Recently, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has released its flagship report, ‘State of the World Population 2019’.
According to the report - India,
Accounts for over one-sixth of the world’s population in 2019.
Grown at an rate 1.2% per year between 2010 and 2019.
During the same period World growth rate is 1.2%.
India has fewer teen birth and maternal death rates.
India’s life expectancy at birth is 69 to 72 years (lower than the world’s)
86% of births in India (2006 and 2017), were attended by skilled health personnel ( which is 79% across the world).
India’s MMR in 2015 was 174 deaths per lakh live births (global MMR in 2015 was 216).
28 of every 1,000 Indian adolescent women (age 15-19) gave birth between 2006 and 2017.
India’s fertility rate in 2019 is 2.3 births per woman, ( which is 2.5 worldwide).
Early marriage continues to present a major cultural obstacle to female empowerment and better reproductive rights.
India scores higher than the global average in terms of access to healthcare during childbirth.
China, the world’s most populous country has a population growth rate of 0.5% per year between 2010 and 2019,
This is less than half of that in India or in the world.
The report includes, for the first time, data on Women’s ability to make decisions over 3 key areas,
Sexual intercourse with their partner,
Contraception use and
Health care.
According to the analysis, the absence of reproductive and sexual rights has a major negative repercussions on women’s education, income and safety.
It makes them “unable to shape their own futures”.
District-wise figures of Assam NRC
Recently, Assam government released the district-wise figures of people excluded from the draft NRC published last year.
The NRC is an exercise to identify Indian citizens living in Assam, a state marked by illegal migration from Bangladesh.
The final draft was published last year, included 2.89 crore of the 3.29 crore applicants, excluding around 40 lakh people.
The district-wise data shows how many people in each district were included and excluded in the draft NRC.
According to the data,
12.15 % applicants’ names were excluded from the final draft.
In districts adjacent to the Bangladesh border, like
South Salmara - 7.22 % applicants were excluded.
In Dhubri it is 8.26 % and
In Karimganj it is 7.67 %.
In the districts where indigenous people live like ‘Karbi Anglong’ the figure is 14.31%.
In upper Assam’s Tinsukia, this figure is 13.25 % where sons of the soil have been living for ages.
The districts close to the border with Bangladesh are bound to have a high percentage of undocumented or illegal migrants.
The Muslim-majority districts (not border districts) like Morigaon, Nagaon and Barpeta garnered high exclusion rates 15.04 %, 14.12 % and 13.4 % respectively.
CoP 14 of UNCCD
India for the 1st time will host the ‘14th Conference of Parties’ of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
The participants will include ministers from 196 countries, community groups, scientists, NGOs and the private sectors.
The main agendas for CoP14 are,
Reversing land degradation and its outcomes.
To accelerate positive achievements for people and for ecosystems.
To deliver on the United Nations mandated Sustainable Development Goals.
Parties to the convention will agree on the actions each will take over the next two years and beyond.
India is affected by desertification and is facing new challenges like recurrent droughts, dust and sand storms.
India was one of the first to commit to the 2030 SDG goal of achieving ‘Land Degradation Neutrality’ (LDN).
LDN is aiming to halt the degradation of land by taking three concrete actions.
To avoid, reduce and reverse land degradation, in that order of priority.
Achieving LDN can help vulnerable populations to improve their livelihoods, strengthen their resilience to natural disasters linked to climate change.
UNCCD
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), established in 1994, has 197 parties.
It is the sole ‘legally binding’ international agreement.
It is the only convention stemming from a direct recommendation of the Rio Conference's ‘Agenda 21’.
It links the environment and development to sustainable land management.
It addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands.
The new ‘UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework’ is the most comprehensive global commitment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN).
