One child policy of China Essay Example for Free

One infant polity of China EssayThe issue of cosmos reaping has been genius(a) of the major problems faced by world over past century. The exponential population addition, popularly termed as population explosion, has led to unprecedented fig out in human population, which has numerically grown by over 4 billion to 6 billion in the last hundred years itself.This immense growth in human numbers has spawned social and economical problems of severe complexity, especially considering the fact that most of this growth has happened in economically underdeveloped countries of Asiatic and African region, particularly India and China, both of whom have seen their population growing past a billion mark. Supporting such(prenominal)(prenominal) huge number of ever hike population is indeed a challenge for any country, as natural imaginativenesss threaten to run short, and economic privations become a general norm.Under such circumstances, population control becomes a necessary g overnment objective, the validity, importance and meaningfulness of which are undisputable from environmental, economic and social angels. However, population control policies have always generated controversies from humanitarian and ethical viewpoints, the most noted example of them being the population control policy of Peoples Republic of China that restricts couples to having just one child (Xue, 1996).Although highly effective under Chinas strict invoke policies, it is indeed an positive measure that has invited criticism from all over the world because for its strong rather than coercive implications. Issues involved As taked earlier, unchecked rise in population is indeed an invitation to complex and unmanageable problems that no nation convey can handle irrespective of its size and resources. However, the issues involved with Chinas one child policy are very complicated and affect most basic concepts of right to life and existenceChina launched its aggressive family p lanning scheme in mid of 1970s when suddenly its policy makers realized the dangers of a rapidly growing population that had reached one billion mark by 1980s (Smith, 1991). In the previous two decades the government had failed to take in wisdom of growing population due to stability and improvement economic conditions, availability of medical facilities, medicines and drop in child mortality.More ominously, as demographers realized, the rapid growth of population in previous decades implied that by 1980 more than half the population was approaching marriage age, which meant that even under decreasing fertility rate, the Chinese population would reach 1. 4 billion by end of the century (White, 2003). This realization launched Chinese policy makers and government in a frenetic attempt to go across some of the strictest population measures that included a one-child policy per couple to contain the population under 1. 2 billion (Richards, 1996).This draconian measure was explained an d justified from non-homogeneous social and economical angels, one of which was arguable shortage of cultivable land (Smith, 1991). As government argued, the cultivable land per person had come down from . 20 hectare in 1949 to . 10 hectare in 1980 due to almost doubling of population in the same period and hence the ensuing crisis demanded critical measures (ibid). Moreover the state infrastructure and its capacity to support such magnanimous population, provide adequate medical and educational facilities and ensure jobs for it would become increasingly difficult.As claimed by supporters of the one child policy, the policy was merely concerned with providing economic incentives and preferential treatment to families with one child such as paid pregnancy leave, lucrative earnings bonus, and state sponsored or free educational and medical facilities, facilities that families with more than one child lack. Further disincentives created for larger families include financial penalty on assume of second and third child that are respectively 20 and 30 percent of the annual income of the family (Richards, 1996).The policy was tooth and nail opposed by a large proportion of Chinese people, and especially by those in rural areas but government decided to continue with it seeing its possible benefit in commanding the population question. One of the main problems disturbing Chinese leaders was Chinas low GNP and very simple calculations showed them that to increase GNP in the longer run, they required to reduce or contain the number of people, which was the easy way against the hard route that involved working towards increasing the economic output signal (Feng, 1996).Containing population growth was presented was the single panacea that could increase per capita income, help achieve modernization plans, give impetus to the economy and solve the problem of additional resource requirements that rising population presented (Feng, 1996). The one child policy is consid ered officially successful and instrumental in significantly reducing birth rank, fertility rates, growth rates and death rates and its expected that soon the population would began to decline at a faster rate as children born after the implementation of the policy would have less desire to have a family of more than one child (Richards). alike to wash off its hand from the negative effect of the policy, such as increased number of female feticide, and suicides among Chinese females, the government insistently attributed them to backward and obsolete Chinese culture and customs. Conclusion Despite the claims of the supporters and the official government, it cannot be denied that the very concept of the one child policy involves flagrant violations of the rights to live, procreate and live socially.In its zeal to implement the policy, Chinese authorities permitted such extreme measures as forcible abortions and sterilization, which were openly illegal in every humanitarian statute ( Xue and Xiaokang, 1996). By making childbearing an illegal act, the government forcibly time-tested to change the demographic dynamics with dangerous social consequences that threatens to create a mundane and homogenous society bereft of any relation except parents and in-laws. Also the one child policy triggered a large number of female-infanticide that threatened to dangerously alter male-female sex ratio in China.Of course the most uncivilised fate was reserved for those who were born outside this policy, that is the second and third child of the family who were denied any state support and facility in a perfectly state controlled society. In the wake of an economically prospering and comparatively stabilized China, its the call of the hour for Chinese government to finally abandon and bury its anti-people one child policy and work on creation of a more informed society.