A Little Slice of Peace

Can Indian Government's population policy be freed from political compulsions?

The question had always come back to him, slipping out of his mind and then returning without any answers.

The importance of this question attacked him with unpardoning urgency this time as he travelled by train in the undisturbed snow-bound wastes of Kazakhstan. Almost as big as India, the central Asian country has a population of just 19 million. Luckily for them, and terribly unlucky for us, he thought, the population of this similar-sized country is even less than the Delhi NCR. After landing up there he had not seen a single stressed out, worried and strained Kazak face across all age, classes and categories. In contrast, he could hardly recall a fully healthy face—even among the teenagers—in the frenzied Delhi Mob or anywhere else in India. His interpretation was simple: in congested ant swarms you cannot expect healthy, confident, strong-willed individuals. You find robust grass grazers like rhino in the undisturbed, undulating pastures, he mused as the train chugged ahead. In the terribly congested, stinking lanes of a place like old Delhi bazaars you see a sea of pathetically beaten down people carrying out their day to day survival fight. The contrast lynched him. There the humans can beat even famished stray dogs in pathetic appearances, he felt far away from that maddening crowd.

Indians have bred like anything, looking at the endless snowy dunes meeting the horizon he realised. Especially ‘they’ have been paranoid about adding to their population. He always addressed that particular section of the Indian population as ‘they’. He had had his quota of secular education and dithered from direct name-calling. But far away from the secular-bound reflections, he took a break, resolved to call a spade a spade. A brave endeavour by a secular-principled Indian, indeed! Unfortunately Islam came to be interpreted in terms of quantification only, he was more direct in his reflections now.

Of course Islamic frenzy has multiplied their population world over. So has the violence. Look at the quality of life in the congested neighbourhoods! Look at their contribution to world culture, peace, innovation, etc. Of course, it leaves much to be desired about their contribution to make this world a better place.

A painful injection to his secular self. He felt the pinch. He just waved away it away and tried to focus on the population-less charm on both sides of the train; miles after miles the distances seemed fathomless; peace appeared to take limitless snowy strides, without human intervention, without clatter and noise.

From the window of the train chugging up to some northern Kazak city his ideas hitting the cold hard reality on its head were abounding across the perfectly calm snowy desert. Already in India the reactive culture hate-mongers had more starch in their khaki shorts, more oiled sticks and more lungpower because the times had changed. The paper soldiers could now dream of making it a stronger India. He found his reflections not too extraordinary under the chime of the time and again fell to the temptation of looking them as the cause of the problems.  

Rampant Islamic quantification contributes more to world disharmony, and its role in world peace is almost negligible.

He had something to think about the clauses in the Indian constitution. In his present state possibly the Khaki-shorts-clad uncle would have embraced him as the bravest son of India.

It is high time that we pay a bit less lip service to the hypothetical Godly status to the so call democratic clauses in the Indian constitution that have done more harm to India as a country in return of just inconsequential praise and tiny certification of being a good democracy. Central government has to come out of that pit of idealist secularism and devise some direct and indirect means of checking the minority population.  

Sipping his morning tea in the pantry car, he had not seen any human intervention in the nature’s sprawl on both sides of the railway track, except occasional outcrop of a little hamlet and small town. Look at the nature, only the weakest species have the largest numbers, his mind was now taking a course where his khaki-clad-uncle would have given a rap on the knuckles. He had a friend who could barely provide even basic education to his two daughters, but he was under constant pressure to have a male heir.

Hindus also have their big role in breeding like ant swarms. Centuries old beliefs like the necessity of marriage, goddamned requirement of possessing a male heir, etc., have meant that Indians force themselves to just add to their species at any cost.

The people he saw on the stations appeared all healthy and hence happy and rich. His mind was drawn to the contrast in the crowded slum in Dharavi, Mumbai. There you fight even for your single breath. Now he was reflecting at the problem just as a problem. A secular idea indeed! His education was stronger for his temporary fits.  

Indian poor class does not produce more and more children to get more helping hands in traditional business and occupations. Ask any poor couple, do they expect help from their children once they grow up. Not many will be found to be optimistic about their future. In fact majority will agree that their position will come down after having more and more children. Still they produce. Strange!

He had tried many times to find out the reason, the psychology. Why the poor people produce children while caught in a strange apathy, a peculiar indifference, absent-mindedness? The poor old much maligned political class of India can silently take any blame while gathering the rewards in lieu of the blames. He was quick to direct his guns in that direction.

Indian political class has glorified poverty by paying lip service in the form of so many fucking social assistance services. These measures were never intended to remove poverty by raising people out of the pit by providing them concrete skills. These were just limited to providing them meals like you give charity to a poor beggar. Do not hate the poor, but of course we can hate poverty that kills the soul of a human being.

He looked at ‘poverty’ as the nasty instrument that dehumanised the self.

Let poor people face the music if they produce children beyond their economic means to provide them a decent life. Do not just give 25 Kg grain to the BPL section so that they carelessly add more mouths in their hut to chuck it out. Let all social benefit schemes be strictly conditioned in proportion to the number of kids they are having.

As the train chugged ahead on its path to still calmer destination, his mind was brimming with disincentives for the poor households brimming with loads of children beyond their carrying capacity.

Sum and summary is that we need to check population at any rate, he concluded. Otherwise we will spoil the chances of taking India to a decent position in terms of social development. Not only this, we will also spoil the environment anywhere we settle. He saw around, it was clean. Indians had not started settling in that majestic part of the world.