According to an UN report, India has overtaken China as the most populous country of the world now. Its total population now stands at 142.8 crore against 142.5 crore of China.
No doubt this is not a leadership any Indian would like to feel proud about. The Government needs to do much more in the direction of population control now, then ever before. This population explosion has more negative effects than positive. But, the picture now is not as bleak as what some western scholars have called it. Let's see how.
If the Government can put in place measures to curb this population explosion more stringently it will not increase as rapidly now, as what it had increased during the eighties and nineties. During that time India's population grew at a very fast rate despite some efforts of the then Congress Governments. I am not trying to polarize this into a Hindu V Muslim debate but it still remains a fact that thos drastic rise in population of India is mainly owing to the fact those Congress Governments at the centre could not pressurize muslims who had on an average 4 children in each household then. "अल्लाह की मेहरबानी से एक और औलाद आ गई देखो..." - with this thought pattern most muslims used to produce so many children back then. Some used to keep producing children till the point that they got a boy child. That should be stopped now. They should be asked to treat every girl child at par with a boy child, whether it be education, or any other facility that needs to be given. Muslim girls mostly remain uneducated because men treat them as secondary citizens compared to males. That mentality should change now. Women are as equal as men in all aspects of life.
Secondly, not just muslims been so many Hindus, christians, Sikhs, treat females as secondary citizens. Why? There is no need to do that either. All girls must get proper education, nutrition, clothing, shelter, and all those facilities that boys are getting. No discrimination should prevail there too.
Next point is India should stop new multinational companies entering Indian markets who no doubt give products to us but in return drag away massive chunks of foreign exchange (money) from the Indian markets. More and more encouragement should be given to "Made in India" goods. Why should any foreign body be able to pull out huge money from India? The massive consumer base of India should be an advantage for Indian companies and not for foreign companies.
Last but not the least, let's see what steps can the Indian Government and the citizens of India take to curb this massive problem:
1) Population increases when there is not just too much sex but also when there is too much sex "without adequate protection". Western countries like UK, France, Germany have their populations under control because despite getting involved in a huge amount of sexual activites, adult individuals over there have the ability to exercise control over themselves when it comes to a serious issue like " family expansion". Whereas here in India, 7 out of 10 couples take pregnancy and the resultant production of one more child so casually! The amount of lack of education is such that most families greet each and every new born and his arrival into this world as "a very good news" even after there are 3 children already in their homes! So first of all this mentality should change now. Each citizen who dreams of becoming a prospective parent must first think - Is it proper for me now to expand my family even after I already have 2 (or 3 or 4) children? Would I be able to provide for the food, shelter, clothing, education, medicine and all essential facilities to each one of these, until they attain adulthood? Afterall, its my responsibility and not of anybody else to provide all the above in a satisfactory manner to each child born to me, so that they grow into the right type of mature, responsible citizens of my country." Unless this mindset is developed inside every couple - educated as well as uneducated, nothing positive is going to happen.
The Government should enact a law which punishes those couples who produce more than 1 kid. All their taxes should be doubled (for each person of the family.) Their access to favorable government schemes should be cut off. They should not get any subsidies or benefits from anywhere for a lifetime. They should be made examples of the harshness a government can have towards those who produce more than 2 kids, so that in future other couples will hesitated a hundred times before going ahead with plans of huge family expansions. China had done exactly that in the nineties and continued on the same path after that. They punished all those couples which exceeded the limit of 1 baby. How? By declaring that these couples will have to send their second baby, whether it be a boy or a girl, to the Chinese Army. Some couples were forced to do that although they did not like it. Seeing their utter pain, other couples then controlled themselves from going ahead with Baby no.2 and limited themselves to just a single kid, even if it was a girl. This was a brilliant plan that worked wonders and now China has brought its population inder control although after 3 decades of initializing this plan. A certain cross-section of the media and that of general public will not like this step. But, I strongly think that it can work wonders in the longer run.
Whilst punishing those who produce more than 1 kid, steps should be deployed to incentivize those couples who have obeyed the Government's statutory laws on demographic control. Those families that have stopped expanding their family after 1 child, that too a girl child, should be given lots of incentives and facilities compared to others. This will serve as an example to those couples who are not very sure to go ahead with family expansion after the birth of a female child, because of the age-old beliefs in Indian households to atleast have 1 baby boy amongst several girls. These facilities include provision of free and best quality education to the only girl child. Good quality food and cheap but high quality medicines to the entire family, after her birth and consequent declaration by the father that they won't go ahead for child no.2 henceforth. Very attractive home loan and personal loan rates, so as to facilitate a nice home and home appliances for the family should be an addition. If the girl child is brilliant in her studies, she should get very attractive scholarships fir pursuing advanced post-graduate and graduate studies in India & abroad. There can be more incentives too here. The list can grow much bigger. For example that single kid can have more benefits coming his/her way during his/her job, his/her marriage, his/her business adventure in future.
The method of controlling population through protective substances are widely known: condoms and contraceptive pills. These are however used more by unmarried couples than the married ones. The government should make more efforts so that married couples too start using them more frequently.
The citizens of India should too be now more careful. Once being aware of the disadvantages of having more children in their family, couples should have just 1 child and focus & concentrate all of their energies in the upbringing of that child only. If that first child happens to be a female they should not consider that as their hard luck and try their luck once again for producing a male child. They should accept that girl child as their destiny, instead of keep crying whole life for her not being a boy. If that first child is a boy, most parents won't go for the next one but some may still have the desire of producing a "Laxmi devi"(Hindu Goddess Laxmi, the one which gives wealth to humans). They should consider that boy himself to be an avatar of Laxmiji herself, in a male version rather than giving more try for producing a girl. In short awareness amongst citizens too is very vital.
Too conclude let me say that if the citizens of India in general and the Indian Government in particular, pay enough attention to this problem of population explosion, India can still manage to control it in say 20 to 30 years from today. More population means lesser per capital income. Although the Gross Income of India may be amongst the highest in the world, this over-population kills those positives in an overwhelming manner. It brings shortage of food during just a slight drought. It brings shortage of shelter, clothing, education, medicine - shortage of everything in no big time during a sudden emergency. My humble request is to all those concerned (readers), those who are in their current age of reproduction, to consider all the aspects gives above carefully, think deeply about how population control really helps a nation in a big way and go for all the right protective measures that they can, so that this problem can be solved by India, in the near future.
- (Kb/Original/20April2023/1)
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