Many of people who
are in their 80s and above have had many children, even though the families
have little wealth or source of income. When the elder people talk, they talk
about how they survived and how little they could afford the common things. The
small houses they had were shared by many people and they had a capacity to
take others opinions and also had a higher capacity to compromise. This
capacity to compromise has extended to a bit outside the family and has crept
into the government and which can be a reason for extended periods of
corruption.
The older generation people were never poor, and never
afraid of providing food to the many children. Though there was dissatisfaction
among the many children everyone knew the truths about the family situation.
The reason for higher number of children can also be attributed to higher child
deaths due to lesser vaccinations. A fertility rate of 2.1 is required to
maintain a civilization/race and anything less would lead to the extinction of
the race. This reduced fertility rate is so prevalent in European countries;
estimates tell that in another 40-50years, Europeans would become a minority
community in their own country. The
ratio of live births in an area to the population of that area; expressed per
1000 population per year or in simpler terms, number of births per women.
Countries have begun to make statements about the increased
fertility rates of the minority populations. The demographics are a key
component in the socio-political atmosphere of any nation. A change in
demographics can alter the course of a nation, and many nations have changed color.
Doubts arise regarding the extreme population control measures taken by the
highly populated countries in the past decades about their validity and long
term implications. Countries like China have done 3300million abortions in the
past decade while other countries are encouraging its citizens to have many
children.
Countries with aging population are facing serious threats
to their economies because of the lack of young man power which can work to
generate income and revenues. Thus for any country or state that thinks about
its fertility rate a bane is heading for a doom in the long term. A fertility
rate is more important factor and strengthening the institution of family has
to be at the core of any policy making. But in the current scenario of India, the
fertility rate is reducing and the size of the families is becoming 3 in many
cases. A father, mother and a child has become a norm and many of the ads that
show a family also highlight this, with occasionally showing a family with grandparents.
Older generation people could raise several children and
many of them later becoming the caretakers of the families. But with the
current reduced size of the families and migration of the children to greener
pastures has lead to increased dependence of external help. External help
during the hospitalization, for doing domestic chores etc is in prime demand.
Many can argue about the increased creation of jobs to the semi skilled, but
the important point is the wages and other benefits that an organized labour
can get. This service or labor industry will see huge growth and it will
primarily be an unorganized sector where the local touts will make huge sums of
money.
Apart from this people talk about the richness which is all
pseudo richness. When parents of older generations can raise many children and
make their marriages and provide for some basic education the money required is
huge though there were subsidies from the government. The families lived a poor
life as per the norms of the richer countries or other pseudo indicators used
to belittle the developing countries by the developed nations. But today with
single child, double income families the amount of money at disposal is more
and whether the parents can raise several children like that of the older
generations. The most obvious answer is a no, because raising children has
become a sort of hindrance to the career men and women alike and also a financial
burden to the parents.
With the need of luxury setting in the minds of the nation,
the fertility rate is thrown to dogs. The collective wisdom of the citizens of
this country is low and this is lesser wisdom is due to breakdown of the
families into nuclear systems. If this fertility rate is one problem, then the
other side of the coin is the preference of people to remain uncommitted and
lead a single life. The continuation of the race is a prime requirement but
when it is forgotten in the mad rush for self enjoyment and life goals the
society is heading for a disaster. Many donot care for this problem because
nobody lives long for seeing several generations and also there is no time.
What is the future
of the nation/race whose children are too few in number to the enemies waiting
to destroy every race?
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