Prof. Vivek Singh
135 million babies are born every year in the world. On an average 70000 babies are born every day in India. Every year 2.55 crore children are born in India alone. No country in the world has unlimited resources. India too is not an exception to this. India occupies just 2.45% of the geographical area of world but home to 18% (140 crore) of the world population. India has only 4% of the available water resources in the world. It took 2 million years for the world population to reach 100 crore, but surprisingly in just 220 years (1804 to 2024), the world population will increase from 100 crore to about 800 crore.
Today total population of India is around 140 crore. 1000 years ago, India's population was 7.5 crore which increased to 11 crore in 1501. Total population of India was around 20 crore in 1801 which increased to 23.84 crore in 1901. After 50 years in the year 1951, population of India was 36.10 crore. The total population of the country reached 54.81 crore in 1971, 102.87 crore in 2001 and 121 crore in 2011. The population of the country will reach 150 crore by 2025 and 170 crore by 2050.
The current population of world is 7.8 billion. Around 1350 the population of the entire world was about 3.7 crore. In 1804, the world population reached to 100 crore or 1 billion. It took 123 years to increase the population from 1 billion to 2 billion and in 1927 the world population was 2 billion. It took only 33 years to reach the world population to 3 billion in 1960. 14 years later in 1974 the world population was 4 billion. After 13 years the world population was 5 billion in 1987 and after 12 years the world population was 6 billion in 1999. It took again just 12 years to reach the world population to 7 billion in 2011. Now it's expected that by the year 2024 population of the world will cross 8 billion mark. By 2040, the world population will be 9 billion and by 2050 the world population will be 10 billion.
If the population of China and India is taken together, it will account 36% of the world population. But China managed to get control over population growth in 1976 by adopting the Population Control Act. India's position is quite different. If we look at the population of India and China, we will find that in the year 2019 the total population of China was 143 crore while the total population of India was 137 crore. On 1st January 2020, 67385 babies were born in India while only 46299 babies were born in China. By 2024, the population of India will certainly exceed the population of China. If we talk about the geographical area, the area of China is 9596961 square kilometers while the area of India is 3287263 square kilometers. India is only one third of China in terms of land area. If we talk about the availability of water, 7% of the world's water is available in China while only 4% water is available in India. If we talk about population density of India and China, the situation of China is 3 times better than India. The population density in China is 148 people per square kilometer while the population density in India is 440 people per square kilometer.
Why don't we learn from China's population control law and the One-child policy? The Population Control Act was enacted in China in 1976 otherwise the population of China would have been at least 200 crores today. Since 1979, the One-Child Policy was in force which was changed to Two-Child policy in 2016. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address of August 15, last year described the rapid population growth as extremely worrisome. He associated small family with patriotism. Due to not being able to control the growth of population, today the country is facing many problems such as problem of poverty, problem of illiteracy, problem of malnutrition, problem of unemployment, pollution problem, problem of slow pace of economic development, problem of adulteration, problem of Starvation, problem of traffic etc. The root cause of all these problems is excessive uncontrolled population.
After all, how long will we face the problem of uncontrolled population growth? Will closing the eyes resolve problem? The Constitution has been amended more than 100 times in this country. Hundreds of different laws have been passed and enacted by the government but the root cause of all the problems was not being tried to resolve. By the time the government gives employment to 1 crore people, 2 crore new unemployed will stand in the line. By the time the government gives home to one crore people, 2 crore homeless people will be added. By the time the government brings 2 crore people above the poverty line, 4 crore new people will have joined below the poverty line.
125 crore Aadhaar cards have been issued in the country. As per data released by the government, 90% of population have Aadhaar card by the year 2020. It means that 10% of population do not have Aadhaar card, whose number will be 12.5 crore. It simply means that the population of the country has been 140 crore. All the facts will be revealed in the 2021 census to be held next year. Apart from this, crores of intruders from outside the country have come illegally from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The country ranks second in the world in terms of population, Ranked 33rd in population density, 103rd in fertility, 130th in expected life, 113th in infant mortality, 12th in cigarette consumption, 76th in alcohol consumption, 102nd in the Global Hunger Index, 19th in suicide, 103rd in Human Capital Index, 145th in Education Index, 140th World Happiness Index, 129th in Human Development Index, 53rd in Social Progress, 134th in Global Youth Development, 8th in Homeless, 76th in Gender Inequality, 4th in Global Slavery Index, 3rd in GDP, 82nd in public debt, 122nd in per capita income, 168th in literacy, 11th in imports and 18th in exports.
In the year 1976, after detailed discussion in both the upper and the lower houses of parliament, the 42nd Amendment Bill was passed. The sentence ‘Population control and family planning' was added to the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. Under this amendment, the Central Government and State Governments were empowered to enact stringent laws for population control. Unfortunately despite having spent 44 years, we have not been able to enact effective population control laws till date. The Venkatachalaiah Commission gave its suggestions to the government in 2002 regarding adding 47A to the constitution and about the Population Control Act but could not be implemented till date. In 2019 Rajya Sabha MP Rakesh Sinha introduced a private member bill for population control. Recently, BJP leader Ashwani Upadhyay's arguments regarding the population control law are very accurate and logical.
I suggest that when population control law is enacted, anyone who violates this law must be discouraged and those who follow this law must be encouraged. Whoever violates the population control law should be barred from contesting any kind of election – Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, Gram Sabha, Nagar Panchayat. Such people should not get government job, if they are in job they should not get promotion. All government facilities should be scrapped. The right to vote should be taken away. Aadhar card, ration card, voter card, bank account, electricity connection, mobile connection should not be made new and should be canceled if given. There must be provision for such type of people to charge ₹10,00,000 as fine or 5 year in jail or both.
Governments must also ensure that contraceptive pills are available free of cost at health centers. At least ₹500000 should be given to the sterilizers. The government should bear the expenses of the education and expenses of those who have only one child. If she is a daughter, she should be provided all other facilities along with free education by the government.
The country should adopt one child policy (we two our one policy) like China. This policy should be strictly followed throughout the country. India “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat”, “Divine and Grand India”, “Self-reliant India”, “Sukhmay Bharat”, “Vishwaguru Bharat”, “Exemplary India”, “Uttam Bharat”, “Vihangam Bharat”, “Developed India” can be made up with population control laws.
China has gone so far ahead in economic development because it had control over its population growth through a stringent population control law. If it had not been so, today China's population would have been 200 crore instead of 143 crore. India should learn from China in terms of population control and population control law implementation. The Population Control law which should have been enacted in 1976, is expected to be passed by 2021. Stringent population control law is the solution to all problems of the country.
The writer is a columnist and thinker, Professor of Commerce, Economic, Political and Social Analyst.
