One-Child Policy Evaluation - Essay Example

?Precis One child policy of China was its family planning program that was introduced in 1979 as population control mechanism and implemented from 1978 on first born children. During Mao Zedong’s leadership, while the birth rate had fallen from 37% to 20% and children mortality decreased from 227/1000 to 53/1000 from 1949 to 1981, the life expectancy had literally doubled from 35 years to 65 years by 1976. The population too had jumped from 540 million to 940 million in the same period. The family planning program had therefore, become critical for socio-economic growth of the nation. It was designed for one generation but in 2008, it was extended for another decade. The policy was enforced stringently in urban areas while allowing some exceptions for rural areas and for families where the couple were single child of their respective families or parents whose child was disabled or dead. There was huge penalty for violating the policy norm of one child in urban areas. The family was charged for having second child, all welfare amenities were withdrawn and the promotion of working parents withheld. The rural population, ethnic minorities were allowed to have two children on request or sometimes even three or four. Birth spacing of 3-4 years was requisite for second pregnancy. The policy was enforced at provincial level and any times, violation also resulted in forced abortion by the authorities. It was one of the major concerns of human rights and that had raised many controversies over its viability or validity. But the outcome was positive with around 300 million births were prevented till 2000 and only million births aborted from 1970 to 2011. The policy did not apply to foreigners or Chinese families settled abroad. As Chinese have patriarchal society, male child is preferred over girl child. As such, 52.9% population was allowed second child if the first one was male but strictly applied on 35.9% of population with 1.9% Tibetans allowed to have as many children as they want. It is believed that fertility rate dropped alarmingly from 3 per woman to 1.54 in 2011. Population explosion was effectively controlled which helped the nation to focus on socio-economic development activities. The Policy contributed to increased saving by individuals and provided better support to children’s higher education. It also helped to provide better healthcare services to women and reduced pregnancy related risks. The policy proved hugely beneficial in terms of increased employment, reduced burden on natural resources and rate of exploitation. The overhead cost on social service and social maintenance and problems associated with over population like poverty, epidemics, law enforcement etc were considerably reduced. This helped the government to focus on economic growth. The policy has come under flak for myriad reasons. While forced abortion and infanticide are cited as major human right violations, many social problems have also emerged with single child. It has resulted abnormal sex ration and it is expected that there would be 30 million more men than women by 2020! It is also believed that spacing birth would have yielded same result as the policy. Most importantly, dependency of elderly population on young generation has significantly increased which could ultimately impact their overall welfare. (words: 531) Critical Evaluation The one child policy was an important initiative to control burgeoning population which was already under huge pressure from many spheres of public good. The over population not only increases dependency on the state and increases overhead costs, it also adversely impacts social policies like employment, environment considerations and economic growth. The policy proved quite effective in controlling population dynamics and promoted higher economic growth and employment. Environment efforts also got the boost as large volumes of waste were significantly reduced. It was also important element of the national saving as it motivated individuals towards higher saving and investment for improved lifestyle and less dependency on their child in their old age. But what made the policy wrong was the way it was implemented across the population. It is believed that abortions were forcefully carried out even when pregnancy was in its ninth month! Government can also be accused of infanticide because it favored male child and allowed parents to have second child if the first was a girl. It turned out to be a huge encouragement for parents who killed their unborn child if it was a girl or abandoned it at birth so that they can become eligible for second child. It is most unfortunate that this also led to indiscriminate sex ration and increased cases of adoption of girl child by foreign nationals. Scholars believe that most of the adoption cases were relation to babies that were confiscated by the authorities. I also believe that one child policy was not necessary because in 1979, when it was introduced, the rate if population growth had already come down between from 1970 to 1979 and fertility rate down to 2.9 from 5.9. The current fertility rate of 1.8 was therefore, gradual and did not seem to be affected by the policy implementation. Indeed, looking at the overall picture, the results could easily have been obtained through alternative measures which would have been more humane. The delay in first pregnancies and wide spacing for second child would have been much better options. The most distressing aspect of the policy was that while gender inconsistency had increased, it has resulted in increasing social problems related to single child who was spoilt and had therefore become less responsible adults. At the same time, the fact that it was not implemented equally across all class of people forces one to believe that it was not considered important by people in power. The norm was exploited by wealthy people and those in government like lawmakers, political advisors, intellectuals and entrepreneurs. Most importantly, violation of human rights was rampant. Government as well as common man resorted to unhealthy methods of killing unwanted girl child as first birth or second child when parents were threatened with dire consequences. Though interestingly, a report (AP, 2008) had asserted that multiple births had dramatically increased by 2006. Indeed, it helped expedite research in fertility pills which were designed towards multiple births as the policy did not penalize parents in the cases of multiple births. (words: 505) Reference One Child Policy. Retrieved from: from wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy Associated Press. China: Drug bid to beat child ban. Retrieved from: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-02/14/content_520025.htm Read More