Misconceptions on population growth

Whenever someone asks us to describe major problems which India faces, population growth is the one point that will be common in our replies. Right from our childhood, we have been listening that India's population has been growing very fast. We believe that over-population is the key behind every problem like poverty, pollution, crimes, resource shortage, etc. We think that unless we control population, India will never develop. However, this has been one of the biggest misconception among us. The way we have demonized the idea of India's big population, is highly misplaced, incorrect and half baked truth. Lets understand how.

In actual, population has been India's biggest strength in our rise in the world. There are immense benefits of a large population which we often not think of. India's economic growth is direct result of our large population. India is the 2nd largest market in the world. It is for this reason that every major Multinational has always been looking to invest in India. Our huge population offers large pool of talents for these companies to employ. Almost every big corporate house outsources its business operation in India because of availability of huge skilled and unskilled manpower.

We think large population eats into job opportunity. But this is wrong perception. All business and industry grows only when there is enough demand. Demand arise from consumers. More consumers means more demand and more sales of goods. More production requires more labour. Thus it creates more jobs. Our small business, shops, restaurants boom because of unending demand from our huge population. Today when developing nations are growing, European markets are going into recession because of sheer lack of demand from low population.

In current world, Economic strength defines political strength. Today when India find international support across forums, it is because no big country wants to be at loggerheads with a country which has a market of 1.3 billion people.

India is known for its soft power. We have the largest diaspora in the world. Indians are present in the nook and corner of the world. Our diaspora are our cultural ambassadors and play key role in influencing that country's stance towards India where they are present. They take our culture, languages, food, dress, art, etc across the world. This is because we have such a huge population.

We have the 3rd largest army in the world. Although Military strength is also determined by technology and warfare equipment, human strength cannot be underplayed.

Finally, India has the youngest population in the world today. Average age of Indian is 26 years. Almost all major nations have said that the progress of the world will depend on India's huge young talent pool.

When we think of having population control policies like 2 child policies, we must understand its dangerous consequences. China tried to have 1 child policy. After decade of experience, China recently announced to reverse the decision. Forceful control of population leads to population disaster that happened in japan. Today, there are more old people in japan then young people. It is haunting Japan.

India's situation is not as bad as we are told. Our population growth rate has been declining. Pay attention to this word growth rate. It means although our overall population is increasing, the rate of growth is decreasing. It is good news. Also, our desired rate of fertility level (number of child per woman) is 2.1 and 21 states in India has already achieved this level. It means our population will slowly stabilize on its own as education is increasing and awareness is rising. We are almost there. Any attempt of coercive policy will seriously hamper this achievement. We must not forget, when people were forced to have 'Nasbandhi'  during Emergency (1976), the population rate went up actually.



What should we focus on?

Just think, are all countries with low population developed? There are many African, South American, Asian, European countries that have very small population. Are all the people rich and satisfied there? Problem is not in the size of population. It is rather in the poor management of population. India is home to highest number of poor people in the world. We have one of the highest infant mortality rate. India faces problem of lack of healthcare and quality education for all. These problems are not because of population per se. It is because of poor policies and failure of administration. Take the example of poverty. People are not poor because we don't have enough food, houses, or clothing to provide them. Around 15,000 tonnes of unused food grains rot in go-downs of Food Corporation of India every year. A 5th largest economy in the world can provide for housing and basic health care to its population if it prioritize to do so. But scenarios is different. 80% of the total wealth is concentrated in hands of top 2% people in our country. It is this inequality that needs to be solved and rest problems will be solved automatically.

Our greatest strength in coming years is going to be our huge young demographic dividend. If we let this go waste, this will be our biggest blunder. We will have to work rigorously to provide quality education to every child. Skill development will have to be top most priority. Good quality and affordable healthcare shall be must for every family. Small and big business will have to be boosted to ensure employment to huge young workforce. If we take this rare opportunity that the time has provided to India, we will be able to emerge as world leader with the help of the strength of huge young population or else, it may also turn as demographic disaster. We shall strive together and utilize this resource to its best!