This refers to T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan's column "The gorilla in the room" (Marginal Utility, November 8). India was the first to adopt family planning as a state policy, but over the years we have allowed religious and political considerations to abandon this approach. We now have the second highest population in the world and will soon overtake China. Population control is a political hot potato and we adopt an ostrich policy towards discussing or taking steps to face this reality. Successive governments, be it the United Progressive Alliance or the National Democratic Alliance have shied away from tackling the implications of our growth and have not pursued an active family planning programme. The poverty clock is ticking. When the poor have nothing to eat they will devour anything that comes their way.
The carrying capacities of our cities are already under strain. India is a resource-inadequate, water-stressed nation and with the prospect of increasing urbanisation all the positive dividends, including the demographic dividend, will be neutralised. Population growth and over-consumption will have catastrophic consequences and it is important that people have less children. The only way to reduce consumption is to slow the population growth. Water supply is finite, but demand is rising rapidly as population grows and as a water-stressed nation, growing crops or feeding the burgeoning population will be a challenge.
Our authorities should actively consider limiting access to a host of state-enabled facilities. Subsidies, admission to schools, preferential employment, colleges, hospitals, ration cards, cooking gas and so on should be given to only those who have small families. Instead of going for a caste census, our government should look at population numbers to give our citizens a better standard of life.
H N Ramakrishna Bengaluru
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