Aug. 23 – As part of a pilot program aimed at curbing India’s runaway population growth, some regional governments have begun offering monetary incentives to newlyweds willing to delay having children for a few years.
Nurses have been going door to door in Maharashtra this summer peddling the so-called “honeymoon package” which pays new couples as much as Rs. 5,000 (US$107) if they wait two years before getting pregnant, according to The New York Times.
India is second only to China in terms of total population, but while China’s population is getting older, India is in the midst of a “baby boom” era. Of the nearly 1.2 billion people living in India, about half are under the age of 25. This could be one of the country’s greatest strengths going forward as an immense young workforce begins to form, but it could also potentially lead to its undoing as the government is challenged with providing hundreds of millions of children with schooling and other state services.
This issue is further compounded by fact that birth rates in India are highest in the country’s poorest and least educated regions, like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, birth rates are lowest in the wealthier southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where students are typically educated about the use of contraception.
“An educated girl is your best contraception,” Dr. Amarjit Singh, executive director of India’s National Population Stabilization Fund, told The New York Times. By his estimations, roughly half of India’s future excess population growth is expected to come from its six poorest states.
It remains unclear what the best method is to tackle population growth, but policies like the “honeymoon package” are well intended, and some believe well overdue.
“It’s already late,” said Sabu Padmadas, a demographer at the University of Southhampton. “It’s definitely high time for India to act.”
On the whole, India’s current birth rate is estimated at about 21.76 births per 10,000 and has seen a slow but steady decline in recent years, partly due to improved education. By comparison, China has a birth rate of about 14 per 10,000 and the United States stands at about 13.82 per 10,000 as of 2009.
Being the world’s largest democracy, India can’t exactly adopt a universal “one child policy” like that utilized by communist China in the past, but offering comprehensible incentives and improving sexual education are both steps in the right direction and other developing nations would do well to take note.
Brilliant!!!!!!!!!!
There should not be any apologists for population growth. These are all false propaganda spread by capitalists. Such ideas are very dangerous for the survival of the human race. We have to take into account ecological considerations, water, land, natural resources and the perpetration of the human race. A Tfr of 1.5 to 2 is ideal. There is no use of having billions of people who cannot contribute. A small , well-educated population is good for the country. Population management is the key .
A good move by the state govrnment. Some sort of incentive is needed to check the birth rate specially in the rural areas where most of the people are not educated. I am sure that state governments may think of well chalked out such progrmmes to contribute a little in this direction. Sex education should be taken as the pilot project in the schools of India by the ministry of education. An educated girl can save a lot. It is still not too late to start.
Yes, agreed a good plan and incentive.
Population management is going to be key in the 21st century. it is the biggest weapon against global warming also. The fight against Global warming will be the mother of all battles it will help ensure the
survival of the human race in the next few millenia.
Let me address a few concerns:
(a) The bias against the girl child. Yes. this will be a problem , but only in the short term. Most countries in Europe and Asia with a very low tfr have overcome this problem because women are well-educated
(b) Ageing: We need to understand the population problem in its entirety by taking all factors into account. This will be a problem in the short-term but can be addressed very easily through immigration, increasing the retirment age, better retirement benfits, health care and schemes like the NREGS may be targetted at older people.
(c) A smaller population means the younger generation can be targetted better for schemes such as SSA, higher education . These people will become productive assets and in turn suggest innovative solutions for solving the country’s problems.
(d) In india we have been oscillating between coercion and inaction. Both are wrong. We must launch a campaign to explain the benefits of a smaller population to the country, the region and the world. People will listen. Make population planning adverstising compulsary for x number of minutes on private tv/radio. Make it a part of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.
(e) Novel Ideas such as acquisiton of land in thinly populated regions of the world through lease by India have been proposed, but these cannot work in the in the immediate term. Can be implemented slowly along with immigration agreements.
(f) This will reduce the stress on urban areas also.
The central goverment must set up a coordinator for all high grwoth states. Must be appointed by the central government, but will work with state govts.
This must have district coordinators.
This will work well. He can prepare action plans and continuously monitor the situatiion , make modifications . share ideas , success stories and research success stories in india and abroad. Each district will hsve volunteers. This must be implemented in addition to the ideas stated above