Essay, Paragraph, Speech on “Population Stabilization” Complete Paragraph, Speech for Classes 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.

Population Stabilization

India possesses 2.4 percent of the total land area of the world but it has to support about 16 percent of the total world population with fast expanding population, education acquires a vastly different role. Leaders have talked about the hazards of population explosion. But there has never been any real attempt at changing the nature of education in India to cope with the threatening danger that we are swimming in. So, there is much need to overcome the population. 1 he Indian population can roughly be divided into three broads categories. Firstly there are the large ignorant masses of illiterate and semi-literate people who remain unconscious of the alarming consequences of their multiplications and additions. They are even not aware of various modes of family plannings. Some of them not seen or heard about the condom and how it is used. Secondly, there are the educated but communally inclined who may be able to think, but their thought may never go beyond their personal, religiously or socially fashioned ideas of what the ideal size of a family ought to be : the male child is a compulsory necessity to keep on the lineage of the family, or clam for them, using of any mode of family planning is unreligious, unethical and immoral.

Then there is the third category : the urbane class with the elite class at its apex. This category is well conscience to the necessity of family planning, and they keep their family within limits. India has crossed the 1 billion mark in population. China had a larger population than India; they have a larger land are, still they have controlled their population through stringent measures. The only problem with us is that we are the democratic country where every voter has to be kept in good humour. ‘Family Planning’ and family Welfare’ programmes remain a mere euphemistic terminology. No government policy whether at the central or the state level has come out with a daring and positive pronouncement that families with one or at most two children shall be given benefits or preference in jobs or initiatives in business? Then there are difficulties in implementing the family-planning programmes among Muslims. Their socio-religious ethos militates against adopting contraceptives. And none dare touch them on this issue.

The population of India has increased from 236.5 millions in 1901 to about a 1,000 millions today. More than about 6,500 babies are born everyday. To some extent, the main cause in our extraordinary growth is not excessive births, but our victory against death and disease. Our ability to control communicable diseases like malaria, small pox and cholera and ushering in improving health services have steadily brought down the death rate from 27 per 1,000 in 1951 to just 15 today, while the birth rate has remained ‘about the same. Life expectancy at birth has risen from 32 years in 1950 to 60 today. Thus our number is multiplying every day. As a result, there are 21 million births a year and about 8 millions deaths, giving an annual excess of about 13-14 millions in our already huge population.

The result of our increasing numbers is obvious much of our effort to raise the standard of living of our people through successive five years plans has been nullified. The growth of population, besides neutralizing all developmental efforts, brings distress to the community, to the family and to the individuals. As one of our great economists has said : “To plan when population growth is unchecked is like a building a house where the ground is in flood.”

What then needs to be done? The remedy is to reduce the number of births. In order to stabilize the relationship between population and the basic necessities of life, we must bring our birth rate down from 41 per thousand to 25 per thousand as quickly as possible. The family planning programme was begun in a modest way in 1951. The importance which the government of India has attached to birth control is quite evident from the fact that about Rs. 50 crore half of the outlay on health in each annual plan is set apart for family planning. A Department of Family Planning (now family welfare) functions in the Union Ministry of Health. The government has accorded top priority to the programme of birth control and is making all-out efforts to reduce birth rate to 25 per 1,000 as early as possible. Population growth is a stimulant to economic growth upto a point, but afterwards, as we are witnessing in India, it becomes a serious impediment. Larger population provides abundant labour as well as a big market for consumption. But the alarming rate of increase in population produces an occasional crisis in food situation, necessitating import of food grains, involving large amount of foreign exchange which could otherwise be made available for faster economic growth. Although food production has increased to some extent, it is not enough to feed the newly arriving excess population.

High birth rate increases the number of children, making a higher proportion of dependent population unproductive. The number of unproductive consumers is presently put at 440 million. Another consequences of vast growth in population is that it reduces the capacity to save and invest in the national economy. In any developing country, capital formation is crucial to economic growth but in India most of the resources are used up in supporting the unproductive population, so that the problem of poverty gets no solution. Investments for such important projects as highways, rail-roads, communication systems, electrical power and generation, irrigation pumps etc. are not available to the extent desired. Unless birth rate gets reduced in the country, it is impossible to effect any saving to increase capital formation.

It seems all voluntary methods of birth control have failed to yield any tangible results. What should be taken resort to is for the Government of India taking a decision to officially declare to limit the family size on the principle of one-family one-child norm. This population control policy has greatly succeeded in China. There is no reason why such a policy should not be framed in India without any further delay.