Population Explosion in India!
In term of population, India stands second in world which neutralizes whatever economic progress the country makes and lowers the per capita income.
So to raise the economic standard of the country, the birth rate should be lowered. Let us discuss some important reasons for high population growth in India.
(i) The large size of the population (58%) are in the reproductive age group.
(ii) About 50% of the girls marry too early i.e., below the Legal age of marriage (below the age of 18).
(iii) The population explosion in due to unmet need for contraception. So urgent steps should be taken to make contraception more widely available, accessible and affordable.
(iv) The high birth rate may be due to high infant mortality rate.
(v) The people residing in rural and remote areas are mostly poor and illiterate. The sexual relation is one of their main source of enjoyment which results in high birth rate in rural areas.
(vi) Because of illiteracy and ignorance, the rural peoples do not adopt family welfare programmes easily.
Family, welfare programme:
To reduce the birth rate to the extent necessary for the stabilization of the population, the national Family Welfare Programme was launched in India in 1951. The objective of the programme is to promote responsible and Planned Parenthood through voluntary and free choice of family planning methods, best suited to individual acceptors.
Attempts are also made to involve local self government including voluntary organizations (HQO) and opinion leaders to promote the programme. The mass media (AIR, Television etc.) and interpersonal communications are used for highlighting the benefit of small family norm and removal of socio-cultural barriers for the adoption of family limitation programmes.
The family welfare programme is given top priority by the constitution of India. During first and second five year plans, clinical approach was adopted but subsequently (after 1961), this approach was replaced by “Extension and Education approach which emphasized expansion of service facilities along with spread of message of small family norm.
In rural areas, the family welfare programme is implemented through primary health centres (PHCs), community health centres (CHCs) etc. In urban areas, the programme is operated through hospitals and dispensaries. By adopting national family.
Welfare programme, India has achieved the following targets:
(i) The crude birth rate has been reduced from 40.8 (1951) to 26.4 (1998, SRS).
(ii) The infant mortality rate has been reduced from 146 per 1000 live births (1951) to 72 per 1000 live births (1998).
(iii) The death rate has been reduced from 25% (1951) to 9.0% (1998, SRS)
(iv) The life expectancy has been raised from 37 years to 62 years.
(v) The need for and methods of family planning have given wide publicity.
(vi) The total fertility rate has been reduced from 6.0 (1951) to 3.3 (1997, SRS).
Population variation among nations:
About 20 of the available land area is conducive to human settlement. Most of the population prefer to live in coastal areas and river basin. As per statistics, about 40% of world’s population resides with in 100 km of the coast.
About 99% of all population increase is seen in developing countries while population size is either static or declining in industrial nations. Amongst the major, industrial nations only USA has significant population growth mainly due to immigration.
The population status of ten most populous countries in the world is shown in the table given below:
Table 13.1: Population Status Op Ten Most Populous Countries During 2004
|
Rank |
Name of Country |
Population in millions |
|
1. |
China |
1300 |
|
2. |
India |
1087 |
|
3. |
USA |
294 |
|
4. |
Indonesia |
219 |
|
5. |
Brazil |
179 |
|
6. |
Pakistan |
159 |
|
7. |
Russia |
144 |
|
8. |
Bangladesh |
141 |
|
9. |
Nigeria |
137 |
|
10. |
Japan |
128 |
The average crude birth rate and death rate during 2002 is shown in table given below:
Table 13.2: Average Crude Birth Rate and Death Rates in Different Parts of World During 2002.
|
SI. |
Area |
Crude Birth |
Crude Death |
|
No. |
Rate |
Rate |
|
|
1. |
World |
21 |
09 |
|
2. |
Industrial Countries |
11 |
10 |
|
3. |
Developing Countries |
24 |
08 |
|
4. |
Africa |
38 |
14 |
|
5. |
Latin America |
23 |
06 |
|
6. |
Asia |
20 |
07 |
|
7. |
north America |
14 |
09 |
|
8. |
Europe |
10 |
11 |