GS4 (Ethics)

The Supreme Court recently asked the government to end sterilisation camps. Is it ethical to have a population control measure which affects the more vulnerable section of society?

Best answer

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Recently in parts of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, many women died in a sterilization camp, which exposed population control drive and invited sharp criticism from various sections of society including SC.
Ethical behavior of government is determined by its values. Values in Indian system include democracy, socialism and sovereign.
Democracy: litmus test of democracy is how a government treats its most vulnerable citizen.
Socialism: Resources have to share between every section of the society as far as possible, tribal people get least of the share of government spending, therefore it is cruel to blame them for rise depleting resources.
Sovereign: people are sovereign. Even if sterilization is the only way, they need to properly accommodate these camps. Death is unacceptable.
Cruelty on women: most women agree because of economic crisis, family and social pressure, why would somebody want to do an operation for not having a baby when there are many other options available
India has a population growth rate of 1.7%, 2.1 NRR (net reproduction rate), this is equivalent to stable population, population is growing because of population momentum and further decrease will dynamically change population equations.
Education, social, economic inclusion is a genuine way to control population but is hard to achieve.
Sterilization and death because of it is not just ethical wrong, it is needless and a serious threat to environment, traditional values. These tribal people protect our environment, killing tribal women is wiping out entire population.