Essay on Tackling India’s Population Problem for UPSC : We all worry about population explosion, but we don’t worry about it at the right time”, said Arthur Hoppe. According to the 2011 census, the population of India was exactly 1,210,193,422, which means India had crossed the 1-billion mark. Our population is said to be around 1.3 billion now. India is the second most populous country in the world after China and the various studies have projected that India will replace China by 2025. In spite of a steady decline in the fertility rate subsequent to be sundry population policies including family planning and welfare programs undertaken by the government, the actual stabilization of population can take place only 2050.
Essay on Tackling India’s Population Problem for UPSC
We all worry
about population explosion, but we don’t worry about it at the right time”,
said Arthur Hoppe. It is really surprising that notwithstanding the fact that
overpopulation has been holding us back in our effort to move ahead in the
developmental race, there does not appear to be much importance being attached
to this problem. The same has come to be noticed more in the aftermath of the
emergency excesses of the late 1970s to control our population.
According to
the 2011 census, the population of India was exactly 1,210,193,422, which means
India had crossed the 1-billion mark. Our population is said to be around 1.3
billion now. India is the second most populous country in the world after China
and the various studies have projected that India will replace China by 2025.
In spite of a steady decline in the fertility rate subsequent to be sundry
population policies including family planning and welfare programs undertaken
by the government, the actual stabilization of population can take place only
2050.
Our birth
rate is still higher than the death rate. Advance in medical science and
technology have helped in bringing down the death rates, but the same cannot
the said for birth rates which are still much higher than the death rate. The
fertility rate notwithstanding a remarkable decline continues to be much higher
compared to other countries.
The Indian
population growth is still witnessing geometrical progression while the
resources of subsistence are increasing in arithmetical progression, as noted
by Thomas Malthus long back. India has to accommodate 16 per cent of global
population in 2.4 per cent land. With 44 children taking birth every minute, our
population has been rising by 2.9 per cent every year. Thus, an extra 26
million people are added to the existing population every year.
Even though
the legal marriageable age of a girl is 18 years, the concept of early marriage
still prevails which actually prolongs the child bearing age thereby worsening
the population problem. Marriage being a sacred obligation and a universal
practice in India, almost every woman is married t the reproductive age,
contributing to the population rise. The economics of poverty further adds to
the problem with the poor families treating more family members to be an asset
than a liability. Be it the need for seeing more children as insurance in old
age or insuring against their potential loss against unforeseen health hazards,
poor families still prefer more children.
India
continues to lag in the use of birth control measures because of continued
ignorance or societal shame attached thereto, lack of education and awareness
being principal reason behind the same. The age old notion that sons are the
bread earners or ‘deliverers’ from the life-death cycle in the family puts
considerable stress to produce children till a male child is born. Increased
illegal immigration from neighbouring countries including Bangladesh and Nepal
has also added to our population.
Overpopulation
puts a direct pressure on the limited resources of a developing country and
adds permanence to the vicious cycle of illiteracy, unemployment and poverty.
It becomes increasingly difficult to provide basic faciliti8e if population is
huge or increasing at an alarming rate. Basic health and education services are
compromised as providing the same to such a huge number is difficult. It is
because of the overstretched resources, facilities and services that there is a
widespread poverty a misery which often leads to social unrest because of the
systemic inability to manage a ‘revolution of rising expectations’.
There happens
an over-exploitation of natural resources leading to environmental degradation,
thereby negatively impacting the quality of life. Women in India do not
participate in the productive activity for a long time due to frequent
maternity. Population rise without commensurate livelihood opportunities leads
to more unproductive consumers, which further burdens the economy. One of the
far-reaching results of the ever increasing population is that it reduces the
saving and investment in the country. With the average per capita income being
low, the purchasing power of the Indian people is extremely poor.
With the
rising population having outpaced the creation of subsistence resources, it has
nullified all the developmental achievements made so far. Despite all the
progress made even today, one-fourth of India’s population is still said to be
living below poverty line. The various governmental activities in a liberal
democratic India have been directed to the task of providing adequate means of
livelihood to an increasing number of people through an integrated development
of agriculture, trade, commerce and industries. However, all such initiatives
and interventions shall come to naught unless and until the population problem
is tackled effectively.
The present
pattern of population growth in India is said to be uneconomic and inimical to
the health of the nation. Population explosion, beyond the carrying capacity of
our country, has given rise to more unemployment, more pressure on
infrastructure, overcrowding, rise in slums, overexploitation of natural
resources, decreased production and increased costs and inequitable
distribution of income and resources. Many of our law and order problems
including threats to national security through terrorism and Naxalism are said
to be offshoots of the unmanaged population problem.
However, it
is also a fact that we cannot exercise any effective check on population unless
there is an appreciable rise in the standard of living for the common people.
The importance of a higher standard of living needs to be driven home to the
Indian masses. The desire for better living conditions automatically works as a
motivation to reduction in family sizes. Education at the grass root, more
equitable distribution of the national wealth and incentives for family
planning can bring about the desired change on the population front.
The policy
makers should initiate a bold population policy so that our economic growth can
keep pace with the demands of growing population. Increasing the welfare and
status women and girls, spread of education, increased use of contraceptives
and family planning methods, sex education, encouraging male sterilization and
spacing births, free distribution of contraceptives and condoms among the poor,
encouraging women empowerment and more accessible health care centres for the
poor can play a major catalysing role in controlling population.
Our society
needs to be made aware of it dangers. NGOs and media should come forward to
create wareness against excessive population growth. We as aware citizens
should change our mindset, to enable young people to make personal and socially
responsible choices about their sexual behaviour. A mass awareness programme
and persistent propaganda should be launched through all forms of media
involving all strata of society. Increasing public awareness and ensuring reasonable
population growth will definitely lead the country to economic prosperity by
duly harnessing the benefits of a demographic dividend.
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