I am part of the generation (baby boomers) who grew up with a red triangle prominently etched on our young hearts. Wherever we looked we could see the popular red triangle indicating or rather reminding us of the population bomb in the making: on government ads, on both sides of public buses, in cinema, in all health advices. The triangle symbolised family planning products and services but it also meant to the common man ? husband, wife and their child ? but I later come to realise that it should have been quadrangle: man, woman and their two kids, as many of the conscious couples have today.
How we are racing ahead madly procreating like mice could be seen from the fact that India?s population of 57,493,307 in 1990 reached 1,002,708,291 in 2000 and 1,224,614,000 in 2010. This is a chilling growth recorded while the neighbouring China has sobered down considerably though China could accommodate much more than 131 crore of its 2010 figure, going by the land mass it has. Though urban India has increasingly accepting small family norms, lack of incentives and penal provisions cause the baby boom to continue in rural areas and also among certain segments of the society.
Some consolation (or concern)?
Our neighbours are not well off, too: UN figures show Pakistan and Bangaldesh are going population crazy. The 2011 Pak census says its population stood at 197.4 million in 2011, an increase of 62.7 million from the last census in 1998. The new population is 20 million more than had been forecast in UN documents. Some of the additional growth is due to refugees fleeing Afghanistan, but this would not be enough to account for it. Lack of control over the birth rate is admittedly the reason behind the jump. Bangaldesh is a step ahead. Its population of 2011 figuring at 161,083,804 is 1.579% high.
Demographers warn that population explosion will not restrict its impact to its borders. The danger lies in its spilling over: the illegal immigration from Bangladesh via north east into India. It is a global concern, warns UN report on population. World population in Europe and some other developed countries have been declining because of people?s conscious efforts but this do not happen in Africa, Asia and South-East Asia.
Urgent steps needed
India, say experts, must immediately go in for a positive family planning like extending incentives to small families. Rewarding the small is equivalent to punishing the large. And, that is what any responsible government should do.
UN population figure of 2010
- China 1,317,911,518
- India 1,224,614,000
- United States 310,384,000
- Indonesia 239,871,000
- Brazil 194,946,000
- Pakistan 173,593,000
- Nigeria 158,423,000
- Bangladesh 148,692,000
- Russia 142,958,000
- Japan 126,536,000
- Mexico 113,423,000
- Philippines 93,261,000
- Vietnam 87,848,000
Steps suggested
- Free education to single girl child up to graduation
- Job preference to single child
- Free health insurance to single child or two children
- Publicly extolling small families, especially single child families
- Reviving the famous red triangle, more as a warning to the country
- Tax exemption to single child couples
Category: Opinion
Source: http://postnoon.com/2012/10/22/hard-talk-bring-the-red-triangle-back/82129
84th annual academy awards beginners 2012 oscars the shore meryl streep oscar wins sasha baron cohen oscars oscar winners
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.