SOMEWHERE the exploding population of India has moved away from the public radar. Neither leaders are talking, nor are policy makers paying attention to the rising human tide that could swallow everything. We find no political party, no worthwhile leader taking up the serious issue of exploding population. It is no where on the agenda. No manifesto talks in the manner it should be debated.

Even the proverbial lips sympathy is gone. Today in 2009 we are 116 crore, an absolute increase of over 13 crore from the 2001 level and by the next national elections in 2014, we will be 124 crore. These are not sustainable numbers, given ecological pressures, environment change and the need to get out from the poverty trap.

According to the 2001 census, India’s population was 102.9 crore. Viewed globally, India constitutes 16.9 per cent of the world’s population with just 2.4 per cent of the global land area. During the last elections in 2004, we were 108 crore, an increase of over five crore over the census figure.

Control of population is not an issue per se. Neither is it the cause of poverty. But as poverty and ignorance breed population growth, they hinder development. If we fight poverty and bring social and economic justice to the doorsteps of the poor, we can apply a check on the breeding population. Conversely there is truth in the argument that a check on population helps alleviate poverty. Poor need not be blamed for the increase in population as our middle class tends to do. It is their poverty and ignorance that leads to abnormal growth of population and the ruling classes are directly responsible for both poverty and ignorance.

How would one explain that after six decades of independence, India is home to the largest number of world’s poor; 70 crore or so? We have no drinking water or toilets for them. Look at third world countries like Malaysia that got freedom ten years later than India and how they have moved. A small 175 square kilometer city state of Singapore is one of the richest countries with a gross domestic product [GDP] of US$241.121billion and per capita income at US$51,649. It got into hard drive in 1965 after separation from Malaysia. Its current worry is check falling population and rewards those who produce children. The correlation between poverty and population growth should be clear.

It took humans thousands of years to reach the number of 3.5 billion in 1950.And in just 60 odd years we outraced and crossed 6.79 billion as per July 2009 estimates. How hard the humans must have been working at it across the world, more so in poor countries. The growth is directly linked with the birth and death rate. According to experts, the birth rate across the world is estimated at 20.18 per thousand population and death rate is reckoned at 8.23 per thousand.

That the population issue has an inextricable link with the development of any country is not disputed by anyone. One fails to understand that why these issues take a back seat just when they ought to be discussed and highlighted. Election time is best as people are more receptive for debate and new ideas. It is now that this important issue has taken a backstage.

In India the consequences of the current trends will be distress migration, the pressure of numbers on the land, employment and the environment. This would prolong the fight against poverty which is already not in full gear and cause changes in the demographic balance.

Fortunately, the overall population growth rate in India has declined since 1981. However, in the four large states – Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan – the population growth rates continue to be high (in fact, it has remained more or less stagnant for the last two decades). Since these states account for 40 per cent of country’s population, hence the problem remains as serious as that it was. These four states will contribute well over 50 per cent of the population growth in the coming decades. The performance and demographic outcomes of these states will determine the timing and the size of population at which India will achieve population stabilisation. These four states with high fertility rates are the very states that are poor, have low literacy rates, low status of women, low health indicators with a high infant and maternal mortality.

Leaders ought to recognise the two-way relationship between population stabilisation and other development initiatives like health, education, nutrition and poverty alleviation programme. Priorities must be set for talking these issues within a non-coercive, rights-based and gender-sensitive framework that is pro-people, pro-poor, pro-women and pro-youth and that addresses the issues of access to and quality of services.

The priorities are clear. We must not accept high numbers of maternal and infant deaths. We ought to improving quality health services for institutional deliveries to make it safer for both mother and child. We ought to have quality health care and family planning services. There are ought to be clear link between population programmes with other development initiatives like health, education, nutrition and poverty alleviation. Empowering the poor and marginalised to have a small but a happy and healthy family by choice and not through coercion, incentives, disincentives or imposition of a two-child norm would be of great value. Above gender equality to make the youth healthy and productive through gender sensitive and value-based family life education, including sexual and reproductive health is of utmost importance.

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