by Rebecca Thomas

Created on: August 07, 2009

India is a land of many cultures, language groups, religions, people groups and more than a billion people!

India has always been a family oriented culture. The joint family system is still prevalent in many parts of the country. Children are seen as an asset or possession. In their old age, parents are usually taken care of by the sons. Many Indian families still follow the joint family system. When the children come of age, the parents seek to get their children married. Daughters would be sent off to their husband's house, and the sons would bring their new wives into the home. If a family had many daughters, they would keep having children until they had a son, because he would be the one to carry forward the family name. And as part of the dowry system, a son was given dowry in cash and kind when he got married. So many couples had multiple children until they were able to give birth to a son or many sons. A family with many children is considered blessed, and a childless couple is often scoffed upon by the society.

In India, the family planning programs have not been a huge success because of the fact that the religious beliefs always come in the way of social norms. Children are a blessing from God and the more children, the more the blessings. Added to that, about 65% to 70% of the Indian population live in rural areas where the main means of livelihood is farming. Having more number of children means more hands to work in the fields. In the slums, where education is almost absent, parents have numerous children because there are no family planning schemes. By the age of 4, many of these children are sent on the streets to beg for money and food. This brings in more income for the family.

Child marriages are also rampant in India. By the time a girl has reached puberty, she is married off to a boy from the same village. So now the responsibility of the girl shifts from the parents to the husband. These girls become pregnant at a very young age, and have many children. The cycle of poverty continues from one generation to another, and due to lack of family planning and other incentives for small families, each family just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Population explosion is one of the biggest social problems India faces, and effective schemes have to be quickly implemented at the grass root level that reaches out to the Indian masses. Or else, India could hit the 2 billion count very soon!

Learn more about this author, Rebecca Thomas.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.