Generally, smaller number of people attract more sympathy than a bigger number. We have more concern for five Pandvas rather than 100 Kauravas. In Ramayana, 10 headed Ravana is depicted as a villain whereas one headed Sri Ram is a hero. In Hindi films, we feel joy when one hero easily fights and defeats 10 thugs. Between the gigantic Russia and a smaller Ukraine, we have more sympathy towards the latter. In Mahabharata, we regard Duryodhama’s move to be a stupidity when he preferred thousand warriors to one Shri Krishna.
Against this backdrop, the news that India, becoming the largest populated country in the world, would certainly disturb us. This ‘honour’ was enjoyed by our neighbour China until recently. But now India has surpassed China in this aspect. Today on our planet called Earth, Indians are more than Chinese. But it is to be noted that the size of China is nearly three times bigger than that of India!
Right from the times of its independence, India was vigilant as regards its growing population. It always believed that a small family was a happy family. Hitherto, ‘We two, ours two’ was our national slogan. Earlier family planning and later family welfare were the portfolios dedicated for controlling human birth. In 1947, when India attained freedom, its population was 35 crore and that of China during this period was 50 crore. Since 1950, the year the United Nations began keeping track of population data, China has been the most populous country in the world. But according to the UN population estimates, this year the population of India overtook that of China. Today the number of inhabitants of our country is nearly 143 crore! In the recent past, Chinese showed more alertness as regards the demography of their country. When we said ‘we two, ours’ two’ they implemented ‘we two, ours’ one’!
But there is the other side to the coin. In one way, population is an asset. Presently, decreasing of its population has become a worry of China and this country tries it’s level best to increase it by implementing various policies. Thus there is no need for anxiety over population rise. What is important is not the number of people but their composition. For instance in China 13 percent of its citizens are above the age of 65 years whereas in India, people of this age group is only 7 percent. This means that our populace is comparatively younger. This is consoling.
Young people means huge workforce. They save more than old. A younger population also translates into higher savings and therefore higher investment. The higher investment further adds to the GDP. Also younger population brings greater energy and vibrancy to a nation. Because of large population the costs on national and public projects are lower. We know that joint families are less expensive than the nuclear ones.
Yet there is one big disadvantage of larger population. Ours is an agricultural country. More the people, land holding per person is smaller. On an average, one farmer holds only a quarter hectare of land. These small holdings are uneconomical. The answer to this downside however is not smaller population, but faster movement of the workforce out of agriculture into industries and services. The good news is that in recent years, more and more Indians migrate to other countries in search of greener pastures. This would certainly lessen the burden of our growing population.
