Child Policies: A Boon or Curse?

One child. One Family. China has been dealing with the repercussions and restrictions of this law for over a decade. In the 1980's, China brought about a law stating that it was thereby illegal for a Chinese family to have more than one child. As the years progressed, the law was relaxed but not to a very great extent.  China then said “Hey! You can have two kids but if and only if the first one was a girl!” However, such deplorable conditions prevailed up until 2015. Quite recently that is, the Chinese government decided that it was alright for the citizens to have more than one child. So now, the law is called China’s two child policy. According to which, China now grants a Chinese couple to have two children.

The rationale behind framing of such policies was the Chinese population. The population of China is said to rival that of India’s. But contrary to us, China seeks to curb the issue of overcrowding in their cities. One of the prime reasons that has caused China to fret over their ever increasing population is the land and resources that are being utilized by them. Secondly, the aging population stunting their economic growth is also a cause of concern. Owing to its unproductive nature, China initially feared that the aging population would not be of much help to their economy. Their words not mine.

What I believe is that their ambitious policy has arrived a little too late for my liking. The effects of this are not easily realized. After extensive documentary watching and research, the thought that comes to my attention is the apathy of families living in China. I came across many reports where the family either had to abort their second child or send them off to other countries for the fear of being fined or worse, be jailed. Moreover families thereon, who did conceive preferred to have a male heir. Much like India, traditional Chinese families too, now thought a male heir would be more of an asset to them in the future.

The only advantage that I can take notice of is that China has successfully managed to get their population under control with such a rigorous policy, spanning over a 20 years. Be that as it may, there seems to a belief that even with a two child policy, China is not going to have a boom of children being born all of a sudden. And I for one completely agree with this notion.

The question that now arises is- Should India too, exercise population control measures or should the government exercise a man's right to his own life?

~Vaishali Ramesh, FYBA