The Need Of A Strict Population Control Law

INTRODUCTION: CONTROLLING POPULATION, SHAPING THE FUTURE

One of the major issues in the world today is population because the increasing population every day and is only limiting the already limited that are sources are essential for surviving. For creating awareness about this issue, we celebrate the world Population day every year on 11th of July. Population growth in the world directly triggers higher demand for various sources necessary for Human existence; including housing, healthcare, food, infrastructure, jobs access to resources and many other issues. Controlling the population and its sustainability is vital in the health of a country’s economy.

There is no set pattern or scientific solution to solve this issue both in developed or in developing countries. One of the best way to make people aware about the population growth is just by giving the educating them about this population problem and making them aware that if the world becomes over populated, no one could live a better life and everyone equally will face difficulties in getting even the basic amenities like better education, healthcare, and future job opportunities etc.[1]

People are more aware in the developed countries as compare to the developing countries about family size and population growth issues. People who are in developing countries are still under the traditional perceptions of having children as an important capital for a family.

THE NEED TO CONTROL POPULATION

If we talk about India, population growth is a major issue in our country right now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech called for a deeper thought about this issue. The Prime Minister said that this population explosion can create new problems for the future generations. However the government is doing there best to aware the citizen of the country about this issue.[2]

Population is a big concern even though the growth rates are declining and the recent statistics are showing a slightly positive picture of India. But, it is still a major issue because of the added social and economic pressures. According to the ‘World Population Report, 2019’, India will overtake China in less than a decade. But the news projections for India are the lowest since the United Nations began these forecasts. The reason is the sharp decline in India’s population growth rates over 10 years from 2001 to 2011. According to a census from 2011, the growth rate of population has declined from 21.5% during 1991-2001 to 17.7% during 2001-2011, across all religious groups.[3]

WHY DO WE NEED STRICT POPULATION CONTROL LAWS?

A country can only survive and grow when its population is in control because the sources are limited to fulfill the needs of everyone. According to many eminent personalities in the recent times, we need stricter laws to control the population problem and even the government is well aware of this issue. According to Sanjeev Balyan (Union Minister, Govt. Of India) “Population explosion is the reason for most problems we are facing in this country. Pollution, poverty, and lack of sanitation facilities are all related to high population and 'Bharat Mata' cannot bear this burden anymore."[4]

The government presented their Population Control Bill, 2019 in Rajya Rabha and are now finally starting to take necessary steps towards the problem.

World's Population as of Now: As per the UN population division, the current population of the world is 7.8 billion and the five most populous countries are as follows:

1 China - 1,415,046,928

2 India - 1,354,051,764

3 United States - 326,766,948

4 Indonesia - 266,894,980

5 Brazil - 210,867,954

In a country like India where the sources are limited to fulfill the need of everyone and the citizen’s of the country are not that educated or aware about the issue like population control and they believe in the traditional values of giving birth to children’s especially boys because they are god’s blessing, it becomes the duty of the government to make their citizens aware of this problem. They also need to make the strict laws and take stricter measures.

CONCLUSION

Not only India, but the world is facing this population issue which is centrally focused on countries like China and India and other developing countries. More than half of the world population lives in these 2 countries but China has made some controversial decisions to control its population - like the one child policy. But, in India there is no such law currently that takes steps to control this issue. This is the time when we need to think and take actions concerning the same.

Recently the government of Assam made a controversial public draft population policy. Under the policy, those with more than two children will not be able to get government jobs or avail benefits like government housing contests, local body elections, etc.[5]

Over population will only increase our problems because the natural sources are limited and this mother earth is not able to bear our weight anymore and is slowly becoming incapable. The time is now, to do something to control this population problem and not only in just one country but in the whole world.

[Author Alok Kumar is a 3rd Year student at Maharaja Agrasen Institute Of Management Studies]

1. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thejakartapost.com/amp/news/2013/04/20/controlling-population-shaping-future.html
2. https://www.livemint.com/news/india/what-can-help-in-controlling-population-in-india-society-or-law-1566269654978.html
3. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.indiatoday.in/amp/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/population-control-bill-india-crisis-1313179-2018-08-13
4. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.indiatoday.in/amp/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/population-control-bill-india-crisis-1313179-2018-08-13
5. https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/child-policies-across-the-world-from-those-imposing-restrictions-to-others-offering-incentives-to-have-more-kids/amp_articleshow/58199912.cms