POVERTY FREE INDIA : FREE INDIA
Q-Critically examine whether growing population is the cause of poverty OR poverty is the mains cause of population increase in India. UPSC 2015.
Ans. It’s both. Those who think population growth causes poverty advocate programs in family planning and population education. Those who think poverty causes population growth favour direct economic aid, jobs, capital investment. Take care of development, they say, and the birth rate will take care of itselfThe developing countries already facing a lack in their resources, and with the rapidly increasing population, the resources available per person are reduced further, leading to increased poverty, malnutrition, and other large population-related problems. REASONS FOR INCREASE IN POPULATION: Higher Birth Rate, Lower Death Rate, Increased illegal migration and
Poverty are root or major causes of growing population in India:
India currently faces a vicious cycle of population explosion and poverty. One of the most important reasons for this population increase in India is poverty. More than 300 million Indians earn less than US $1 everyday and about 130 million people are jobless. The people, who have to struggle to make two ends meet produce more children because more children mean more earning hands.Also, due to poverty, the infant mortality rate among such families is higher due to the lack of facilities like food and medical resources. Due to the increase in population, the problems of scarce resources, jobs, and poverty increases. Thus the cycle of poverty(PYNE) continues leading to an ever-increasing population that we see today.
How to Break this Cycle of Poverty???
Micro credit loan will lead to increasfe the financial inclusion and create more business opportunity = more jobs = more income = govt will have more tax = govt can build more infrastructure = it can solve above problems.. Thn when people have more money= socially upliftment = social harmony = less crime = country prosperity increase = indian will have good HDI index + human happiness index points etc.
Now a days generic medicines are available which is cheap and also available in indian markets, if govt will provide better health facilities we can cure many diseases like as we did in the case of polio.. Increase the infra. At hospitals, better regulation of private hospitals, hub & spoke approach + increase traning of Asha nurses at villages and small towns + reap the capabilities of AYUSH medicines+ the doctore who pass from medical institutes every year. Sign contract of min 2 yrs to serve at rural areas etc nd the mains thing is increase awareness by more spending on advertisements..
Provide free and good standard of education = income expenditure increase= savings = people will have good personal income = they have money to spend on health and other expenditures = govt CAD decrease.. Govt will have more funds and then govt can spend on infrastructure = hunger problem sort out + sanitation through public infrastructure ( prob solve) = disease, malnutrition and death rate + maternal mortality rate + infant mortality rate goes down = then we can reap the benifit of democratic dividend = indian workforce can be use by the govt = economy boom = people prosperity high.etc.
It is a very sensitive issue in India, so it has to be handled with utmost care. There is an urgent need to lower birth rates in India. In India, family planning facilities are available only in the urban centres and semi-urban areas. So poor people of rural areas don’t get these facilities easily. Therefore, family planning centres with trained personnel should be set up in rural areas to prove this facility at their doorstep. This can very much help in lowering the birth rate. Population has been growing at a huge pace in India, numbers show that. The fertility levels amongst Indian women are one of the highest in the world. Which in turn is high because of lower levels of literacy of women, child marriage, less age gap between two children, the poor health of the mother which is a result of living in impoverished conditions. So, it is a vicious circle, which has no end.
Trilok Singh
CEO at Youth Darpan Media, IASmind.com and India’s Journal. Studies Masters in Mass Communication Journalism at International School of Media and Entertainment Studies, News 24 Campus. MA in Political Science, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi.