Why our new MPs need to worry about population boom

Now that Independent India is more than 60 years old and with the General Elections round the corner to elect the 15th Lok Sabha, it should no longer be wishful thinking if Indians expect their leaders to set and deliver meaningful agenda for governance for the next five years.

There are many challenges facing India and none is too bigger than the population explosion. If our rulers have any semblance of foresight, they should focus their attention on this much-neglected and much-ridiculed idea of population control before it pulls down the entire edifice. They should not shy away from doing something on this front merely because it is neither popular nor going to reward in electoral terms. They should not look at the problem with any religion or community in mind.

The magnitude of the annual increase in population can be seen from the fact that India adds almost the total population of Australia or Sri Lanka every year and supports 16.87 per cent of the world's population on its meager 2.4 per cent world surface area of 135.79 million square kms.

As a result India's natural resources are coming under severe strain from all sides. Over-exploitation of resources is contributing to natural disasters occurring more frequently in different parts of the country.

According to a report published by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, "India falls under the categories of countries where land resources are much below the world average of 0.26 hectare per person in most countries. This is in part the consequence of unfavourable natural conditions (e.g. deserts, infertile mountainous areas) and in part that of continued population growth which has driven population densities to high levels. Per capita forest and woodland resources are also very limited, and far below the world average of 0.75 hectare. As a matter of fact, deforestation is widespread in the region". India's alarmingly shrinking forest areas witness continuous battles between man-versus-beast and man-versus-man for survival.

India is also the world's sixth largest and second fastest-growing producer of greenhouse gases. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai are four of the world's most populated cities. Two-thirds of city dwellers lack sewerage, one-third lack potable water. India grows equivalent of another New York City every year in its urban population.

The FAO report identifies the "two most widespread problems are the pollution of water resources (by industrial discharges, household waste, sewage or agricultural chemicals) and deforestation (under the impact of clearing for shifting agriculture, overexploitation for fuel wood and timber collection, and overgrazing). India's fourteen major, 55 minor and several hundred small rivers receive millions of litres of sewage, industrial and agricultural wastes. Most of these rivers have been degraded to sewage flowing drains. Even India's most sacred river, Ganga, has been reduced to a sewage drain. There are serious water quality problems in the towns and villages using these rivers as a source of their water. Next come soil erosion (from overgrazing and intensive cultivation) and chemical degradation or pollution (from excessive use of agricultural chemicals)".

In a paper published by our own Planning Commission in March 2008, titled "Demand Supply Trends and Projections of Food in India" it says "Population trends project India to emerge as the most populous country in the world in the coming decades. Demand and supply prospects of food items become important indicators to the country's food security concerns."

For Indians be it rural or urban, life is too much of a struggle just to put together the bare essentials for survival, and shortages of resources works most against the poor and underprivileged. Though the rural poor have always been a deprived lot, their urban counterparts are not an inch better off. Having migrated to towns and cities in search of better life, each day they wage battle for survival under the most appalling of living conditions, with scant regard to the basics of human dignity. No longer can we be self-satisfying with catchy slogans such as "Shining India" and "Incredible India" whereas reality in most parts of the country is as bad or as worse as the movie "Slumdog Millionaire".

The various governments at the Centre have been striving to control India's population growth by fits and starts, but almost all of the policies have so far proved to be unimaginative and ineffective. Even though it is reckless to compare the situation in democratic India with that of Communist China, but after sixty years of its independent existence, at least in matters of supreme national interest, Indian politicians should keep their narrow political interest aside and formulate suitable policies and programmes to arrest this dangerous trend.

Even if it is too much and too soon to expect from the Indian political parties at a time when they are more concerned with their own credibility and survival, they should use the General Elections as an opportunity to educate the voters about the environmental concerns in addition to the staple slogans of "roti, kapda aur makan" and indicate steps they would be taking if they are voted to power.

The population explosion is an extremely serious threat to India's environment, its scant resources, the peaceful co-existence of communities and, without doubt, the credibility of the Indian democracy and its leadership.

This blog first appeared on www.ibnpolitics.com