Causes And Consequences Of Overpopulation In India - Essay.

Growing Population Pressure in India

Question:

Discuss about the Communication Skills for Postgraduate Study.

“Overpopulation is a serious threat to our own existence” (Lahore, 2017). This issue should not be addressed  only in just few countries rather it is the serious issue that needs to be addressed in the whole world. India is the clear image of increasing population as every corner of India is overcrowded. This report illustrates the causes for rapid growth of population in India and consequences of overpopulation. This report also discusses some of the policies and methods to control the over population in India in order to make the pace between the rapid growth of population and economic growth. 

India is now the living place for 1.2 billion people and by the middle of this century, the population of India is predicted to increase to 1.8 billion people. According to the Indian Census of 2011, the population of India was 1,210,193,422 which showed that India is following the China in case of population growth. The various studies conducted by experts have estimated that surprisingly India will be global number one most populous country by the end of year 2025.

In India, every corner of the countries accounts for overpopulation as the number of people is increasing at a very fast rate compared to the growing infrastructure. The evidences of overpopulation can be seen in every place such as in metro station, railway station, roads, market, hospital and others. The issue of overpopulation is growing on a daily basis without any sign of control. These places are overcrowded with people just fighting to adjust itself in the given area. For example, in hospitals and railway station people are seen suffering due to lack of places such as patients in hospital are just left on grounds due to unavailability of beds and are not treated. This has been the increasing concern about the society; however, nothing being done for the purpose. The population has already been increasing at a very fast rate and is estimated to increase even further (Singh, Singh, & Srivastava 2016).

The evidences are seen in every city of the country such as New Delhi, the capital of the country alone portrays a population of 23 million. This comprises of a large part of the 1.8 billion total population of the country. This shows that the megacities of the country have huge population compared to small cities. Thus, a gap is instantly visible between different cities of the country regarding population pressure. Pressure of population is seen in the country as according to recent researches it is estimated that the company adds 700,000 inhabitants every year. This shows the percentage of population pressure the country allows in its boundary, which is causing overcrowding in many places (Basha 2016). The amount of overpopulation is also visible in the society as most of the people are unable to get the access to basic amenities of life. People are stuck in lines and crowd for municipal trucks to supply waters in some of the areas especially slums. This shows the concern and increasing Global issues in the country that arises from a major issue that is overpopulation (Coale, Johnson, & Edgar 2015).

Causes of Overpopulation in India

The India’s population is expanding due to advancement in medical technologies and growth in production of agriculture (Lahore, 2017). The other cause for the growth of population in India is that the birth rate is higher than the death rate. As it is seen that the birth rate is increasing continuously in the country because of various reason. However, the country has been able to reduce the death rate, there are still increasing birth rate. This the combination of low death rate and increasing birth rate has increased the pressure even more on the country with no signs of control. The reason of increasing population is also visible due to betterment in the standard of living of the people and increase in life expectancy (Cassen 2016). It is suggested by the theory of demographic transition that after certain level of decline in birth rate and family sizes, the fertility level of the people will again increase as the country develops. Thus, the ability of the country to recover from underdevelopment to development is causing negative impacts, which is visible from population growth (Thomas 2014). The universal practice of early marriage of girls still exists in the India which is also one of the causes of higher birth rate of infants (Phukan, 2014).

Another important factor leading to overpopulation in India is the poverty as people think that more children will earn more money. In addition to it, illiteracy is also one of the leading factors for rapid growth of the population. Another cause of overcrowding is the correlation between the situation of overpopulation and poverty. The correlation exists very strongly between these two factors as due to increasing poverty and inability of the people to buy birth control measure leads to population growth. They are unable to buy the modern methods and tools by which they can control the birth of children. Moreover, poverty also leads to inability of the people to take good education from a well renowned place, which leads to illiteracy. Such situation makes it unable for the people to realize the negative effect of population growth and importance of population control (Moghadam, & Helbich 2013).

Another factor is the age old norms as in India people believes that male child is the bread earner of the families and parents are pressurised  to produce the children till male child is born(Phukan, 2014). Migration is yet another reason of growing population in the country as people are migrating from other country to India for various reasons. Most of the migration is illegal in the country such as from Bangladesh. These people migrate to India for some illegal activities and then start a new living here. However, the main cause of such increasing illegal migration is the bad and inappropriate political structure of the country. These politicians and their rivalry allow these people to settle in the country for their own benefits and monetary values (Bokde, Gupta, & Kulat 2017).

Consequences of Overpopulation in India

There are several impacts of overpopulation. First of all, there is unemployment as it is very difficult to generate job for such a huge population. Secondly, there is pressure on infrastructure as the infrastructure facilities development is not keeping pace with the rapid expansion of population. Moreover, the number of slums, overcrowded houses and traffic congestion increases with rapid growth of population. Not only this, the resources are being overutilised which leads to shortage of resources and the resources like forest; land areas are being over exploited. There is unequal dispensation of the inequalities and income within the country as the population is growing at rapid rate in India (Phukan, 2017).

Another major impact of over population is fall in capital formation. Near about 35% of the population in India is below the age of 14 who are dependent on others for their survival. Therefore, the capacity reduces due to pressure of dependent which results in the downfall of capital formation (Ram, 2014). Rapid growth of population increases the pressure on agriculture land and leads to several environmental problems like water pollution , air pollution , land pollution and noise pollution (B. Joson.etal, 2010)

India is suffering from economic inequality, which is giving birth to the poverty at an increased rate. The issue of overpopulation involved grew more critical nature due to the advancements in the field of artificial intelligence. Automation has intended to threaten 70% lose in workforce along with the million of job losses which are already happening in the production sectors of IT. E-Commerce has lacked to take up this far due to the cuts in job which is not as competitive as in the marketplace. Excessive population is leading to the breakdown of the institutions and it is making all plans to bring improvements in the infrastructure of the country. This further incorporates that Government of India which is struggling to enact reforms since the time of Independence (Singh et al 2015).

The result of the growth of population is a bigger problem that the entire world would face later or sooner. Drinking water, treatments of sewage, lack of rainfall, rapid depredation of the natural resources and the extinction of many animal and plant species due to the excess cutting of trees and the loss of economic system, increasing the level of life threatening water, air and due to the extreme poverty, these problems are taking place at a larger scale. Due to overpopulation, there is an increase in the number of jobless people and the development of the business is slow (Grimmet et al 2013; Singh et al 2015). This resulted to the communication gap and the lack of healthcare, education and housing. Production in food is decreasing and this is also leading to the increasing of the price of the remaining food. With the increasing of population, there is an inequitable distribution of the income, which is making the poverty in India intense. The illiteracy is also responsible for the growth of population. Early marriages and excess childbirth without any family planning is also an important impact of the over population. To top of this, unemployment is another important result of the impact of this bigger issue. Finally, the over population is affecting the changes in the economic trend of the country. However, with the advancement in the field of technology in India, is leading to the decline of child mortality rate in India (Grimmet et al 2013)

Effects of Overpopulation on the Environment in India

In order to control the population of India, the government of India should start a population policy so that rapid growth of population can keep pace with the economic growth of the country (Phukan, 2017). “Increasing the welfare and status of women and girls, spread of education, increasing awareness for the use of contraceptives and family planning methods, sex education, encouraging male sterilisation and spacing births, free distribution of contraceptives and condoms among the poor, encouraging female empowerment, more health care centres for the poor, to name a few, can play a major role in controlling population” (Phukan, 2014). The most important factor which plays a very significant role in controlling the population is the Public awareness and strict government rules which will keep pace between the economic growth and rapid population growth. The higher level of education to the women can delay the marriage which can help to reduce the birth rate and decreases the fertility level (Birdsall & Nancy, 1997)

It’s not just the India or China who are dealing effectively with the consequence of rapid growth of population rather it is the high time for all the world wide forums to come up with the better solution to this global issue of overpopulation so as to make the world a better tomorrow.

The population of India can be controlled by the raising status of the women. The women in India are still suffering from discrimination and they are allocated to the field of rearing and bringing up children. Therefore, women must be bestowed with opportunities in order to develop economically and socially.  The mode of free education should be handed over to them (Rifaat 2015).

Spread of the education is necessary to bring changes in the outlook of people. The educated people give preference to the delay of marriages and adopting the smaller norms of family. Educated women are having health conscious and tend to avoid frequent pregnancies and thus helping the decreasing in the rate of fertility (Uniyal et al 2016).

Some parents do not have any children. Despite the costly medical check- ups, it is better advisable that they must look forward to bring up orphan children. It would be beneficial to the orphan children and the children couples.

A people’s social outlook goes under transformation. Marriage should no longer be taken into consideration as a social binding. The women who are issue less should not be looked down (Uniyal et al 2016).

Potential Solutions to Overpopulation in India

The first and important measure of the overpopulation is to raise employment areas in the urban as well as in the rural areas. Naturally, in the rural areas, there exists disguised form of unemployment. Therefore, efforts are needed to be made in order to migrate the people who are jobless from the rural areas to the urban sides. This important step can check the population growth in future.

If the development in the sectors of Industry and agriculture takes place, then there would a larger number of people would get employment. Once their income is increased, they would make improvements in their living standard of the living and start adopting norms of small family.

Bringing improvements in the standard of living which would prevent to a larger family norm. In order to regulate their higher standard of living, people would prefer to have a small family. According to many writers, the people who earn less than the rupees 100 per month, which is dependent on the production at an average rate of 3.4 children and the people who earn more than rs.300 per month having the reproduction rate of 2.9 children.

It is on the people’s record that in the urban places, there exists low birth rates than those women who are living in the rural areas. Urbanization in the rural areas is to be encourages in order to bring enlightenment in the mindset of the people.

Marriages should take place in the age of 30 years. This would further reduce the period of reproduction among the group of females, which would bring down the period of reproduction among the females down the line of the birth rate. The government has fixed the minimum marriage at the 21 years for the males group and for the females group it is 18 years

Conclusion

From the above analysis, it can be deduced that the issue of population is increasing uncontrollably in the country causing various harmful effects. The authorities in the country are taking few actions such as family planning, economic growth, education system, health facilities and others. However, it is seen that it is difficult to implement such steps in the population control measure due to the huge size of the country. Moreover, people in the country are ot supportive and have their own views and ideas that create a barrier for the policy makers t implement such policies. The main people that might create a problem are the political system in the country that can do anything for their own goods irrespective of anything. However, it can be seen that even though it might take time yet the control measures will have some long-term beneficial measures on the population. For example, educating the poor will take time; however, they will slowly be aware of the need to control population in the country.

In the first assignment, I made several mistakes as I divided the entire essay in only three parts which was insufficient for the assignment. The possible reasons of the errors and the improvements were also not discussed elaborately before concluding the essay.

Firstly, the errors occurred as I had chosen the incorrect form of the thesis. The format that I applied was in the report format and hence, I did not include the “critical discussion”, and applied only the “explanation” part. Since I used the report format, my thesis did not outline a thesis statement but only the entire structure of the thesis. Moreover, since I used many sub-headings of the report format, I did not emphasize on the noticeable topic sentences for each paragraph and section.

After acknowledging the errors, I started adjusting the structure of the thesis and attached the format of argumentative thesis in my second assignment. This time, I listed the significant thesis statement in the introduction statement and I used most of the topic sentences in the opening of each paragraphs.

The most difficult and challenging task of this portion was the construction of the opening statements as there were impact of traditional Taiwanese writing context which were indirect and obscure. In other words, the traditional Taiwanese writing emphasized the facts and contradict views before addressing the prime idea. Therefore, the reconstruction of the paragraph in a direct and clear way was the most tough task for me.

The second error that I had done was about the punctuation, grammar and the sentence structure. In this part, the most difficult problem that I had faced here is of not using the correct forms articles. I had faced this even when I was studying EAP course in MIT in the previous year. Even at that time, I was instructed to use the necessary forms of articles and hence I mistook it and started using “the” in each of the noun that had no article. Hence, I was said that my assignment contains unnecessary articles.

In discussing the possible causes of the problem, I wrote in most of my context that I had not find any explicit strong association of the article in the native language and henceforth I neglected the persistent result of the cause. In order to improve this problem, I started reading several grammar books that were written in English as well as in Mandarin. However, I still faced challenges to decide which rule I have to apply under different situations. I honestly confess that I have not solved this issue and I started learning from my mistakes.

The third types of errors made by me was in the vocabulary section of the assignment.  Since I had not learnt enough of the understanding of the article, I started using wrong vocabulary and inappropriate words thinking in context with my native language. Besides, in my first assignment, I also used some informal vocabulary as I was not fully aware of the academic vocabulary of the text.

To reduce such mistakes in my second assignment, I took the help of the dictionary and the sentences that were given in the examples. I started reading more academic vocabulary and visited the websites from where I corrected my second assignment.

In the part of the conclusion, I have remodeled most of my assignment and tried to avoid as much mistakes as I could. Nevertheless, I found difficulties in some of them to improve them totally. In order to enhance my writing skill in the language, I started reading more related articles and journals and made it a habit to contact the dictionary whenever a problem pops up.

References:

Basha, M. "Causes for Educated Unemployment in India with Special Reference to Higher Education." Splint International Journal of Professionals 3, no. 4 (2016): 30.

Birdsall, Nancy. “Analytical Approaches to the Relationship of Population Growth and Development.” Population and Development Review, Vol. 3, No ½, Mar.—Jun.1977, pp.63-102.

Bokde, Neeraj Dhanraj, Aditya Gupta, and Kishore Kulat. "Backward Elimination Approach of Regression Model to Decide the Road Safety Policies Across the States in India." Indian Journal of Science and Technology 9, no. 48 (2017).

Brandon Lozeau. “The Effects of Population Growth on Economic Performances in China and India.” Brussels Journal of International Studies, Vol. 4 , 2007

Cassen, Robert. India: population, economy, society. Springer, 2016.

Coale, Ansley Johnson, and Edgar M. Hoover. Population growth and economic development. Princeton University Press, 2015.

Grimmett, Richard, Carol Inskipp, and Tim Inskipp. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.

International Policy Digest. 2017. "Impact Of Overpopulation On India's Growth".  https://intpolicydigest.org/2017/06/19/impact-of-overpopulation-on-india-s-growth/.

Moghadam, Hossein Shafizadeh, and Marco Helbich. "Spatiotemporal urbanization processes in the megacity of Mumbai, India: A Markov chains-cellular automata urban growth model." Applied Geography 40 (2013): 140-149.

Phukan. “Overpopulation in India- Causes, Effects and How to Control it?” July, 2014 https://www.mapsofindia.com/my-india/india/overpopulation-in-india-causes-effects-and-how-to-control-it

Rifaat, Shafik I. "The Modern City Re-invented: A Conceptual Model for Sustainable Urban Form." Global Studies Journal 7, no. 4 (2015).

Singh, Rajeev Pratap, Anita Singh, and Vaibhav Srivastava, eds. Environmental Issues Surrounding Human Overpopulation. IGI Global, 2016.

Singh, Rajeev Pratap, Anita Singh, and Vaibhav Srivastava, eds. Environmental Issues Surrounding Human Overpopulation. IGI Global, 2016.;