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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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India Is The Most Populous Nation On Earth

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-04-21 08:21:45

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

Estimates by the United Nations show that within three months, India is poised replace China as the most populous nation on earth. With 142.86 crore people, India will be marginally ahead of China's 142.57 crore. As China's population is growing at a rate slower than India's (in fact it declined by 0.02% in 2022-23), India is likely to remain on top in population numbers for a long time.

But there is no need to be alarmed about this. Statistics point out that India's population is growing at just 2% which is below the replacement level of 2.1%. If this growth rate does not increase, population will stabilize in a few years and then the start declining. India has been one country which has succeeded in controlling population growth through persuasion, education and to a lesser extent, through empowering women, except for a brief period during the Emergency when forced sterilization was adopted. There is no need to introduce restrictive measures like two-child families for availing welfare schemes or government jobs as China's experience shows these can backfire.

India must instead focus on maximizing the demographic dividend as the percentage of working-age population is high. Nearly 67 percent of the population is in the 15-64 age group. For instance, the participation of women in the workforce was low at 32% in 2005. It declined every year thereafter and post-Covid, it has slid to an alarming 19% in 2021. This has to be reversed. India must educate its youth, skill them and provide them job opportunities. That will propel economic growth.  

Instead of government initiative, as some states have done, to control population through coercive methods, India should focus on educating the girl-child, empowering women and creating opportunities for their increased participation in the workforce. Also, states like UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and Meghalaya which still have a growth rate higher than the national average must work diligently to reduce it. Further, India must invest heavily in healthcare infrastructure as a healthy - both physically and mentally - population can contribute better towards building the nation.

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