Population Control: Lessons from the Past

When PM Modi hinted at family planning during his republic day speech earlier this year it drew attention to a long standing problem of population explosion.Although growing population is a global concern, Asian countries pose a mighty challenge with their high population density, slow growing economies and immense pressure on natural resources. India and China together account for more than a fourth (36%) of the world's population. Both countries adopted a family planning program that initially started off as a voluntary effort but soon turned into an involuntary and often forced procedure. Policing its citizens' bodies to cap population growth is not only a grave human rights violation but fails as a policy. These super power nations adopted similar strategies that have spawned various social dilemmas in their respective countries. In India where the state imposed sterilization was only possible after the declaration of Emergency in 1975, its repercussions ensure that a coercive population control policy is still unimaginable. Ironically the policy of policing its women's wombs that acted as a catalyst in China’s economic rise is the same policy that now threatens its economic success. This article will walk through the history of family planning in India and China and conclude with lessons one can learn from these social experiments.