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'Hindu daughters' need protection and the only way to ensure that is to enforce a two-child policy for all religions, Union minister   Giriraj Singh   was reported as saying on Wednesday by The Indian Express. "Daughters will not be safe and might have to be kept under the veil, like in Pakistan,” said the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, according to the report. The minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises was speaking at a cultural yatra in Bagaha, West Champaran, and, according to the report, various Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers were present in the audience. It would not be a stretch to say that Singh was specifically taking aim at the Muslim community, despite trying to couch his comment as something which should be applicable to all religions. The threat, in Singh's mind, emanates from one particular community. In his speech, Singh referred to seven districts in Bihar where "our" (Hindu) population has ostensibly ...

Chinese lawmakers are considering amending the family planning law to allow couples to have two children amidst efforts to counter shrinkage of the work force and an ageing population. “The State advocates that  one couple can give birth to two children ,” Xinhua cited a draft amendment submitted for review at the bi-monthly session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee which opened on Monday. The draft came after the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) Central Committee decided in October, to give the go ahead for the universal two-child rule, which will replace the decade-long “one couple, one child” policy. Li Bin, head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), said the CPC’s decision was made to adapt to the transition of China’s population from young to old currently underway. In order to implement the decision, the top legislature must amend the family planning law which took effect in 2002. Under the current law, citizens who ...