Bhopal: World Population Day Today

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): India is now the world’s most populous country. It overtook China this year. India’s population has been rising consistently since it began counting its people in 1881.

High fertility rate, increase in life expectancy and desire for male child are fuelling India’s population growth. On the eve of World Population Day, Free Press talked to single-child couples in the city.

They gave different reasons for not even going for 'Hum Do Hamare Do' concept.

Focus On One

Santoor player Shruti Adhikari who also teaches music at Regional Institute of Education is herself a single child of her parents. Shruti and her hubby Deepan, who works at a private university, also decided to limit their family to one child.

Their only son Ninad was born more than two years after their marriage 28 years back. “We wanted to focus on bringing up only one child,” she said. Shruti said that everyone should do his or her bit for the country.

No Family Pressure

Fashion designer Mumtaz Khan says that it was a conscious decision of his wife and him to have one child. Married for 17 years now, their only daughter Zoya is in Class 11.

His wife also named Mumtaz is a teacher. “We decided to go for single child so that we could give our full attention to her, provide all possible facilities and lots of happiness to her,” he said, adding that there was no pressure from his family to have more children.

Daughter Our World

Oncologist Dr Alka Shakhir and her government-official husband Sakhir Rehman are proud parents of one child. They have been married for 25 years now. Their daughter Raavi is pursuing a course in clinical psychology in the UK.

“We both were working and we did not want frequent child births. Our daughter is the world for us,” she said. Dr Alka says that one has a responsibility towards one’s country also.

Doesn’t Matter Much

Married for 29 years, artiste Shruti Kriti and Chandra Madhav Barik have one son Siddharth. He is also an artiste and works for a government institution. Both were working and they decided to have only one child so that they could take care of him in a better way.

“Many of our relatives and friends used to ask us why we are not going for a second child but we laughed away the suggestion,” Shruti said. “Sabse badi baat hai maa-baap banana, woh ban gaye… that is enough for us. It doesn’t matter whether we have one child or 100,” she added.