4-2-1, comparing close Joint Family – part One of Two

One child policy and foreign education

To alleviate the social, economical and environmental problems with the rapid population increase, in 1979 China adopted a one child policy. Though it is much relaxed and with many loop holes at present, much of the mid class economical family still abide by it. Wikipedia has an excellent read about the One Child Policy. I want to talk more about the educational, specifically foreign educational impact this has done related to 4-2-1 problem.

“Four-two-one” problem – and how it  may develop a nation…

As the first generation of law-enforced only-children came of age for becoming parents themselves, one adult child was left with having to provide support for his or her two parents and four grandparents. Called the “4-2-1 Problem”, this leaves the older generations with increased chances of dependency on retirement funds or charity in order to receive support. If personal savings, pensions, or state welfare fail, most senior citizens would be left entirely dependent upon their very small family or neighbours for assistance. Presently, however, couples are allowed to have two children if both parents were only children themselves. But there is a huge population with 4-2-1 problem.

I met few Chinese graduates in USA, who were part of this 4-2-1 cycle. These acquaintances, might not be from the rich suburbs of big developed cities in China. The 4-2-1 problem however, came out to be an economical and educational benefit for the locals. As the only child, most of them wanted to go back to China and support their parents and grandparents, instead living in United States. Three out of four, wanted to go back after studying in USA.

Now this whole One Child Policy is not something I would support as national forceful rule/regulation. But, somehow, the third generations, the Ones in Four-Two-One, tend to go back to support their family.  A close knit family benefits, and so does the local community/government and as a result the nation in the long run. Statistically put, I need 4-2-1 family numbers in China, and then those from these family who are studying abroad and have gone back, or are willing to go back. I hope this be a huge number, enough to make a dent in Nation’s economy. Sadly, am still learning, and could not find any exclusive paper through superficial Internet Search.

Comparing it to Nepal – how can we pull back the emigrated drove?

With somewhat close knit joint family culture in Nepal, we stand to gain something similar from both educational and non-educational emigrations. Hordes of Nepali, friends and family alike, that I know have expressed their desires to go back, if situations were better.  Instead of Nepal which has been a close country up until the early 90s, this is more comparable to India/Pakistan and other SAARC nations, who were under the British rule and have a long history of foreign education and foreign cultural influences on similar (like Nepal) culture. I myself, hope to go back in full swing after my education is complete. Here are few points that, according to me brings back a person back to Nepal, from a more developed nation.

1. Family – close family, far family, huge family.
2. Friends, Friends and lots of friends
3. Nativity – language, culture, and food.
4. Work Opportunities – definitely for me, in public health, medicine and research.

Disclosure – One Child policy has both some good and more bad implications. iO9 has a good read – The Unintended Consequences Of China’s One-child Policy  where the author even talks about the little emperors, or we call it in Nepali – pulpuleko bachha.

Technology this week.

Aakarpost this week has a list of News Applications for Android OS pertaining to the Nepali geography. This was my tech post for next week, as a personal research. I am very thankful now, and am sharing the post link [5 Best News Apps from Nepal..]. I do not have an Android device, I use – Bluestacks.

Below are my wish list Nepali Apps in mobile platform. Obviously with no In-App advertisements.

1. Nepali Calendar App – which has both BS and AD
2. Nepali News App – more like news aggregator.
   • News RSS App with headlines
   • Full News Story with headlines and Pictures
   • News App with Curated Audio/Video contents
3. Nepali Keyboard – both Romanized and Devnagari Traditional.
4. Note Taking App – yes, there are number of it, but none have Nepali UI in it. [Nepali UI?? – next post]
5. Weather App – Not in English, but in Nepali.

Women Entrepreneurship in Nepal

This will be an ongoing topic for me, for few weeks. I write this as to identify important social and economical role of women in Nepali culture, at least in Urban Nepal. Here is a list of few occupations where women have excelled and are forming a core group of economical stabilizers in Urban Nepal – mostly in Kathmandu. These are my first thought, and much digging still remains / something I am currently writing about for next week.

1. The Hair Salon
2. The Sewing and Knitting
3. The Shopkeepers
4. The Homeowners
5. The Cottage Industries
6. Vegetable sellers ..
7. // .. still digging up.. {next week}

Movie nights – husband Vs boyfriend

A recent New York Times Article – Movie Date Night Can Double as Therapy – made me think if I did indeed do this. The answer is YES. Lots of movie with my wife, and then we talk about it. Helps a lot raicha.. 🙂

Affiliated Read

My previous post – Nepali in USA (August 28, 2013)