POPULATION PROBLEM OF INDIA: Short Essay

POPULATION PROBLEM OF INDIA

One of the most serious problems that India faces today is the problem of over population. Our population today is about one billion, and is second only to that of China. Our population is growing at the rate of 16 million per annum. The number of new mouths that are annually added to our population almost equal to total population of Australia is increasing in geometrical progression, where as production is increasing only in arithmetical progression. If the present trend continues, our population might surpass China by 2045.

We have already celebrated the 50th year of India’s Independence, but there has been little economic progress. The main reason for this is the population explosion Jawaharlal Nehru once said “India’s population problem is not one, but 400 million problems”. Today this number has swelled up to one billion.

Our rising population graph is attributed to (1) tropical climate (2) early marriage (3) decline in death rate (4) ignorance, old custom and tradition, and (5) illiteracy.

India is situated in the tropical belt. Hot climate leads to early puberty and maturity, which gives rise to increase in population.

Lack of education is another cause for increasing population. People think the bigger the number of persons in the family the higher will be the income of the family.

Unproductive consumers account for merely 51% of our population. They are in the age group of 0 to 16 and above 58 years.

How to solve this chronic problem of population growth? The govt has to put to use the country’s rich natural resources. If production increases in geometrical progression, the burden of increase in population will not be felt by the country. The entire responsibility lies with the Govt, and the people.

The birth rate can be controlled by adopting the following measures.

  1. Postponement of marriage age to 25-30 years.

2. Awareness generation of family planning methods.

The main aim of family planning (1) Child by choice not by chance (2) Child by design not by accident

The population control measures can be successful only through active participation of the people at large. Because the ultimate responsibility wrests on the country’s citizen. The new population policy announced by NDA Govt in 2000 is a right step in the action to check the population growth but it is silent about disincentives to arrest the population explosion.