India’s ‘demographic dividend’ is a myth with resources under stress, be it health or education.
What is the elephant in the room crisis?
India’s enormous population is at that tipping point — a little north of China’s numbers, and we are in for a downward spiral.
In the recent years, Indians have conveniently dodged the worrying fact that we are now the second most populated country in the world.
But unlike China, whose major national agenda has largely revolved around population control, India’s approach consistently walks the “we’ll figure this one later” narrative.
What needs to be done?
For one, there is need for strong governance.
If it is possible to have “surgical strikes” both economically and militarily then it is equally possible to have one on population.
The government’s plans to improve railways, roadways, connectivity or programmes such as Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan cannot work unless we take serious measures to manage our population growth.
Social services like education and healthcare come under immense strain and there is shortage of houses and food.
The problems of over population are clearly visible through heavy traffic and long queues, exasperated faces and patience running dry on an all-time low.
It’s not just depleting resources but also affecting the cultural fabric of the nation.
Delhi’s population in 2012 (18.98 million) was higher than the population of the Netherlands’ at 16.94 million in 2015.
We are set to beat China as the world’s largest nation by 2025, with a big chunk of working populace.
Over the coming 20 years, India’s demographic dividend could add about two percentage points per annum to India’s per capita GDP growth.
However, if no actions taken towards population control, basic minimum living standards including food, water and energy will become a struggle for entire population.
India will never be well-prepared to handle a population of over 1.6 billion people, as it is projected to reach by 2050.
It will impact the 3Es – education, employability and employment.
India to have coveted “developed nation” tag, it becomes imperative that work exceptionally hard on our education system.
However, because of our burgeoning population, education becomes difficult to disseminate and be provided to one and all.
This has a direct effect on employability and hence, quality of living, while the number of job seekers continue to soar.
These three issues put together have adverse effects on our economy – reduced rate of capital formation, lower standard of living, and adverse effect on per capital income and so on.
This is what economists call the vicious circle of poverty.
Thus it becomes important to come up with effective ways to implement population stabilisation.
Using digital India as a tool to create more conversations around population is a viable solution.
