Population Control as Long Term Measure for Development

Higher population growth has been a well known obstacle in development of our country. Some people put across their views through PowerPoint presentations and speeches in conferences about the growing population and forget to give emphasis regarding pernicious effect of population burden. Somehow these are the people who differentiate between important and unimportant issues and decide the fate of common people. Survey organizations collect data for these so called special category people and groups. According to one survey, India is having approximately 35 percentage youth, 18-35 years age population, which is more than many developed and developing countries. Youth can work better. So we have comparative advantages over these nations and can discharge their duties better with new thinking and effectiveness and impetus to build our nation fast. I agree with this finding but this is half truth.

There is an old story. There was an old man in a village. He had four sons. They were young and energetic. The old man was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, so he thought to teach a lesson to his sons. The old man took dry sticks. He gave one stick each to his sons and asked them to break it. The stick was very debile and infirm and could be broken easily. All of his sons broke down infirm sticks. After that, the old man gave a bundle of sticks one by one to his all four sons and asked them to break it again. But none of his son could break it. This story at one side gives us positive message of unity, but at other side shows old traditional mindset of having more children with presumption that if a family will have 4-7 children can stand happily in disturbed situation.

I can comprehend in my 13 years of administrative carrier that there is feudal and social-economical reasons behind higher growth rate of population in rural areas. More sons-more earnings philosophy is still enduring in the minds of families in rural India and slums in urban. Even today when we go on tour to rural areas, generally we found that poorest of poor is having larger number of children. Moreover, these families are also gender biased.

We all know that middle-higher class or higher class families who have adopted one or two child norms can feed their children better and lavishly. They can give them better Education, Health facilities, cloth, and sports facilities. China and other north-East Asian countries have shown their determination to control population. Today, these countries have better infrastructure, intelligence, research and defense facilities. I astonished, when I see that a country which is promoting small family norms is adopting same traditional mind of a poor families of having more children. I am not advocating that an older person can perform better than younger ones. But if population growth is not controlled in near future, we will lose our all comparative advantages under population pressure. Our land will be divided. Our resources will shrink and we will be pushed to corner.

In my view we should use the positive energy of youth otherwise we will lose the chance of utilizing it, and this can be our short term strategy for faster development process. On the other hand we should also take the advantage of experience and energy mix to develop our nation. To get the fruit of development we have to, we have to control the population as a long term measure of the development. We should not get into the jargon of the laptop people and should think for the future generation in the interest of our Nation.