It is no secret that India’s population has been growing significantly since time immemorial. From over 553 million, in 1970, it has reached an increasing total of over 1 billion and 326 million in 2016. We have the world’s second largest population after China; in fact with the population clock ticking every second, we will soon surpass China too. India being a developing country with increasing scarcity of resources, contributes to about 17.84% of the total world’s population, out of which 68% lives in rural areas and 29.5% is under the poverty line. Clearly, India’s population is no longer an asset to the nation. Unskilled and hungry individuals prove to be no constructive human resources.
China, the world’s most populous country has the the fastest growing economy. China and India’s population has a mere difference of 126 million and yet, India stands at rank 10 in terms of GDP while China stands at a proud 2. This is because they realize that their growing population is a hazard, not an advantage. This is precisely why they implemented the “One Child Law” in their country with such vigour. India, unfortunately, is too sensitive and moralistic about these matters. Some may say that it is only the lower classes that are responsible for this issue. If this is the case, why is that many Indian couples of upper classes keep (or are forced to) producing kids until they have a boy? Freedom of choice and human rights are very convenient excuses for our people. We criticize too often, and too easily. We don’t realise the gravity of the situation and cannot come to terms with the fact that all of us need to fight this problem on urgent basis.
Resources make or break a country. Any nation, whether developing or developed, needs resources to survive in the comity of nations for which it can only depend so much on trade and domestic possessions; but what will a nation do if the demand – supply ratio goes bizarre? How many mouths will it feed and for how long? Even after 70 years of independence, India is still a developing country with fast depleting resources and an uncontrolled population is surely to be blamed for its slow progress. India is a small country with respect to area, to suffice the needs of an ever increasing population. If United States of America (with an area of 9.834 million kilometers square and the world’s largest economy) can have resource issues, it is common sense to visualize India being a victim of intense resource scarcity in the very near future. How will a government have fruitful productivity if all its resources go in feeding its population, and it is still not enough? Needy mouths are increasing every day due to higher birth rate, improved life expectancy rate and reducing death rate. The government’s schemes and laws are also falling short now.
A growing population is making India more prone to famines, faster spread of diseases like dengue, and even declining economy. The Organization for Economy Cooperation and Development states that the Indian economy is slowing down and has even scaled down its projection growth rate for the years 2015 – 16 to only 3% to 5% in contrast to the previous figure of 9.4%.
The matter is even more complicated for our diverse nation, where everyone aims to run the country by their own rules. The war is forever on with respect to control over resources. Social, political and economic fallouts are all related to the tremendous growth of population in the country. The numerous river waters disputes like the Krishna Water Dispute between Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and the Cauvery Water Tiff between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu all occur due to the lack of resources present in India, unable to fill everyone’s growing needs.
God has given all of us beautiful, healthy bodies that are made up of cells. The cells and tissues increase in a controlled manner throughout our lives and work systematically to make our body function efficiently. However, what happens when they start growing erratically and uncontrollably? We contract cancer. It is the same with a nation. Till the time its constituents are controlled and hence governable, the nation prospers, but once the elements start growing in an unruly manner, it leads to the country’s downfall.
Let us come up with ideas and effective implementation to stop this cancer from spreading further. Each citizen is bound to serve the nation that protects him/her. Let us serve our responsibilities with intelligence and practicality.
