India overtook China last year to become the world's most populous country, with a population of approximately 1.45 billion people.

For decades, rapid population growth has been viewed as a major challenge and successive governments have emphasized population control.

In 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that a large population was obstructing the country's development and urged state governments to address the issue.

However, some political leaders in India are now worried about the opposite problem — falling fertility rates and not having enough births to ensure a stable population.

Nara Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, recently shifted his focus from promoting population control to encouraging families to have more children.

He even proposed a law that would allow only those with two or more children to run for local elections.

A few days later, another chief minister, M.K. Stalin, from the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, echoed similar thoughts and also urged people there to have more children.

For decades, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and other Indian states actively promoted small family sizes, encouraging people to limit themselves to two children. So, why are political leaders from southern India now encouraging larger families?

India's fertility rate has dropped dramatically over the past century.

The figure remained consistent from 1880 to 1970, with statistics showing women in India having an average of 5.7 to 6 children over their lifetimes.

But by 2022, this........

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