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India - Stop at two kids or lose govt facilities - Karnataka CM

by israeli.agent | September 9, 2009 at 09:25 pm

539 views | 26 Recommendations | 5 comments

If B S Yeddyurappa , Chief Minister of Indian state Karnataka has his way, the "breed-only" type citizen may lose all major benefits and facilities offered by the government. Coming back from his recent visit from China Yeddyurappa seems to have brought a couple of revolutionary ideas along with the mementos and gifts.

One of the ideas that impressed the CM seems to be China's one child policy. Since India has a recommended "we-two, ours two" policy it is just that - a prefered ,but not enforced policy. No matter if a couple have two childes or two dozen, the they all get the same benefits from the Government. If Yeddiyurappa goes ahead with his idea of restricting benefits only to two children in the state, definitely that would create a lot of ripples in the Indian society.

Bangalore: Is it a spinoff of his recent visit to China? Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa seems to be taking a leaf out of China’s one-child norm. Unlike his predecessors who return from overseas visits wanting to emulate the infrastructure there, Yeddyurappa is zeroing in on China’s population control. He told the legislative assembly on Wednesday that couples in the state should restrict themselves to two children.

“A large population may pose an obstacle to development. I’ve an idea to limit two children per couple and those failing to adhere to this norm will lose all government benefits. I need the support of the legislature in bringing this policy to practice,’’ he said. What triggered this idea? He was impressed by the way Chinese follow the rules and regulations. “People there are very hardworking. They strictly follow the one-child norm.’’

Expressing concern that the country is lagging behind in the Human Development Index, the CM said the India is 127th worldwide and Karnataka is in 7th place in the country. “Though the state is the above country’s average, we’re still lagging behind Kerala, TN, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Talking about the Government benefits those could be at stake are

Some benefits extended by state government Ration card Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards Agricultural benefits like loans at low interest, seeds and fertilizer at subsidized rate Reservation benefits Various pension schemes Health insurance Various reliefs like accident and calamity Educational benefits.

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Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 03:47 on September 10th, 2009

Thanks for this It seems like India and China are establishing great relations. I would think that this policy will just create more poverty, which is not in the interest of anyone.

Spydermonkey

at 04:29 on September 10th, 2009

In the short term (depending on how this is implemented) it can cause more poverty, but if they follow the Chinese model it should help slow the population growth & give the gov. a chance to "stem the tide" of poverty. Not as drastic as the Chinese model, but I wouldn't expect that from India.

Personally, I don't think India will be as successful as China has been in implementing this kind of policy, but good luck to them if they wish to.

israeli.agent

at 10:30 on September 10th, 2009

One peculiar and highly sensitive 'benefit' one can see in India is reservation. The reservation is based upon one's caste and religion. In Government run institutions (schools, higher education institutions, jobs etc) a certain please of seats / vacancies are set aside for 'lower' caste Hindus and minority religions (Muslims, Christians converted from lower caste Hindus..etc). For example if a person is a member of such category (it is called 'scheduled casts / tribes and Other Backward Community) you can get into an engineering college or medical institution or land in a plump Government job. (In India, The Government is one of the biggest job provider). Irrespective of the marks / skills / ranks. This is irrespective of the number of children such a family have. If a family consists of two dozens of children, all of them get this benefit. The saying goes for them is "God gives children, who are we to refuse.

It is unlikely that such policy ever will come into effect in India.

.Agent.

Barry ORegan

at 05:19 on September 10th, 2009

I agree, kind of hard to enforce in a society that covets males over females

israeli.agent

at 10:39 on September 10th, 2009

Yes, Barry. This is an additional point to what I replied above.

A little bit Wiki on caste based reservation in India.

Reservation in Indian law is a form of affirmative action whereby a percentage of seats are reserved in the public sector units, union and state civil services, union and state government departments and in all public and private educational institutions, except in the religious/ linguistic minority educational institutions, for the socially and educationally backward communities and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes who are inadequately represented in these services and institutions. The reservation policy is also extended for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for representation in the Parliament of India. The central government of India reserves 27% of higher education, and individual states may legislate further reservations. Reservation in most states is at 50%, the maximum amount declared constitutional by the supreme court, but certain Indian states like Rajasthan have proposed a 68 % reservation which includes a 14% reservation for forward castes.

Recently some state governments tried to extend the caste/religion based reservation to private sector too - through a legislation.

This system is one of the main reasons the so called "brain drain" happens from India to other developed countries.

.Agent.