ahead of India but occupies 6.3 per cent of the world’s land mass, twice that of India. In other words, India should have at best stabilised its population at 700 million and kept it at that.” India occupies 2.4 per cent of the world’s land mass but supports over 18 per cent of its population. This means there is only 0.5 acres for every Indian compared to the global average of 5 acres per person. However, financial inducements for doctors and the women means poorer women are pressured to undergo these procedures. In both India and China, these population policies had unintended consequences. Speaking at an event in October, Revanth Reddy said that the southern states have implemented the family planning policy efficiently, but the Centre is not ready to appreciate the south.
Meta-analysis of hunter–gatherer societies shows remarkable physical abilities of both genders
Given one child policy in india Australia’s growing ties to India, it should be concerned about what population policy could mean for the erosion of democratic norms in India. The idea the country should adopt something like China’s former “one-child policy” has been moving from the fringe to the political mainstream. The worry here is that the coming population milestone will push India to adopt knee-jerk population policies. Given Australia’s growing ties to India, it should be concerned about what population policy could mean for the erosion of democratic norms in India. “Similar laws in China further worsened the sex ratio, the same will happen in India,” she told Al Jazeera.
In other words, the trend in India is towards smaller families already. As the 2022 UN report itself notes, no drastic intervention from the state is required. As early as March 2022, reports circulated on Chinese social media that India’s population had already surpassed China’s, though this was later dispelled by experts.
Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle. One of my own most unforgettable experiences was talking to Kanchamma, a sixty-year-old midwife in Usilampatti who had brought hundreds of babies to life and sent several more of them back to their maker. Twenty-five years ago, in the privacy of a dark room inside her hut she whispered to me her horrible secrets with graphic gestures sometimes even enacting the gruesome scenes that had taken place. It was eerie how she could talk so calmly and with flailing hands imitating the death throes of the infant girl struggling under a sari in which she was covered. Match makers picked up unwanted or abandoned babies and sold them to orphanages who in turn sold them abroad for adoption. Nanfu’s aunt says she wasn’t thinking of the future or of what sort of life her daughter would have.
