BIRTH-CONTROL FOR INDIA?
By B. SHIVA RAO
APERIOD of comparative immunity from epidemics, and a succession of fairly good monsoons have given India first place among the nations of the world from the standpoint of population. With 353 million, as the latest Census estimate for- the decade ending with 1931, she has already gone ahead of China ; and there is no reason why, with internal security guaranteed, the growth of public health organizations to prevent and combat disease, and the extension of railway and other forms of communication reducing the spectre of famine to the far less terrifying proportions of economic distress, she should not easily retain the honour she has just acquired. She has shown in this decade what she is capable of achieving under more or less normal con- ditions : 84 millions is the actual increase, exceeding that of the previous thirty years by over two million. The greater part of it occurred within the last four years, it is worth noting, because of the handicap which the influenza epidemic of 1918 imposed on the .normal rate of birth during the earlier half of the decade. For reasons which have yet to be discovered, influenza was particularly destructive among young women between fifteen and twenty-five years of age.
It is good that public opinion is being roused at last to the dangers of a too rapid growth of population. ." Lively" meetings have been held in a number of cities to advocate propaganda in favour of birth-control, and Women's Conferences have given it prominence, especially in South India. But in India, the difficulties of carrying it out in practice are exceptionally great. It is significant that even in a progressive municipality like Bombay, a resolution for the establishment of birth- control clinics in the City should have been rejected by the decisive vote of 34 against 16. The .opponents of the Proposal, who belonged practically to all religions, expressed the surprising view that any, restriction on birth rate was, in the existing circumstances of India, uncalled for ! The small but influential community of Catholic Christians have been the most vocal in their opposition, but the educated sections of every other *group, who should give a lead in such matters, are noticeably apathetic. To them, the problem is not yet real. But even when propaganda has gone on long enough to compel notice, it is to be feared that petty considerations will come in the way of support. • There is, first, the position of the orthodox Hindus which merits attention. They have been alarmed by the importance Mr. Gandhi attaches to the removal of the disabilities of the Untouchables, and the place lie gives in his programme to the right of temple-entry for them. They will most certainly oppose candidates at the next elections to the Legislative Assembly pledged to the temple-entry Bill. If by then birth-control should become a practical issue, as well it may, the social reformer will find himself in a situation of some additional embarrassment. For thousands of years, Hindus particularly have come to believe in the blessed- ness of large families : to be without a son, their religion teaches them is to go to hell after death. I was warned a few weeks ago by yell-meaning colleagues of mine in the executive of a trade union in Madras—themselves workers in a textile mill--not to associate myself with the movement for birth-control. There might be, they said, almost a split in their ranks if I did active propa- ganda; and the view they held was in these terms : "Who are you to interfere with the decree of Provi- dence ? " With the working classes all over India that will be the trouble. They will refuse to accept any artificial methods for keeping down the birth-rate as an unwarranted trespass on their pre-natal destiny. " Sir," said a worker to me in an air of absolute finality, when .I asked him how lie could afford to feed and clothe a family of eight children on a wage of about 24 shillings a month, "that is in my horoscope." Further argument is, of course, futile !
This superstitious attitude will remain a formidable obstacle in the path of the reformer, despite the enlight- ened outlook of a growing number of the educated youth. And even assuming that prejudice could ultimately be countered—a matter of many years' patient and sus- tained work—there will still be the practical question of the cost of contraceptives. Someone will have to work at inventing a method- at .once so simple and so cheap as to be within the reach of the incredibly poor millions in India.
There is another aspect to the question which has hardly come into prominence- so far,- but must do so, as soon as the new Constitution is inaugurated. One must read some of the literature published during the sittings of the various Round Table Conferences, and, in particular, the report of Lord Lothian's Franchise Committee, to understand the complexities of India's communal problem ; and the significance of the leaders of the Hindus, the Moslems and the other religious groups fighting about the number of seats reserved or likely to be captured by each in the legislatures. So long as that race continues there can be no hope of the population menace being viewed in its true perspective : everything will be twisted and perverted to serve the ends of the communal balance of power in India. Exaggerated and even absurd as the suggestion may seem, it is likely. that each religious group will encourage the growth of population, in order to be sure of its place in the body politic, rather than face facts in the national interests. Under a political system run on a basis of communal electorates, emphasis must inevitably be laid on the increase of numbers in each group, and therefore of the whole of India.
Sir John Megaw was perfectly right in pointing out in a report just before he terminated a medical career of sin- gular distinction.in India a few months ago, that while the increase of population outstripping, the available sources, of food supply was a serious problem, even more serious was the failure of the educated classes to realize its gravity and import. It is to the women of -India- that one must turn for light and guidance. With hardly an exception, their organizations have objected to political divisions on religious and sectarian lines ; and though they have not succeeded in keeping clear of these, there seems little doubt that inside the legislatures they will exercise a wholesome and progressive influence and help the men to rise above their reactionary outlooks. In all matters of social reform, women's meetings and conferences are almost radical in their advocacy—whether it is birth! control or the further raising of the age of marriage. Birth-control, in the sense of the use of contraceptives, may not be an easy matter for reasons already explained. But there is no reason why a determined effort should not be made in the new legislatures to raise tholimits for the.-age of marriage, as suggested by many women's conferences, at least to sixteen for girls and eighteen for boys. It is bound to be resisted, ofcourse, and even more strenuously than the measure now on the Statute-book known as the Sarda Act. India will have to make her choice fairly quickly—between a planned growth of population, and an unrestricted increase, with millions on the border line of starvation, an easy prey to epidemics like influenza.
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