A bandit-infested region of India is trying to persuade men to undergo sterilisation by offering to fast-track their gun licence applications, an official said on Tuesday.
Officials in central Madhya Pradesh state’s Shivpuri district decided to adopt the policy—already tried out by some neighbouring states—to increase the low vascectomy rate.
“I came to know that it had to do with their perceived notion of manliness,” said Manish Shrivastav, administrative chief of Shivpuri district, part of the Indian Chambal region, which is famed for its lawlessness and bandits.
“I then decided to match it with a bigger symbol of manliness—a gun licence,” he said. “And the ploy worked.”
It’s innovative, and some would argue that more guns would also help lower the population. But flippancy aside, the problem with our country is not our population but our government. Our people, all of whom possesses the ingenuity, creativity and enterprise to put more into the world than they take from it, are constrained by a system of government that doesn’t allow them to fulfill their potential. India doesn’t need less people—it needs less government interference in our lives.
(Link via email from Nox Rupawalla.)