Essay: Overpopulation In India - Causes And Impact On Economy.

Causes of Overpopulation in India

Describe about the Overpopulation in India for Underdeveloped Economy.

Overpopulation issues in India are influencing its underdeveloped economy. It has been a major menace facing major developed and developing countries including India. Overpopulation also has an effect on underdeveloped economies. Its damages are enormous such that it could hinder economic growth and development (Nafziger, and Nafziger, 2006, pp.130).  It would occur where the population of a given country exceeds the required capacity of that country or ecological niche. Ideally, it is the condition of having a densely populated country that could cause environmental deterioration, low quality of life, fighting for the scarce resources and space and so forth. Overpopulation is caused by medical benefits or advances, increased supply of education and development programs, as well as the high level of immigration.

Causes of Overpopulation to India

Overpopulation is among the most pressing issues affecting India. According to a census that was conducted in India in 2011, the population of the country was exactly 1,210,193,422. This implies that India had crossed the required 1 billion benchmark and therefore it was labeled as an overpopulated country (Galbraith, 1964, pp.1-20). It silently aggravates the forces that cause global warming or the green house effect, pollution of the environment, loss of the habitats of wild animals, extinction of various animal species like the dinosaurs, and the consumption of the scarce natural resources. Overpopulation is caused by a number of factors, which include reduced mortality rate, improved medical care and facilities, depletion of the scarce and available resources, and advancement in technology.

The increased advances in technology have affected the citizens of India in a number of ways. It has increased the ability to save lives through improved health care facilities and better medical treatment. In addition to this, it has greatly reduced infant and mother mortality rate. This implies that as fewer deaths occur mothers in India decide to populate the earth, as the medical health care facilities would have improved (Weil, 2005, pp.99). This results to overpopulation in India and thus the citizens start competing for the scarce and available resources.

Another cause of overpopulation in India is good food production. India is known to be one of the best exporters of food products. As the country produces more food, the citizens of India can be able to support more people within their households and so they decide to multiply and fill the earth (Hoselitz, 1961, pp.33-60). As the population grows, it will eventually lead to overpopulation. Consequently, the country would not be able to cope up with the increased demand for food products and thus making the citizens compete for the scarce resources.

Impact of Overpopulation in India

The third cause of overpopulation is illiteracy and poverty. There is notion that says the more members a family has, the more income they will have or the more wealth they will be considered having (Zeaman, 2002, pp.101). This is always in the mindsets of poor and illiterate people, which is no actually the case. Indians also lag behind concerning the knowledge of the use of contraceptives and methods of birth control. Most of them are unwilling to discuss about this matter and therefore have many unplanned pregnancies. As the poor people believe this, they decide to populate the earth or have unplanned pregnancies thus leading to overpopulation.

The fourth cause of overpopulation is age old cultural norms. Many cultures including that of India believe that sons are the bread earners of the family. They also believe that they are the ones who should inherit the wealth. The society and the community therefore put pressure on the couples in India to produces children until a male is born (Green, 2008, pp.55-60). They also affirm that the more male children the better as the couple would be considered wealthy. This therefore leads to overpopulation.

The last cause of overpopulation but not the least is illegal migration. Migration is the movement of people from one country to another due to famine, floods, wars, drought and so forth. Evidence of illegal migration has been noted in Bangladesh and Nepal parts of India (‘The real problem with overpopulation’, 2009, pp.5). Consequently, as many people move or migrate into India, the population density of the country increases thus leading to overpopulation.

Overpopulation in India has a had a number of effects both positive and negative. One of the impacts of overpopulation has been unemployment (Nolan, 2012, pp.133). As the population density of India increases, the available employment opportunities become scarce to meet the increased demand for jobs. The number of illiterate people who cannot be employed in organizations increases every year thus leaving many people unemployed.

The second impact of overpopulation is man power utilization. Many skilled labor or personnel are left idle since the available employment opportunities cannot meet the unlimited demand for jobs (Ranjit, 2013, pp.267-273). The main reason why they are left idle or unutilized is economic depression since the current economy of India cannot satisfy the excess demand for jobs, and slow business expansion activities, which reduce the possibility of utilizing the idle capacity.

The third impact of overpopulation is pressure on infrastructure. Development of infrastructure in India does not seem o match the growing population (Ranjit, 2013, pp.267-273). This causes lack of transportation, lack of adequate communication facilities, decrease in housing capabilities, lack of adequate education facilities, and lack of health care facilities. Pressure on infrastructure has also caused an increase in the number of overcrowded houses, slums, traffic, and congestion in India.

The fourth impact of overpopulation is resource utilization. Overpopulation has led to scarcity of resources thus making people or the citizens of India compete for the scarce land, the scarce water resources, and other resources (Lewis, n.d., pp.99). This therefore leads to over exploitation of the available resources thus leading to depletion of the natural resources.

The fifth impact or effect of overpopulation is decreased production levels and increase in the cost of production (Lewis, n.d., pp.99). Production of food in India and its distribution thereof have not been able to catch up with the growing population of the country thus leading to increased costs of production. An increase in the costs of production causes the prices of goods and services in India to increase thus resulting to inflationary changes

Last but not the least; overpopulation also has an effect on inequitable distribution of income. As the population of India grows, the gap between the rich and the poor widens (McLeish, 2009, pp.1-5). More state and local funding is directed to the rich districts while the poor districts are given less priority thus making them receive low state and low funding for their investment projects.

Overpopulation of India has negatively affected the economic growth and development of the country. As the population density of India increases, the country becomes unable to sustain its citizens such that it cannot be able to offer them job opportunities and the scarce resources cannot also satisfy their unlimited demand (McLeish, 2009, pp.1-5). Since the level of unemployment in India would have risen, the prices of goods and services also increase as shown by the Philips Curve. This results to an increase in the costs of living of the citizens of India and thus reducing or decreasing their standards of living. The companies in India also experience decreased food production resulting to a decrease in the real gross domestic product (GDP). As the gross domestic product (GDP) decreases, the economy of India suffers a depression thus reducing the rate of economic development or hindering economic development.

Current Situation of Overpopulation in India

The modern India has been facing major economic and social issues because of the unstoppable overpopulation problems (McLeish, 2010, pp.299). The government of India has been hasty and violent and has frequently attempted to reduce the birth rate. At first, the population of India might appear inevitable. However, the reality is that the country of India has over 1.3 billion inhabitants, which has crossed the 1 billion benchmark. It also gives an impression that one in every six people live in the world’s largest democracy. Subsequently, young people under 35 comprise of the largest percentage of the country’s population. According to some research and studies conducted in the country, the growth rate of the population of India is approximately between 1.3 percent and 1.6 percent. By 2030, India would have become the most populous country since to date China is leading as the most overpopulated country in the world.

Overpopulation has been a serious menace in India and many people including the government of India believe that the current challenges like unemployment, lack of housing, poor medical facilities and so forth facing India are as a result of the many inhabitants India has (McLeish, 2010, pp.299). Due to the overpopulation of India, the economy has been unable to keep up with it. Several specialists believe that there are several reasons behind the high fertility rate of India’s society. One of the reason of high fertility rate of India is the traditions and the culture, which are still being followed today. This culture and traditions urge the citizens of India that the more children they have the more they are considered wealthy. The same tradition tells them that they ought to have kids until a male child is born. It does not matter how many kids they would have but they must have a male heir in their household. This has led to overpopulation in India and the dependency rate has also increased lowering the standards of living of the citizens and also increasing their cost of living.

Another factor that has led to the high population growth rate in India is the early marriages within the Sanskara community, which is a small community within India. In this community, a typical Indian goes through the process of early marriages. Even though the legal age of marriage is 18, many young women in India marry at a young age and later drop out of school. This has increased the level of illiteracy in India (Pimentel, 2012, pp.151-152). The society then forces them to have children and not just a child, a male child, for them to be considered complete within the societal context. Indian women tend to marry at a young age something that the society advocates. As a result, these women have given birth to their first child even before attaining adulthood.

Traditionally, the wealth of a family is measured by the number of livestock one has and the number of children he or she has. Indians have therefore prayed to their goods for abundance and blessings in both from time immemorial. In addition to this, families in rural areas view women as a source of labor while their children mostly the male child as the bread winner of the family who will take care of their families when they get old (Pimentel, 2012, pp.151-152). According to Sai Karan, the menace lies in the patriarchal family system. She further states that women are supposed to follow the traditions, values, rules, and societal norms that is why the tradition does not allow anyone to limit the birth rate by use of birth control pills and methods.

It is a fact that the male children are perceived as a source of wealth in India. This has therefore resulted in a serious unexpected menace. The traditional families within the vicinity of India consider it as a bad omen of the first child is a girl child (Burnett, 2016, pp.315-323). When a girl child is born as the first child to a family, the society performs female infanticide or the termination of the female fetuses. This situation has reached an epidemic as it has resulted to the high mortality rate of both mother and child. However, the mortality rate has not been able to match the birth rate. The number of births in India has always been higher than the number of deaths.

Overpopulation is also believed to be the cause of the high rate of illiteracy in India or the pervasive illiteracy rate of India. Some districts consider who can only be able to sign their pay slips as literate. This shows that illiteracy in this country has reached its peak. Many Indians, especially the poor and uneducated ones, can barely read and write. They also know very little about birth control methods (Burnett, 2016, pp.315-323). However, employment seems to be the current and most pressing issue in India. Currently, India’s unemployment rate has reached 4%. When we consider its current population of 1.3 billion, approximately 52 million people or inhabitants of India are unemployed. This also shows that the 52 million people are not geared towards the economic growth and development of the country and thus the underdevelopment of India.

In addition to this, the overpopulation of India or the growing population of the country needs more and more space, more resources and more infrastructure, which is currently scarce or not available. New schools and hospitals are built in India but they are not enough to meet the rapidly increasing population of the country (Cassils, 2003, pp.171-194). Many classes are often overcrowded thus preventing the teacher from explaining the concepts to every student until they understand. These students can hardly be able to learn anything in this kind of environment. When you look at the train stations, subways, and markets in India, there are huge crowds everywhere and one can hardly move at a fast pace.

Finally, the volatile and ever increasing population of India has been putting more and more pressure on the natural resources of the country. Today, India is faced with shortage of land and water. The country has cut down forests and polluted rivers and in the name of freeing up more land for the citizens to occupy (Cassils, 2003, pp.171-194). This has greatly influenced the country’s environment. According to the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and Columbia University in collaboration with WEF, India has been ranked 155^th in environmental conservation.

The government of India since the present day has been aware of the overpopulation menace of India. The country was the first country to adopt a family planning program. The prime minister back then, Jawaharlal Nehru, was convinced that the only way to catch up with the standards of living of its citizens and the level of economic growth and development was to slow down the country’s birth rate (Darity, 2008). At that time, the government of India placed more emphasis on raising awareness about birth control methods that should be used to limit the birth rate. The clinics were therefore given a mandate to advice families on family planning.

To control this overpopulation problem, the government of India has developed sterilization camps as it is perceived to be a more cheaper method than the use of contraceptives. The government has also provided incentives for women by paying them not to give birth. The women who have been paid therefore ensure that they do not perform any sexual intercourse to prevent them from getting pregnant (Darity, 2008). The government of India has also tried governmental policies to limit the family size. This has been through the increase of taxes when a family exceeds a certain limit of children. If a family knows that they would be taxed for exceeding the limit of children per household for example two children per household, they would try as much as possible not to have excess children. If they get unplanned pregnancies, they would opt for female infanticide or abortion in order to evade being taxed.

Another way that the government of India has used to control the rapidly increasing population is by promoting knowledge about the use of contraceptives. Here, the government has implemented both governmental and non-governmental programs in order to create awareness about contraceptives and how to use them (Kuo, 2012, pp.23-32). The government has also provided subsidies for the companies producing contraceptives. This strategy has been aimed at reducing the production cost of producing contraceptives thus making them cheaper and affordable for the citizens of India.

The government of India has also tried to raise the incomes of its citizens. It is a fact that the more money a household has the less children they would plan to have. It also appears that more children are of less economic value to people in rich countries (Kuo, 2012, pp; 23-32). Consequently, the more the government of India can be able to promote economic growth and development in the country, the more they would be able to drive down the rate of births.

Finally, the government of India might consider that there is actually not a problem or menace of overpopulation. Instead, they would consider that there is a problem in the overuse of the scarce and available resources (Nafziger, and Nafziger, 2006, pp.130). The government of India has then responded by giving is citizens good standards of living and reducing their costs of living without using many resources. This has gone a great way in reducing the problems that are associated with overpopulation. One example of implementing this strategy is by developing more and advanced technology that uses less energy thus avoiding the depletion of the natural resources.

In 2050, the population of India is projected to be 1.69 billion while China will be 1.31 billion. This implies that the population growth rate of India is rapidly increasing to the extent that by 2050 it would have surpassed that of China (Nafziger, and Nafziger, 2006, pp.130). Currently, China is the leading overpopulated country while India comes after China with a population of 1.3 billion. This will negatively affect economic growth and development as people will be fighting for the scarce resources. Many people will be unemployed since the available jobs would not be enough to meet the rising population of India. Due to this, the costs of living would increase reducing the standards of living of the citizens of India. Water, land, food, infrastructure and other resources would not be adequate to meet the overpopulated India. Many children would become illiterate since the schools available cannot be able to accommodate them (Nafziger, and Nafziger, 2006, pp.130). There would be increase in slums and the country would be overcrowded or densely populated. Medical facilities would also be inadequate to facilitate health care services for the citizens of India. This would lead to high mortality rate as people would not be able to access medical services. To conclude, India’s economy would undergo a recession or depression.

References

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