Weaponising population growth is a dangerous and regressive road

The writer is author of ‘Extra Time: Ten Lessons for an Ageing World’

The news this week that India’s population is forecast to overtake that of China’s is a powerful psychological moment. Not for three centuries, since the Mughal Empire outnumbered the Qing Dynasty, has India been bigger than its rival. The Chinese Communist party fears that China, whose population is undergoing a rapid contraction, may get old before it gets…