Essay Contest
The Far Reaching Bad Consequences of
Increasing Present Population in India
Population had a natural growth
rate described by a geometric
progression whereas
the natural resources
necessary to support
the population grew at
a rate similar to an
arithmetic progression.
Without restraints, Shashi Kumar
therefore, there would be a conti-
nued pressure on living standards,
both in terms of room and of output.
Thomas Robert Malthus
Our country possesses 24 per
cent of the total land area of the
world but it has to support about 16
per cent of the total world population
and the burden is still increasing at
an appalling rate. Our leaders have
talked about the perils of population
explosion, but there has never been
any real effort at changing the nature
of education in India to cope with the
threatening dangers that we are
swimming in. The decennial increase
in population from 19912001 is 18.1
crore equivalent to total population of
Canada, France and Germany.
Meaning of Population Explo-
sion
According to the theory of
Demographic Transition, every
country passes through three stages
of demographic transition. In the first
stage, both birth and death rates are
high. Hence the population remains
more or less stable. Even if there is
some increase in the population
because the birth rate is somewhat
higher than death rate, it does not
pose any serious problem. Generally
in backward economies where
agriculture is the main occupation of
the people, per capita incomes are
low. This inevitably results in a low
level of standard of living. Mass of
the population in these countries is
deprived of even the basic necessities
of life. Under such circumstances
when medical facilities are limited,
the mortality rate is bound to be high.
Lack of education, superstitions and
PD/August/2007/346
such other social evils result in high
birth rates. Hence, in the first stage of
demographic transition, high birth
rate is matched by an equally high
death rate and thus population
remains stable over a long period.
The second stage of demographic
transition is characterised by rapid
growth of population because despite
substantial reduction in the mortality
rate there is no corresponding decline
in the birth rate. Consequently
population increases at an annual rate
of about 2.0 per cent or more. In a
country where economy has not
grown adequately for a long time and
a sizable section of population has
remained below the poverty line, this
is really a grave situation. Economists
call it population explosion. For the
past five and a half decades Indias
experience in respect of population
growth has been precisely as
described above.
Causes of the Rapid Growth
of Population in India
We can have mainly three
possible causes of an increase in the
population of a country :
(i) A high birth rate,
(ii) A relatively lower death rate,
(iii) Immigration.
In our India, the population has
rapidly increased singularly due to
steady decline in the death rate, while
the birth rate remained high. So, to
understand the nature of Indias
population problem, we must
examine first the factors which
brought down the mortality rate in
the country, and second, the reasons
why the birth rate continues to be
high.
1. Elimination of famines : The
recurrence of famines in India under
the British was a major cause of high
mortality rate. Since independence
the situation has considerably
improved.
2. Control of epidemics : Cholera
and small pox were the two major
Shashi Kumar
causes of epidemics before indepen-
dence. Now, small pox is completely
eradicated and cholera is very much
under control. Consequently, the
mortality rate has registered some
decline. A major disease for which
the picture has changed radically
over the past five decades is malaria.
In the late 1930s when the death rate
was around 31 per thousand people,
malaria accounted for 16 per cent of
total deaths. Further, spread of
education and expanded medical
facilities particularly immunization
against various preventable diseases
have reduced the incidence of various
diseases.
3. Universality of marriage :
Marriage is both a religious and a
social necessity in India. The custom
of arranged marriages under which
parents feel that marrying daughters
is a social oldigation results in near
universality of marriage. Presently,
by the age of 50, only 5 out of 1000
women remain unmarried.
4. Lower age at the time of
marriage : The relatively lower age at
the time of marriage in the country is
also believed to be responsible for
high fertility. If a girl is married at an
age of 1618 years, she can have
children upto 40 years of age. This
span of 20 to 22 years is very long
compared to the developed countries
where girls are married late. In our
country, since the average age of
women at marriage is still around 18
years, the fertility is bound to remain
high, particularly when other factors
which could bring it down are non-
existent.
5. Religious and social supersti-
tions : Most Indians on account of
their religious and social supersti-
tions, desire to have children having
no regard for their economic
conditions. Hindus in many cases
must have a son, because according
to their religion, certain rites can be
performed only by him and none
else. On the other hand, Muslims take
family planning against the rules of
Shariat.