Union minister Giriraj Singh’s proposed surgical strike against overpopulation, intended to snip and clip the very roots of social disharmony and economic disparity, meets the gold standard in terms of policy. To overcome Johnny Public’s Emergency-induced shivers of apprehension at the mention of nasbandi, the political class must lead the way.
But first, a quick dekko at the Union Cabinet’s record of Make in India. Google guru reveals that 80 per cent of the BJP ministers – including India’s most eligible de facto bachelor aka Narendra Modi – have 0 to 2 children. Only four of the 24 – including its resident doctor of medicine, Harsh Vardhan – have three children. But seven of the 24 have none or one. The four (BJP) women in the Cabinet have just three children between them. Giriraj Singh, who is a minister of state, has just one, in case you were wondering. Like NCP chief Sharad Pawar, he has a daughter.
This may not accord well with RSS chief Mohan Rao Bhagwat’s notion of a demographic dividend. He would prefer to see his tribe increase, to keep up with the Joneses (or Akbarses). But with limited “Lebensraum” at India’s disposal – as Giriraj Singh helpfully pointed out, we have 2.4 per cent of the world’s landmass and 17 per cent of its people – setting our generative capacity at “low” is a practical notion.
A quarter-century ago, when the then Union Health minister Makhan Lal Fotedar introduced a Bill in the Rajya Sabha, suggesting that members of Parliament be subject to a mandatory “ek ya do, bas” norm, he met with stiff opposition. Of course, the clause was intended to apply with prospective effect, given that Fotedar himself had five children. He stood firm and Parliament’s standing committee approved the 79th Constitutional Amendment Bill, only to be frustrated by his own party’s insistence on calling an all-party meeting to discuss the issue – an effective deflationary and dilatory tactic.
India’s come a long way since Fotedar’s abortive bid to force lawmakers into limiting their surges. The Union Cabinet reflects contemporary urban social trends, in that it’s OK to be single or have a small family and especially cool to (a) have a single girl child (b) adopt. The high maintenance (putting it mildly) character of the millenial and post-millenial generations may have something to do with it. Or perhaps it’s just that PUNKs (profession uncle, no kids) and PANKs (professional aunt, no kids) are much more relaxed and have better lives than actual parents. India has recovered from the late Sanjay Gandhi’s cut and dried population control policy, which had so traumatised a young socialist by the name of Lalu Prasad Yadav, that he went on to have nine children. This goes to show that nasbandi cannot be zabardasti.
In several States, the two-child norm is mandatory for those seeking election to panchayati raj institutions. Among those who find this provision “regressive” and “anti-democratic” is former Union (Panchayati Raj) minister Mani Shankar Aiyar. A certain section of public intellectuals regard population stabilisation as a conspiracy by foreign-funded NGOs to rob India of its demographic advantage and stifle individual liberty by restricting the right to reproduce.
Whatever, dude. The post-millenials find large families “gross”, which might have to do with enjoying their SC (single child-multiple caregivers) status. In China, the one-child norm which drastically whittled its population growth rates was reversed last year after nearly four decades. Policy analysts are unsure whether economic and social pressures will allow a reversal of the current population trend.
Countries which are small and crowded have advanced economies and less gender disparity and tend to have smaller populations. Experience shows that educated and financially and socially emancipated women will generally opt for smaller families (while deeply resenting any interference by the State in the matter). In India, the southern States have effectively controlled their birth rates while the North is still weighed down by a burgeoning population.
Over to Dr J K Bajaj, of the Centre for Policy Studies, who has minutely analysed the Religion Data Census of 2011. His observations: ‘The data indicates that the share of Muslims in the population of India has increased by 0.8 percentage points; this is similar to the increase they have registered for the last several decades….But these headline figures hide several very significant changes that indicate the beginning of a new dynamics of religious demographic change emerging in the country. Particularly, the data shows that in several States of India, including some which have seen great contraction in the share of Hindus in the past, the Hindu share has begun to stabilise and even increase.’
Now, that should reassure the honourable Union minister.
The author is a senior journalist with 35 years of experience in working with major newspapers and magazines. She is now an independent writer and author.
