Is having children the new political battleground?

In recent elections, having babies seems to be becoming a big topic. For example, over 3 lakh babies were born in Delhi in 2022 and 2023, and the BJP has promised ₹21,000 to pregnant women if they win in the upcoming election. That’s a huge amount of money, about ₹3,150 crore. This promise comes right after a proposal in Andhra Pradesh by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, suggesting that to run for local elections, candidates should have at least three children. It looks like babies could become a key issue in politics in India.

However, having children is a personal decision. While the government can encourage families to have children, it should not force people to have large families. Naidu’s idea is a poor one, and others have also been suggesting people should have more kids. For example, RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat says couples should have at least three children, and some organizations are offering money to Brahmin families with four kids in Madhya Pradesh. Even in other parts of the world, like the US and Italy, leaders have spoken out about low birth rates and criticized people who choose pets over children.

But there are problems with pushing for bigger families. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin has also supported having more children, possibly because southern states could lose seats in elections if population size becomes the main factor for determining how many representatives a state gets. However, experts like former RBI chief Subbarao suggest that encouraging migration could help solve the problem of declining populations better than forcing people to have more kids.

Ultimately, women should have the freedom to decide if and when they want to have children. Having many children means a lot of time spent away from education or work, and we already have a shortage of jobs for the current population. Plus, giving birth is risky – history shows that it hasn’t always ended well. A queen died giving birth to her 14th child, and that tragic event didn’t seem to be worth it in the end. So, instead of focusing on having more children, perhaps we should focus on creating a better life for the ones we already have.

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