I read somewhere yesterday that India's population growth rate has slowed down a bit. One of the reasons mentioned was the increased awareness among women. Even women from backward strata seem to have the awareness that they should not have more than two kids. The article had  somewhat jubilant note to it which I found surprising. Anyone who stays in the cities bursting at the seams with people (often migrants) will tell you that 2 children per family are far too many. And that's just not from the population point of view. I have often seen families where the man is evidently the sole bread-winner travel on scooters packed with 3 or more kids. Life is no doubt what we call in software testing a 'Happy Day Scenario' for them. I wonder if they ever pause to reflect on what will happen to the wife and kids if something untoward were to happen to the husband. Financial literacy being what it is in India, life insurance would be inadequate in the best of cases and non-existent in the worst. Even if the husband survived till the ripe old age, how is it possible to provide good quality education to so many children? But these thoughts never seem to occur to them.

I did a double take when Sevanti Ninan's article today morning mentioned that some saffron outfits are drafting a plan to award Hindu women in villages who will have more than 5 kids. I wonder if they have drawn up plans on how to provide education, healthcare and employment to this population in future.

We are almost at the end of 2014 but such news leaves one hardly any scope to look forward to the future with any hope.