Image for representation only
The impact of Communism as - the totalitarian political project with the most lethal striking power history has ever seen - on humanity and the universe, is beyond our wildest imagination. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred during the heyday of Soviet Communism. Ukraine is still suffering from its effects. The Aral Sea itself disappeared as part of the Soviet Communist leadership's grand development plan. The assessment of the impact of various Communist regimes on man and the universe is an unfinished research project. The Chinese Communists are competing with the Soviet Communists in imposing party decisions without adequate forethought. Millions of lives were lost during the 'Cultural Revolution' from 1966 to 1976, led by the undisputed leader Mao Zedong to purge Chinese society by eliminating bourgeois and counter-revolutionaries.
From 1958 to 1962, the party led a popular campaign called Da Maque Yundong (Eliminate Sparrows campaign). It was a plan that tasked all citizens, from school children with killing sparrows, after the Politburo found that birds in the fields were to blame for China's food shortages. However, with the mass slaughter of sparrows, there was an increase in pests throughout the farmlands and a sharp decline in agricultural production, leading to the greatest human catastrophe in history, the Great Chinese Famine. Millions died in China during that famine.
The one-child policy is a project implemented by the Chinese party in the 1980s, after two party programs that directly killed millions of people. The party decided that women should no longer give birth to more than a single child as the population was growing rapidly. As a Communist state, such projects need not be implemented through awareness or cooperation of the people. Instead, programs such as the removal of benefits for those who have multiple children, mass sterilization and forced abortion took place across the country. The worst of this was done in Uighur, a Muslim majority province. Human rights agencies uncovered stories of cruel violations of rights. Using all of the state's apparatus and might to enforce the policy had huge impact on the Chinese population. When only one child was allowed, a major portion of the 'progressive' society wanted that to be a male child, causing an increase in female infanticide. The sex ratio got skewed, and a large portion of women born was forced into the streets and orphanages.
There was a decrease in the proportion of youth, and an increase in elders. This impacted both the social structure and the manufacturing sector. And hence the party changed the policy in 2016 and allowed women to have two children. The new census report came out in the first week of May when it became clear that even the changed policy did not yield a positive result in strength of population. That was when the Polit Bureau convened on May 31 decided to change the policy again. China's population growth is at an all-time low. Noting that this will affect economic growth, the party has now changed its policy and allow three children.
As matter, China is facing the same population crisis faced by all other 'developed' countries. But none of those nations has thrust any population policy on their people using the state's might. In China, even the number of children one should bear is decided by the Polit Bureau. However, demographic experts say that whatever the party decides, there won't be a qualitative difference in the population. China is a prime example that compulsory population policies will not help. Population Foundation of India, a major NGO working in population studies, has released a statement that people arguing for forced family planning policies should learn from China. Those enforcing political decisions unilaterally on people and nature have a lot to learn from China.