Question

Thomas Malthus

1. How do Malthus’ theories on population growth and food growth apply to China’s 1-child policy?

2. What type of check (preventative or positive) would this policy be an example of?

Judith Maxwell

1. In your opinion, Low Literacy can affect a person’s lives in what ways?
2. In what ways the government can help reduce the issue of Low Literacy?

Henry George

1. What would Henry George’s theories say about a person who purchased a piece of land but is choosing not to develop it because they plan to sell it for a profit in the future.

Answer 1

Malthusian theory of population growth states that if left unchecked, a population will outgrow its resources. It is a theory of exponential population growth and arithmetic food supply growth. He also believed that through preventive and positive checks, the population would be controlled to balance the food supply with the population level. China’s one child policy was adopted out of the Malthusian fears of unchecked population growth and food shortages. China introduced the concept in the beginning of 1970’s and is expected to cause a shortfall in about 400 million births. Since the method is based on various implications like imposing fines, abortions etc it can be regarded as an example of a preventive check rather than a positive one. According to Malthusian theory, a preventive check is a conscious decision to delay marriages or abstain from procreation whereas a positive check refers to an event that shortens a human life span. Thus Chinas one-child policy can be reiterated to be a preventive one.

                                    Low literacy can have very serious implications on he way of living of an individual which in turn affects the way of living of a family and thereby have serious implications on the social structure. The following may be considered as the effects of low literacy on the living pattern

· Low literacy leads to low human skills which leads to denial of jobs

· It leads to people taking advantage of others lives thereby limiting the opportunity to avail many benefits of the social structure of living

· It restricts ones’ exposure to the advancements in technological progress and hence they will be forced to follow the age old living practices

· It leads to limiting oneself to restricted ways to find a living

· In the field of health, it leads to unhealthy ways of living due to lack of knowledge on them

· It can lead to population growth as they will be unaware of the family planning methods

                                      The government may take the following steps so that it imparts literacy to most of the sections of the society thereby developing a better one

· Impart literacy and skill development programmes to them by suitably arranging volunteers who can be a part of this programme

· Conduct online ways of teaching thereby reaching even the last mile connected regions

· Introduce plans and programmes and identify more wealth distribution for imparting literacy programmes via a literacy budget

· Inculcate a feeling that literacy would improve the standards of living by imparting various awareness programmes in the low literacy regions

                                             Henry George’s theory of Georgism states that the people should own the value they produce for themselves, but that the economic value derived from the land should belong equally to all members of the society. Thus the given scenario of a person purchasing a piece of land and leaving it barren for future profitable selling is unjustifiable as far as George’s theory is considered. As far as the theory goes, the land should always be productive in the sense that it would bring wellness to a society. A barren land is just a land in itself as far as it does not bring out any produce. Thus it is of no use to the society and can in no ways be justifies under this theory.