Pramod Bhargava
India is the only country in the world where dilemmas and contradictions run parallel to progress. Therefore, where the population force is a symbol of power, it is also a burden on the available resources. That’s why many problems also keep on standing face to face. Things become more difficult when the discrepancy in the distribution of resources is increasing. It can be said that increasing population is not a boon but a burden. As a result, when the report of ‘United Nations Population Fund’ released the figures that India’s population has increased more than China, it is natural to increase concern. Although this possibility was being expressed long ago that India would leave China behind in terms of population.
Despite this, some population experts are expressing apprehension that this time was not yet to come in June. But the common man neither understands the jugglery of figures easily nor is he able to reach any conclusion. Therefore, this statement of China needs to be looked into as to why it is saying after the figures that it still has more than 900 million people who are capable of efficient production. Remembering that China has made progress. Dominance in flight and global market is due to this population. That’s why China is now worried that India may not succeed in increasing its production capacity on the basis of this population? Because according to this report, India has 68 percent population of such active people or youth, who can take the economy to the peak by taking their products to the world market by being continuously connected with productivity.
Presently the population of the world has crossed the figure of eight billion. According to the latest figures of Indian population, one out of every five people in it is an Indian, as India has become the world’s most populous country with a population of 142.86 crores. The population of China at present is 142.57 crores. Our population is 29 lakh more than that. Where this is a big challenge for a country with a large population like India, there is a need to make it a boon. However, due to awareness and family planning measures, the birth rate has decreased in the world.
India is the first country in the world, which started the family planning program in 1952 to control the population. Despite this, the population has been increasing. The conclusion of the demographic analysis suggests that the birth rate at present is the lowest since 1950. Here the question arises that then why is the density of population increasing? In fact, due to the increase in medical facilities and financial status of a particular class, the average age is older. People in this range are leading a high class life despite not being engaged in productivity. As a result, this population is becoming an obstacle in employment for the youth of India like Japan, China and South Korea. Unemployment in India is highest among youth in the age group of 15 to 36.
If we refer to the report of the People’s Commission, the number of unemployed in the age group of 15 to 29 is 278 million. Although there are many unemployed in this, who have work, but the ratio of income is not satisfactory. The infiltration of foreigners and conversion of vulnerable caste groups in India’s border states is also causing conflicts with the local natives, increasing the density of population and worsening the employment crisis. That is why equality is being talked about in the population policy.
Now that we are ahead of China in population, we need to take lessons from China on how it linked its human resource with labor and productivity and flooded the world markets with its products. Because despite the large population in China, the employment crisis did not deepen like India. Clearly, this population has been a constructive contributor to China’s growth and productivity. By producing cheap skilled and semi-skilled people, China has filled its goods in the world markets. While India has not been able to make significant progress in indigenous production in proportion to the population despite giving subsidies to big companies.
Recently, in the name of Make in India, the Government of India has banned the grant of Rs 370 crore subsidy to two companies Hero Electric and Okinawa. The government has set a budget of Rs 10,000 crore to encourage the sale of two-wheeler electric vehicles under the Faster Adoption and Manual Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME)-2 scheme. Every electric vehicle is subsidized by the Ministry of Heavy Industry. A subsidy of Rs 15,000 per kWh is given on electric scooters. But this subsidy will be given only when the production is done indigenously. When the government investigated, it was found that these companies have used parts imported from China in these vehicles. This is the reason why incidents of fire in two-wheelers are increasing. Due to this fraud, Hero Electric’s subsidy of Rs. 220 crore and Okinawa’s subsidy of Rs. 150 crore has been stopped. India is not able to overcome unemployment with indigenization even because of this kind of fraud.
If we talk about providing employment to the people initiated by knowledge-tradition in China, then the raw material is transported from village to village by the government or the company. Once the goods are manufactured, the accountability of bringing the goods and paying on the spot is institutionalized. The advantage of this is that the villager can produce the item in his own house. As a result the cost of the item is minimum. If the same person goes to the city and joins productivity, then he has to spend a large amount of his earnings on living, food and transport. Small and big factories of production in India are in the cities. Hence the cost of the item is higher. The things that are imported in China related to Holi, Deepawali and Raksha Bandhan are produced in the villages of China only. It is obvious that if a large population gets involved in production, then the problem of unemployment can be relieved to some extent. Youth become a problem when they do not have work in their hands. Japan and South Korea have higher density of population than India. Despite being more prosperous than us, this country is ahead of us in production and export of indigenous technology. That’s why India needs to learn from China, Japan and Korea.
It was a matter of connecting people with employment, but it is not going to happen without making a policy on population growth. This policy of two children should apply equally to people of all religions and communities, because population is a problem as well as a means. But the way the population density is deteriorating in the country’s border provinces and Kashmir, it becomes necessary that a population control law comes into existence soon. The Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh has expressed concern many times over the decrease in the population of Hindus. The adverse effects of deteriorating population ratio in Kashmir, Kerala and other border areas are being seen in a visible form for some time.
The rehabilitation of five lakh displaced Hindus from their ancestral land in Kashmir has not been done even after the abrogation of Article 370 due to terrorist incidents. Due to Bangladeshi infiltrators, the situation of riots arises due to the changing population density in Assam and other northeastern states. Same is the condition of West Bengal. Forced conversions, increasing Christian supremacy in North East and Kerala states is becoming such a big reason, which can change the face of the present map of the country? A few so-called intellectual masses are a big obstacle in the policy measures of population control and they do more sophistry than logic. Therefore, rejecting the unilateral measures of family planning, there is a need to think afresh on the appropriate measures of population control.
