Five billion
minds in 1987 had decided to establish World Population Day on July 11 and now,
for more than 20 years, this day has become an occasion to mark the
significance of population trends and related issues. Discussions and debates
are held with immense feeling and concern. The day has acquired significance as
an annual event. In 2011, as the world population was expected to surpass 7
billion, UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) and its partners had launched a
campaign called "7 Billion Actions" on this very day. Latest official world population
estimate, for mid-year 2011, was estimated at 6,928,198,253.
Where Do We Go
From Here?
The concern is
around stabilization. Population
stabilization is not just about numbers but about balanced development. It has
to be looked at in the context of wider socio-economic development. It does not
matter if in the process things don’t stabilize by 2045; it could be achieved
by 2050 or 2060. But what is of greater concern is how we approach the issue of
population stabilization.
Population stabilization is around the
corner as there is enough evidence from everywhere to show that women do not
desire many children. Limiting of their family has been understood by them as a
dire necessity. What they need is to draw confidence from the supporting
systems that are around them. They only want their children to survive and do
well and want the means of family planning and other reproductive health
services made accessible to them. All this should happen without undermining in
any way their sense of dignity and privacy. Coupled with sustained efforts to
enhance income and create conditions where women retain control over that
income, this could make a big difference.
The Question of Incentives
Population
control agenda has taken its support from the people by offering incentives and
disincentives. Whether such incentives or disincentives are necessary, are they
effective and are they just? Can incentives and disincentives improve quality
and address the problems of equity and access to health services, specially of
women? Can they enhance the accountability of service providers to the
community? How relevant or effective are incentives and disincentives? How do
they impinge on the rights of a person? These are often the questions that are
raised without firm answers being given.
The Two Extremes and Saner Voices
Enlightened
political leaders and administrators have increasingly begun to recognize the
importance of education, access to health care services, greater awareness and,
most importantly, overall economic development that would all assist in
achieving the much needed transition, leading to stabilization.
Steps by the
Government of India
The Union
Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that the
benefits of developments are being negated by the ever rising population. He
said that delayed marriage and suitable gap between two children should be
highlighted as the possible solution for the growing population. While coercion
is not acceptable for promoting family planning, there is need for universal
acceptance of small family norms.
The programme
organized by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Jansankhya Sthirta Koshlast
year honoured Rekha Kalindi a student of class 3 who refused to marry at the
age of 10. The couples from the backward and tribal districts of Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa were also felicitated as role models
for family planning. These couples were also recipients of Prerna Award. The role of ASHAs (Accredited
Social Health Activists) in educating the rural people deserves special mention
here. Henceforth, World Population Day needs to be observed at every village,
block and district level to convert it into a mass movement.
Rising population
is one of the most critical problems India is facing and will continue to face.
Awareness, partnership and availability of population control services along
with strict vigilance and transparency would help mitigate the woe that may
befall us. A change in the attitude of the service providers and bureaucracy is
also suggested and is a must. It
is indeed heartening that, after almost 50 years of one-way communication, the
Government has welcomed public debate on this issue.
Global
Situation
A world wide
report cites the example of Niger in West Africa which has increased life expectancy in
the past 30 years but is doubling population every 20 years. Even assuming its
total fertility rate (TFR) falls to 3.9 by 2050, which may be optimistic, the
population will grow from 15.5 to 55.5 million by 2050. A future in which
population increase outstrips the production of food and other necessities of life is a
real possibility for Niger .
This report ends
with a warning note: "The number of people living on the planet has never
been higher, their levels of consumption are unprecedented and vast changes are
taking place in the environment. We can choose to rebalance the use of
resources to a more egalitarian pattern of consumption or we can choose to do
nothing and to drift into a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills
leading to a more unequal and inhospitable future".
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