Topic: Population Policies Case Studies: India

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Topic Population PoliciesCase Studies India
China
Aim In what ways can a country attempt to
control its population? Do Now For what reasons
might a country either encourage or discourage
its citizens from having children?
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Rough translation - Fewer births mean better
births and lifelong happiness
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• to try to ensure that the results are the ones
  we really intend. Its the unintended results
  that can often be the worst, and sometimes
  bedevil us.
• ---Stephen Spielberg, speaking of Israels
  covert response to the Munich Massacre

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Population Policies

• Expansive Policies or Pro-Natalist policies
  encourage large families e.g. Fascist Italy, Nazi
  Germany, Soviet Union
• Eugenic Population Policy -devoted to improving
  the human race through heredity by controlling
  who has children with who

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Order of Maternal Glory 1st Class
9 children 500,000 awarded
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Motherhood Medal 2nd Class
5 children 8,000,000 awarded
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Population Policies

• Restrictive or Anti-Natalist policies discourage
  births.
• Policies vary (e.g. - despite Vatican policies,
  most Catholic Italians practice birth control
  Philippines (only Asian Catholic country)
  government restricts birth control.

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• Thinking historically, for what reasons do you
  think China currently has the largest population
  of any country on Earth?

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Impact of Mao Zedong in China

• In the 1950s and 1960s Mao instructed the nation
  to have as many children as possible in order to
  bury the United States in a human wave.
• Sent the birth rate soaring to 5.8 children per
  couple, a level unsustainable for China's natural
  resources. By 1962 a massive famine had caused
  some 30 million deaths.

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Chinas One Child Policy

• Introduced in 1979 by Deng Xiaoping after Maos
  death
• Its aim was to reduce the rate of population
  growth
• Economic and social rewards for those who adhere
  to it, penalties for those who do not

Chinas aggressive policy enforcement of the One
couple, one child is displayed on this billboard.
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Exceptions

• Ethnic minorities are formally excluded from the
  policy (Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao, Uighur, Tujia,
  Yi, Mongol, Tibetan, Buyi, Dong, Yao, Korean, and
  other nationalities 8.5)
• If both parents are only children themselves,
  then they are allowed to have more than one child
  provided the children are spaced more than 4
  years
• Families who have children with mental or
  physical disabilities are sometimes allowed to
  have another child

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Discussion Questions

1. In what ways can Chinas policy create a global
   issue?
2. In what ways do cultural preferences impact the
   population in China?
3. Describe some of the consequences (both intended
   and not) of Chinas One Child Policy on their
   population structure.
4. In what ways could any shift in population
   structure impact Chinese society?

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• http//www.china-europe-usa.com/level_4_data/hum/0
  11_7a.htm

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• 119 boys for every 100 girls
• 30 million unmarried men by 2020
• 45 of Chinese women said they dont intend to
  marry
• 3/10 families have grandparents living with them
• Biggest demographic revolution in history-Number
  of Elderly is rising-by 2050 about 30 of the
  population will be over 60-no pensions or social
  security.
• Chinas only children will have to support two
  parents and perhaps 4 grandchildren

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• 60 minutes
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vw-xwd_affr4
• As we watch the following 3 minute clip, try to
  identify some of the unintended consequences of
  Chinas population policies

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• Gender imbalance Roughly 119 males to every 100
  females, as high as 130 to 100 in some areas.
  More than 24 million Chinese men of marrying age
  could find themselves without spouses in 2020,
  with sex-specific abortions a major factor.
• High levels of prostitution, STDs, and general
  social instability in certain regions

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Effects on Women

• 1.) Militia force if women do not show up on time
  for abortion/sterilization
• 2.) High suicide rates
• 3.) Abuse/murder if women is suspected to carry a
  girl
• 4.)Cultural belief women thought to determine
  sex of the baby

Sun Zhonghua, a 34 year old mother of two, died,
apparently after she was beaten for refusing to
be sterilized. Officials say Sun jumped from the
4th floor of a birth control administration
building after being dragged from her home to be
forcibly sterilized. ---Associated Press, 2001
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• First 6 years 70 million abortions
• 1980s about 20 million sterilizations a year-3X
  as many women as men.
• Communist party members were given cash and
  promotions for enforcing the laws.
• 1984 One Child Policy was relaxed in the
  countryside - strictly enforced in urban areas

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• Many rural Chinese defied rule, hid pregnant
  women, failed to register births, prevented
  inspectors from visiting rural villages.
• Government took drastic action
• Violators were fined
• Land was confiscated
• Lost all benefits
• Pregnant women were arrested forced to have
  abortions

Harbin Hospital nurse checks newborns. In some
areas a second or third child resulted in 10
reduction in income until child reaches 14 yrs
old.
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Chinas Little Emperors
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Anti-Natalist Policies India
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India's population, 1901 to 2000
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(No Transcript)
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Infertility clinics like this one in New Delhi
reflect India's shift away from coerced birth
control to individual choices. While providing
the opportunity for birth control to those who
want it, some individuals such as those served by
this clinic may be more concerned with the
opposite problem -- not being able to have any
children.
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Indian emigrants diaspora around the
world Commonwealth country laborers Remittances
and development Destinations today U.S., Great
Britain, Canada, Australia Implications of
population growth in India Supplies of
freshwater are stretched to the limit Soil
exhaustion and erosion Cultivating low-lying,
hurricane-prone islands Overgrazing Protein
consumption is 20 below nutritional
needs Unable to provide social services and
education Makeshift housing in squatter
settlements Nonetheless, remarkable
economic growth, large middle class, and
leadership in the information economy
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Discussion

1. Does a government (any government) have the right
   to dictate citizens reproductive behavior?
2. In what ways is Chinas One Child Policy
   necessary? Did China have other options for the
   control of their population?
3. Bearing in mind your answers to the above
   question, make an argument as to whether the
   policy should or should not exist.