Population Explosion In India

         Next to China, India is the second largest populated country in the world. In 2001, India became the second country after China to cross the one billion mark. The current population is around 1.20 billion. India occupies only 2.4% of the world’s land area but it supports over 15% of the world’s population. About 70% of the Indian population lives in more than 550,000 villages. The balance stays in more than 200 towns and cities. India is expected to surpass China in total population by 2030 (five years earlier than previously estimated). As per the current demographic statistics, India’s population is slated to rise by almost 350 million over the next quarter century, twice as fast as China, United States and Western Europe combined.

          There is a pressing need to generate resources to meet the demands of such a huge population and if these demands are not sufficiently met, India’s hopes of getting into the league of developed nations like some of the American and European countries could end up unfulfilled.

          India’s infrastructure is insufficient enough to take proper care of the demands of the ever increasing population. The present resources are going to be no match to the outnumbering population very soon and India will be on the verge of depletion of resources on one hand and the enormous population on the other hand.

        As the population rises, so will poverty. Being a developing country, the increasing growth rate is dragging India into a vicious cycle of population and poverty, which leads to a development trap. This further increases other problems like illiteracy, unemployment and inflation. Eradication of poverty is a very long-term goal in India. But poverty alleviation is expected to make better progress in the next fifty years than it did in the past. An increasing education awareness, the increasing empowerment of women and the economically weaker sections of society, and the reservation of seats in government jobs are all expected to contribute to the easing of poverty in India.

       Overpopulation is a hindrance in the path of India’s economic development. Family planning awareness should be sown among the younger generations. Use of contraception should be encouraged. Smaller families contribute to the well being of the individual as well as to India’s economy. India’s vast population puts a lot of stress on the economic infrastructure. It is high time that we Indians took measures to control this escalating population for the progress of our economy, our country.