The top Chinese political leadership has always been worried about the country’s population. In the 1960s and 1970s, leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) had encouraged people to have more children in an effort to boost the Human Resources. However, the CPC Leadership announced One-Child Policy to deal with population explosion in the 1980s. The forced birth control policy created serious social problems, especially in urban areas, in the Asian nation.

The CPC, seemingly, was not worried about the crisis. Perhaps, the party had ignored the fact that attempts to forcibly reduce the population could cause serious disturbances in the national demographics. Often, the proportion of elderly population increases rapidly as a result of this. Six years ago, Beijing realised the danger and made an attempt to handle the situation by adopting Two-Child Policy. Last week, the Government of China adopted Three-Child Policy, as the CPC reportedly advised the Chinese ladies to be mothers to three babies. It may be noted that the Rulers did not issue any order in this regard, but made a request to the Chinese people!

The Two-Child Policy has not left much of impact on public opinion in China. Perhaps, the Three-Child Policy will have no impact, too, with the reason being the prevailing economic situation. The cost of education and healthcare services, especially for the elderly people, has increased a lot in China in the past three decades. Furthermore, the Healthcare System has deteriorated, and the culture of long working hours has started creating new problems. Often, pregnant women become victims of social stigma because of perpetual Gender Inequality in the Chinese society, and the country’s obligations to the Market Economy. They are also deprived of fair opportunities in the job market. Hence, the Chinese people do not want more than one or two babies. This tendency is rapidly increasing even in rural areas. The Social Thought usually travels from the urban areas to rural areas in any country. In fact, birth rates have dropped dramatically across the globe with the advent of economic prosperity.

So, Beijing’s attempt to forcefully reduce the population in the 1980s was not only unjust, but also not a wise one. China’s uninterrupted economic growth and urbanisation for four decades would have inevitably reduced the birth rate. There was no need for repressive policies to reduce the population. It happens with economic growth. The One-Child Policy had disturbed that natural process. To address this issue, the CPC is trying to encourage the Three-Child Policy. According to experts, it is an attempt to turn the wheel of progress to the opposite direction! They believe that lack of intelligence is behind this delusion. Instead of making another mistake, the Chinese rulers would have respected Democracy, restrained themselves from imposing their decisions on people, and would have been more tolerant. Of course, they would never do that. In China, the Party is all-powerful, because it is aware of everything!

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das