TVK leader flags shift from large families to 'why have a child at all?'
Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker and TVK leader JCD Prabhakar on Monday spoke about the changing mindset around having children, saying families had gradually moved from
Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker and TVK leader JCD Prabhakar on Monday spoke about the changing mindset around having children, saying families had gradually moved from having several children to questioning whether they should have kids at all. Prabhakar was speaking after flagging off the 5th March for Life India in Chennai, an anti-abortion rally that saw thousands of people participate. “Back then, families had 10 or 12 children,” he said, recalling his own experiences. Read Full Story He narrated an anecdote about meeting a friend in Sivaganga district about a year ago and asking him how many children he had. The friend replied, “13 people, sir,” before clarifying that he meant 13 members of his family were alive.
Prabhakar said the mindset later changed gradually due to financial difficulties and other challenges from “we two, for us two” to “we two, for us one”, and then to “let us delay having a child for three years after marriage”. “Gradually, it reached a point where people started thinking, ‘Why have a child at all?’ We all know well that this mindset is the root cause of recent trends,” he said. Prabhakar's remarks come against the backdrop of the Vijay-led TVK government's family and child welfare measures. The government's governing agenda includes Rs 25,000 pregnancy support for eligible women and a gold ring and Baby Welcome Kit for every child born in a government hospital.
It has also promised an annual Rs 15,000 grant to mothers or guardians of schoolchildren to prevent dropouts. The Assembly Speaker recalled watching films starring MG Ramachandran (MGR) during his student days, saying some films portrayed pregnancy and parenthood in ways that encouraged affection towards children and conveyed messages about caring for one’s wife. Recalling one such scene, he said a husband would put his ear to his pregnant wife's belly to listen to the unborn child. Such scenes, he said, stirred a desire among mothers to have children. Prabhakar said the anti-abortion rally was a reminder that life has value even before a child enters the world. “I consider this rally as a voice reminding us that even before a child sees this world, that life has value.
I consider this an event expressing the belief that every unborn child has dignity,” he said. Calling life a “sacred gift from God”, Prabhakar said an unborn child’s value does not diminish simply because it has not yet been born. “It hasn't gone to school yet, it hasn't spoken yet, it hasn't even seen this world, yet it is a life. That life has a future, that life has a purpose, that life has a God-given intention,” he said, adding that he was happy that the movement centred on this belief. Ends
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