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Home >Opinion >Columns >Opinion | The country’s population can be an asset: it is not a liability

Opinion | The country’s population can be an asset: it is not a liability

Pradeep Gaur/Mint

Pradeep Gaur/Mint

VOX HETERODOX

4 min read . 13 Sep 2019

Deepak Nayyar

In his address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that rapid population growth—described as a “population explosion"—posed a formidable challenge to our future. In his view, responsible citizens with small families, who contribute to their own welfare and to the good of the nation, should be seen as role models. And PARENTS should think about their capacity to provide for EDUCATION and healthcare before extending their families. Small families, the exhortation made clear, are in national interest. He suggested that governments, at the Centre and in states, should bring supportive schemes.

This world-view is reminiscent of a belief system that dominated thinking 50 years ago. Family planning was the buzzword. Governments provided proactive support. The Emergency culminated in the compulsory sterilization programme, which led to widespread resistance and resentment AMONG people. The problem was that such thinking did not recognize the economic or DEMOGRAPHIC factors underlying rapid population growth. Since then, the thinking has changed. So have India, and the world. Hence, it is important to understand the population issue in a NEW context.