Saturday, September 30, 2006

Right to Reproduce

In the last "Government Society & Business" class, we were discussing about population. "Right to Reproduce" invariably surfaced. Now, I must tell you that I, for one, believe that this proliferation of human *rights* actually leads to more undesirable situations than desirable ones. A good example is the case in point. The right to reproduce roughly states that it is the prerogative of every individual to decide how many children (s)he must have. Sounds fair? Just go below the surface to see the problems. Let me take the Indian context:

In India, the rural poor are not self-sufficient. They rely a lot on the government subsidies for their needs including food, basic education etc. These subsidies come from the tax-paying population. If one such rural guy is asking for an extra 2 kg of subsidized wheat every month for his new kid – the wheat which I, as a tax payer subsidize - don’t I have a say in capping the number of kids that he can produce?


In my humble opinion, beyond all the clamour about “right to reproduce” lies the fact that, in a country like India, a considerably small tax-paying population is subsidizing a substantially large reliant population and hence the former should be allowed to have a say on the latter’s affairs in as much as it affects the former.

3 comments:

leo girl said...

I shld run a spell check i know. Imperfection is more intriguing like a crooked teeth make a perfect smile ;)

Anonymous said...

While your arguments seems fair, but sure is flawed. Well if the government can cap no.of children just because they provide subsidized food - does that mean wealthy people (or upper middle class) who are not really dependent on subsidies are exempt from this rule?

Human rights is a sensitive topic, and infringment of human rights is far more sensitive one. Guess it is only fair to expect little more sensitivity before someone equates no.of children one can have to no. of KGs of rice one can get!

Ramaa Iyer said...

Krishna how do you think that you can have a say in something win such an issue?You can but then..