Infertility crisis |
J&K’s total fertility rate has fallen to 1.4 children per woman, sharply below the replacement level of 2.1. In urban pockets, it dips further to 1.2. It is among the steepest fertility declines recorded anywhere in India, and it is accelerating quietly.
The causes are not mysterious. Women in Kashmir now marry at an average age of 26, the highest in India. A growing number are marrying in their thirties. This matters biologically in ways that cannot be negotiated away by policy or goodwill. Peak female........