DARING TO HAVE CHILDREN

ARVIND K.PANDEY

(Published in NEWSWEEK ,MARCH 8,2008)

China’s strict implementation of its one-child policy was the beginning of the harsh ordeal for China’s rural poor. But the urban rich came up with novel ways to conveniently avoid the implications of breaking the law. In fact, Asia’s rich and powerful, whether in India or China, somehow manage to find an escape route. It is shocking that corrupt officials abducted unregistered children and demanded large “fees” for their release from families who dared to have more than one child. No doubt the one-child policy has stabilized and controlled population growth in China, but it has also made trouble for ordinary people.