MOHAN: On 15 August, during his Inde-
pendence Day speech to the nation,
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi
declared ‘we need to worry about popula-
tion explosion’ – arguing that it hindered
development. This came 10 days after
his government rammed through a bill
to remove autonomy from Jammu and
Kashmir and a month after BJP parlia-
mentarian Rakesh Sinha introduced the
2019 Population Regulation Bill, outlining
a series of punitive measures for couples
with more than two children. These
include: being barred from contesting
elections; welfare such as the public distri-
bution system for food grains; and public
schools or health facilities.
Both Modi and Sinha seem to be ter-
ribly ignorant about the reality on the
ground. The birth rate in India is tum-
bling. The government’s own Economic
Survey 2018-19 shows that the annual
population growth rate
reduced to around 1.3 per
cent in 2011-16, from 2.5
per cent during 1971-81.
‘India is set to witness a
sharp slowdown in popu-
lation growth in the next
two decades. Population
in the 0-19 age bracket
has already peaked due
to a sharp decline in
total fertility rates (TFR)
across the country,’ the
survey says. Nine stateshave already reached the replacement
rate of 2.1 or below. All of India will have
reached a TFR of 2.1 or below by 2021.
The hidden message in the Hindu
nationalist agenda on population control
was spelt out in an editorial in the right-
wing Saamna paper which asked whether
Muslims in India would heed Modi’s
message.
So, yes, I think concern about popula-
tion growth is exaggerated.SARA: When Limits to Growth was
published in 1972 I signed a pledge to
have only two children. Since then the
world’s human population has doubled
to 7.7 billion. We’ve got good at delay-
ing death, less so at giving women
the choice to delay or prevent birth.
Moreover, the ‘more people consum-
ing more stuff’ principle means demand
for resources already hugely outstrips
nature’s capacity to
supply, contributing to
dreadful inequalities in
wealth, wellbeing and
opportunity.
However we try to
halt the destruction of
nature and end global
injustice, billions more
people will inevitably
undermine some or all
of those efforts. So no,
it’s not possible to exag-
gerate how concernedMOHAN RAO
Mohan Rao is Professor at the
Centre of Social Medicine and
Community Health, Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi, India. A
medical doctor specializing in public
health, he has written extensively on
the history and politics of health and
population.
IS CONCERN ABOUT
POPULATION GROWTH
EXAGGERATED?
‘WHAT AN OBSESSION
WITH POPULATION
NUMBERS COMPLETELY
MISSES OUT IS WHO
IS CONSUMING
RESOURCES’ – MOHAN
THE DEBATE
What’s happening to human numbers – and what
should happen – is a hot topic again. Mohan Rao and
Sara Parkin go head to head.Illustrations – Denise NestorYES
44 NEW INTERNATIONALIST