Population increase movement among extremists

'Small family is a happy family', a slogan given by the government of India in favour of population control is not only a slogan but it is a truth. Undoubtedly the increased number of children is a cause of division of property of a family. At the same time, provision for their bringing up, education & health is not an easy task. It is also the moral duty of the parents to give them all the facilities required so that they could spend the life independently. But most of the people mainly from the low & middle groups in India find it difficult to fulfill their responsibility. Whatever happened let it be bygones but now the people are becoming aware of it. At present all the Indians, may be from any religion or community, have started to feel that excess of population is not good for the country & is fatal for the society & the country. Today, everybody understands it well that he has to give good education to his children. He has to make proper arrangements for his expenses of food, clothes, education, health & other necessities of life. For that he will have to produce fewer numbers of children & by that way he would have to control the population increase.

Today, there is a big cry because of the high prices in the world. Most of the families find it difficult to make both ends meet. Prices of the goods of daily use, specially foodgrains are touching the sky. The news is that this increasing inflation in world is compelling most of the families to change their food & living habits. The families that used to cook two or three vegetables in a meal have now come to one vegetable. The families that used to eat three breads at a time are now shifting to two breads. Obviously those families that have limited sources of money & more children are badly affected by it. Clearly the poor & families with more children may meet the darkness in the future.

But away of all these actual circumstances, some communal & extremist powers are there that want to use poverty, illiteracy & increase in population as a weapon to get the power. The most infamous community for increase in population is known the Muslim Community. Its main reason may be more than one marriage by the men in the Islam religion. One reason at the world level may be that the number of children is more in the uneducated families. A common Muslim accepts a new born baby with the traditional proverb, 'A Gift from God.' But now the time is changing. With the change in time, there is also being a change in thoughts. Now a common Muslim has begun to feel that undoubtedly the new born baby is gift from God but the medium for the birth of that new born baby has been made the parents by the God. So the responsibility of the nurturing of that baby falls on the parents. Not only among the Muslims but in every community, a big line of children can be seen among the uneducated families almost.

In many countries of the world, specially the Asian countries, many special programmes have been started by the governments of these countries to save themselves from the fatal affects of the population explosion. Many special ministries by the governments have been setup for the control of population. The world health organization (WHO) encourages such programmes & gives money for them. But exactly opposite to it, many extremists' communal organizations are opposing such programmes of public welfare as population control. These powers are now only opposing the programmes of population control but advising the blind followers of their community to produce more children & give them hidden benefits for that.

Some responsible leaders of the active extremists Hindu Organizations are making propaganda among the Hindu community that because of the increasing Muslim population of the Muslims in India, they will be in majority in future & the Hindus would be a minority community. These leaders are inciting the innocent & uneducated persons of the Hindu community to produce more children so that the form of the majority of the Hindu community should remain. Undoubtedly their propaganda is a misleading one. The more number of children will be there in the uneducated families that may be from any community. The practicability of more than one marriage is not so common now, among the Muslim community. The youth of today is satisfied with one marriage & worried about the increasing expense of the future. So, the question of second marriage doesn't arise. Such propaganda is done, just to disturb the communal harmony so that in a democracy, the journey to the power can be done because of majority.

In the Christian society that claims to be cultured & progressive, last days there was a call from a Roman Catholic Church in Kerala state in India. It was said from the Church- it is being seen that the poor don't produce many children because of their troubles, but if the poor will produce more children, the Roman Catholic Church will give them economic assistance. Church has started a separate department for this fatal programme of increase in population. This department will help the poor to produce more children & at the same time, will encourage the poor families to produce more children. Here it is to be noted that whenever a community encourage a poor family of its community, the religious leaders & the communal organizations talk of the religion directly. Where there is a talk of religion, the imagination of heaven automatically comes there. The main aim of these communal organizations is to arise there religious feelings.

As such, many governments of the world, including India are carrying on very expensive programmes on a large scale to control the population, and then who has given them the right to oppose these policies of the government. The communal powers that are infact opponents of the democracy, want to play dangerous games through the persons that have blind faith in them & by the religious & social organizations. For it, these powers have some nexus with the persons who have faith in the democratic system. These communal powers come in the open at the time of the parliamentary elections & encourage the voters to cast their vote on the basis of religion. So it is necessary that the personal matters of producing children should be left on the families. It is not good to aim at the poor economic condition of these families for getting power. If they want to encourage, there should be encouragement of employment or encouragement of educating a children. The economic assistance should be for that & not for producing children. Such calls are immoral, inhuman & anti-national. There should be stern action against the persons who make such calls.

By TANVEER JAFRI