Recently Govt. of Kerala drafted a bill which will enable the govt to put anyone in jail who has more than two kids. ( Link is here ) Many thought its a necessary step to tame the population growth. This new law might give us the impression that, sex is the root cause of population which is the whole point of that IDEA's 3G ad campaign. It gives us the impression that, the population growth is due to unplanned pregnancies. Well, that is a reason, but not the only reason.
Our population growth is not because people are horny and govt is not restricting them from having sex. The population bubble is a natural course for a country, and its merely the success story of Indian health Department.
When a country is poor, i.e the people of the country are poor and hardly making enough money to stay away from hunger, both the birth rate and death rate will be high. Its called the first stage of demography. When people can hardly eat, forget about health care and having labor in hospitals. Due to malnutrition and lack of vaccination ( people are not educated enough to know the importance of vaccination), no body is sure, how long a child will survive without cursed by a deadly disease. To improve the probability of having kids, couples tend to give birth to more children, and pray god that at least some of them survive. This can be seen in the pre-independence era of India.
Once, the vaccinations are introduced and people earning more and started knowing the value of nutrition, the high death rate will decline and due to old beliefs (Yes, humans have ideological inertia) the birth rate remains the same. This is the time population growth rate will be very high. This is the second stage of demography, high birth rate and low death rate.
Once, people are sure that their children will survive, the birth rate will go down slowly. This is called third stage, low birth rate and low death rate and the population finally stabilizes.
(More about demographic transitions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_transition )
Its only one of theories of population growth. One theory estimated that there is direct relation between population and in which sector the country depends for finances. Like, a farm owner wont feel having more children as burden but treats them as assets, because when they grew up, he does not have to employ extra labor to work in his farm. It sounds good, but more children means , the land of the father is divided among more and each child will be poor than his father, leading poverty.
And also there is direct relation between , the age at which the woman gets married and number of kids. And also between educational qualification of parents to the number of their children ( we dont see a postgraduated couple having half a dozen kids in this generation ). Just compare the literacy rates and population growth rate in North Indian states and south Indian states.
The bottom line is, temptation towards sex is not only the reason for the population we have. If govt dictates how many kids its citizen can have, its just few steps behind becoming totalitarian. Next what? Will govt pair up couples based on DNA so that the offspring will be strong? Seems, congress didnt learn its lessons from the policies of sanjay gandhi in emergency period.
In the name of controlling population we cant force people to buy 3G phones or force them to watch more TV or drop a hydrogen bomb . It should be done by educating people on various aspects. Too much interference into private life of citizens is against liberalism. The one or none policy of China is leading them to have more old age people in coming years than workable population. When we want to compete with them, we should be wise enough to grasp lessons from their mistakes.
Our population growth is not because people are horny and govt is not restricting them from having sex. The population bubble is a natural course for a country, and its merely the success story of Indian health Department.
When a country is poor, i.e the people of the country are poor and hardly making enough money to stay away from hunger, both the birth rate and death rate will be high. Its called the first stage of demography. When people can hardly eat, forget about health care and having labor in hospitals. Due to malnutrition and lack of vaccination ( people are not educated enough to know the importance of vaccination), no body is sure, how long a child will survive without cursed by a deadly disease. To improve the probability of having kids, couples tend to give birth to more children, and pray god that at least some of them survive. This can be seen in the pre-independence era of India.
Once, the vaccinations are introduced and people earning more and started knowing the value of nutrition, the high death rate will decline and due to old beliefs (Yes, humans have ideological inertia) the birth rate remains the same. This is the time population growth rate will be very high. This is the second stage of demography, high birth rate and low death rate.
Once, people are sure that their children will survive, the birth rate will go down slowly. This is called third stage, low birth rate and low death rate and the population finally stabilizes.
(More about demographic transitions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_transition )
Its only one of theories of population growth. One theory estimated that there is direct relation between population and in which sector the country depends for finances. Like, a farm owner wont feel having more children as burden but treats them as assets, because when they grew up, he does not have to employ extra labor to work in his farm. It sounds good, but more children means , the land of the father is divided among more and each child will be poor than his father, leading poverty.
And also there is direct relation between , the age at which the woman gets married and number of kids. And also between educational qualification of parents to the number of their children ( we dont see a postgraduated couple having half a dozen kids in this generation ). Just compare the literacy rates and population growth rate in North Indian states and south Indian states.
The bottom line is, temptation towards sex is not only the reason for the population we have. If govt dictates how many kids its citizen can have, its just few steps behind becoming totalitarian. Next what? Will govt pair up couples based on DNA so that the offspring will be strong? Seems, congress didnt learn its lessons from the policies of sanjay gandhi in emergency period.
In the name of controlling population we cant force people to buy 3G phones or force them to watch more TV or drop a hydrogen bomb . It should be done by educating people on various aspects. Too much interference into private life of citizens is against liberalism. The one or none policy of China is leading them to have more old age people in coming years than workable population. When we want to compete with them, we should be wise enough to grasp lessons from their mistakes.
14 comments:
Good and informative too :-) , But we should not forget some beliefs in religions like .. "naaru pose vaaDE nIru pOstADu" and some people strongly oppose family planning simply because their religion don't support it. In these situation, govt need to take some strong steps, They are not asking to stop sex, just asking to stop giving birth to more than 2 children. How they will do it, that's their option.
But, In India, maximum number of laws became just paper tigers. Example, Anti-Smoking law and others. The problem is govt don't take enough care after passing the law, they don't create awareness in the people. That hurts a lot.
పిల్లలు ఎంత మంది ఉండాలి అని పేరెంట్స్ "ఎడ్యుకేట్" అయ్యి "అవేర్నెస్" వచ్చేసరికి వాళ్లకు పెళ్ళిళ్ళు అయిపోతాయి ఊర్లల్లో.ఇక ప్లానింగ్ ఎక్కడ? వాళ్ళను ఎడ్యుకేట్ చేసేది ఎవరు? కనీసం 10th వరకు చదివితేనన్నా తెలుస్తుంది. అలా కూడా జరగడం లేదు. 7th /8th వరకే చదువులు. ఆ తరగతులల్లో ఈ విజ్ఞానం ఉండదు. ఆ చిన్న పిల్లలకు అంత కంటే ముందు చెప్పలేం కూడా!! అలాంటప్పుడు ఇలాంటి చట్టాలు బెటర్ కదా. ఇద్దరు కంటే ఎక్కువ పిల్లలు ఉంటే govt నుండి వచ్చే incentives రావని భయ పెడితే...తప్పకుండా కొంచెం ఫలితం ఉంటుంది. లేదంటే...కంటూనే ఉంటారు.....ప్లానింగ్ ఇష్టం ఉండక /మగపిల్లవాడు కావాలని. శిక్షిస్తామని చట్టముంటే ...అది భయపెట్టి అయినా మంచి ఫలితాలను ఇస్తే..మంచిదే ! ఇక పిల్లల్ని కనకండి అని చెప్పింది కాని govt ....ఇంకేం ఆపమని చెప్పలేదు కదా..:-).
:) just google population growth rate of india and you will understand that its already declining ( the graph is from UN database) All those calculations which says we will surpass china by so and so year are considering growth rate for one yr and making the calculations. so no worries about growth rate.
If we to assume that the massiveness of our population is the problem to be solved, then this not more than two kids policy is not going to help us, because when each couple is giving birth to another two members, even theoretically the population numbers will be the same for ever, so govt has to reduce the "number of allowed children" from two to one, and then we might face the same problem china is about to face.
The problem here is, a bunch of people 'can not' design the course of nation, you cant sit in a drawing room with few statistical books and make punishable laws. Thats what FA hyak cries in his book "fatal conceit : errors of socialism". There are few things regarding a nation which should take the natural course. I dont mean to say crime is natural so be it.
Every govt uses carrot and stick technique, stick should be used for the rules without which the system might collapse, and carrot for those which will improvise the present system.
So, if govt wants indians to have more education, all it has to do is to pass a law, which will throw all the people above 21 age and lack a degree. To eradicate beggar problem, push them to jail, and india will be beggar-free, to increase farm productivity, set number of tons per acre target and put all those farmers who have not reached it in jails, to maintain a good boy-girl ratio, force couples to have at least one girl child, and to improve religious tolerance, just make a rule saying each person should marry from other religion ...
btw, Is population the real problem ? or our inability to provide oppurtunities for the population the real problem ?
When most of them have oppurtunities, and most of them are productive and creative, isn't population a strength !!!
Too much of it is a problem. I would agree. But too much of villanizing the population is a sort of elitist thinking of the lazy brains..
you have a point, but too much population requires too many opportunities, too much govt size, too many crimes, too many police and so much corruption, implementation of every policy will be slow which will lead to many unsatisfied citizens ( which is bad for a liberal state) of course china is having more population than us, but they dont even have fundamental rights over there, as you might have know, its easy to manage 100 slaves than 10 free men.
/This new law might give us the impression that, sex is the root cause of population /
How?!! They haven't banned Sex, but going to peanalise unlimited cancer like 'production'. Good move, I support that.
Why to 'produce' like pigs and leave them to feed on the country? when affordable medical technolgy is available, unlike in the past(40years ago)
'but too much population requires too many opportunities, too much govt size, too many crimes, too many police and so much corruption, implementation of every policy will be slow which will lead to many unsatisfied citizens ( which is bad for a liberal state) of course china is having more population than us, but they dont even have fundamental rights over there, as you might have know, its easy to manage 100 slaves than 10 free men.'.....జనాభా ఎక్కువైతే ఇన్ని సమస్యలు ఉన్నాయి అంటూనే 2 :2 అనే child policy ఉండకూడదు అంటున్నావ్. బానిసలు తయారవడం కంటే ...ఆలోచన కలిగిన గుప్పెడు మనుషులే సమాజానికి కావాలి కదా. ఇద్దరికి ఇద్దరే ఉంటే జనాభా అలాగే ఉంటుందేమో! కానీ...ఒక్క "గ్రామాన్ని" unit గా చేసుకుని చూసినా చాలు ...కనీసం 100 మంది couple కేవలం అధిక పిల్లల వల్ల ఇబ్బంది పడుతూ కనిపిస్తున్నారు. ఎందుకిలా? తక్కువ జనాభా కు ఎక్కువ సదుపాయాలు కల్పించి "సంతృప్తి" గా , ఆనందం గా ఉండే ఇంకొంచెం బెటర్ సమాజాన్ని ఆశించలేమా?
I am not saying we should grow our population. Just giving a different perspective.
Today we are a big market and everyone want to invest here. Why ? Because we improved the oppurtunities and spending power of our population.
In the earlier days when most of the population were living a pathetic life we were not considered a big market.
Yeah too many people requires too many things. But at the same time there will be too many creative folks and too many leaders to handle the stuff.
@Snkr .. :D
@subhashini ... i am just against the law which controls how many kids a couple can have, but i am not supporting population growth either. My point is, this punishable law is not the right the solution for the population growth. And i ask how this law is different from policies implemented by sanjay gandhi during emergency period?
"బానిసలు తయారవడం కంటే ...ఆలోచన కలిగిన గుప్పెడు మనుషులే సమాజానికి కావాలి కదా" సమాజానికి ఫలానా వ్యక్తులు కావాలి, వీళ్ళు అవసరం లేదని చెప్పలేం, పిచ్చాసుపత్రి లో ఉండే పిచ్చి వాళ్ళు సమాజానికి ఏ విధంగానూ ఉపయోగపడటం లేదు, అలా అని పిచ్చి వాళ్ళని చంపేస్తే వచ్చిన నష్టం ఏముంది అని ఆలోచించలేము కదా , అసమర్థుని జీవ యాత్ర లో చెప్పినట్టు సమాజం లో అన్ని రకాల వాళ్ళు ఉంటారు , అంతే.
ఇప్పుడు మధ్యతరగతి , ఉన్నత కుటుంబాలలో, నిమ్న తరగతులతో పోలిస్తే సంతానం తక్కువగానే ఉంటుంది, అంటే ఈ మధ్య ఉన్నత తరగతి ప్రజలు , పెరుగుతున్న దేశాజనభాని, సమాజ శ్రేయస్సుని దృష్టిలో పెట్టుకుని తక్కువ మంది పిల్లల్ని కనడం లేదు కదా !!
ఈ తరగుటలలో, పిల్లల విషయం లో వచ్చేసరికి ముఖ్యంగా ఉండే reason "ఇక చాలు" అని. ఆ "చాలు" అనేది, మధ్యతరగతి ఉన్నత తరగతి లో పిల్లలు తల్లిదండ్రుల మీద ఆధారపడే కాలం మీద ఉంటోంది. ఉన్నత తరగతులలో సంతానం అటు ఇటు గా ఒక 20-23 వయసు వచ్చేవరకు తల్లిదండ్రుల మీద ఆధారపడుతునో , తల్లిదండ్రులతో నివసిస్తునో ఉంటారు, వాళ్ళకి చదువు చెప్పాలి, వల్ల ఆలన పాలన చూడాలి, చాలా గోల ఉంటుంది, ఇంతమంది పిల్లల్ని అంత కాలం పోషించాగాలనా , అసలు వేగాగాలనా ఇంతమంది పిల్లలతో అన్న ఆలోచన ఉంటుంది , అదే పేద కుటుంబాల విషయం లోకి వచ్చేసరికి , పిల్లాడికి ఒక 7-8 వచ్చినదగ్గరనుంచి , తండ్రి పొలం లో పని చేయడం మొదలు పెడతాడు, ఒక 13 లేదా 14 వచ్చేసరికల్లా ఇంకెక్కడో పనికి వెళ్లడం మొదలు పెడతాడు , అంటే వాడికి 7 వచ్చేవరకే తల్లిదండ్రుల మీద పూర్తిగా అధారపడుతున్నాడు , కాబట్టి సంతానం ఎంత ఎక్కువయిన వాళ్ల బ్రతుకులు వాళ్ళు బ్రతికేస్తారు కాబట్టి "చాలు" అనేది తక్కువ ఉంటుంది. అలాగే శ్రీకాంత్ చెప్పినట్టు "నారు పోసినవాడు నీరు పోయకుండా ఉంటాడా" అన్నది కూడా ఉంటుంది. ఒక ధనికుడికి ఒక పేద వాడికి పిల్లల విషయం లో ఆలోచలనలో ఇంత తేడ ఎందుకు ఉంది? And again these are just few speculating theories of population growth.
@weekend politician ... probably you are right, more people means more workers and more market. Though the population is growing, percentage of people BPL is decreasing and our GDP is increasing. But we should never forget that, it happened because of the liberal laws which came to force, now can we call a country free country with free market economy if the govt controls how many offspring a couple can have? And there wont be any "creative folks" in a totalitarian society. There are no prominent authors and philosophers from Russia after communist revolution, all the russian authors books like war and peace or works of dostoyveski belong to pre-revolution era, after revolution only Russia is providing only military equipment to the humanity, nothing more.
Sanju,
Should we just oppose restricted birth rate, just because communist countries introduced it at first? The issues are different, we shouldn't mix the two.
With limited land and resources it is good to have control on birth rate. Let future generations too travel comfortably in trains/busses and walk without rubbing others, yaar. :)
@snkr .. no snkr, we have the honor of introducing family planning first, i am not opposed to birth control and family planning, my point is, govt should promote those things, inspire people to take those measures and have a deep look into the issue like it did so far, instead of just threatening people. When weekend politician talked about more "creative folks" i took the example of russia and said that there wont be any creativity in a totalitarian society.
/inspire people to take those measures /
In what way to INSPIRE? What if we don't get 'inspired' so easily?! :)
Ok, as the Govt is sound financially, they should atleast discourage(use stick if there are no carrots) people by imposing heavy tax/fine on third child onwards. Jail term for the may not be correct, I agree.
అసంతృప్తి నుండి ఆవేశం, అజ్ఞానం పుట్టి ఆ కోపం తో కుటుంబం లోని వాళ్ళను / ప్రేమ పేరుతో అమ్మాయిలను చంపడమో...నరకడమో చేసేవాళ్ళకంటే.....ఆలోచన ఉన్న వాళ్ళు ఎంతైనా బెటర్. వీళ్ళ కంటే పిచ్చివాళ్ళు ఇంకా బెటర్.:-). 7 yrs కి పని చేసి ఆ పుట్టెడు సంతానం బాల కార్మికులుగా మారాలా?. తక్కువ పిల్లలు-ఉన్న డబ్బు తో ఎక్కువ comforts -చదువు- -ఎక్కువ exposure -- జీవితం పై ఎక్కువ అవగాహన...అక్కడి నుండి మరొక తరానికి ఈ attitude . May b this is better life than ..more children...in a small house...suffring from mal-nutrition n adjustment problems.
@snkr ... probably govt could use the same techniques which are used for save girl campign... like the way they are depositing money for girl on her birth which will be matured only after she reaches 18 ( i forgot name of this scheme but it was initiated few months back in haryana and delhi), may govt could put a condition for getting homes on indiramma padhakam, or other rural uplifting programs, just like they give money for getting vasectomy
@సుభాషిని ... hehe, మీ చేతికి పూర్తీ అధికారం ఇస్తే, పిచ్చివల్లని తప్ప మిగతావాళ్ళు పని పట్టేటట్టు ఉన్నారుగా , మీరు చెప్పినవన్నీ ప్రజలు అనుకుటే బాగానే ఉంటుంది, కాని అందరు అలా అనుకోలేరు , ఎవరి బాధలు వారివి
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