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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 Will Be Most Populous Nation In The World In 2023 But There Is No Need To Be Alarmed

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-07-12 09:04:42

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

India was expected to be the most populous country in the world by 202. But the Population Division of the United Nations (UNPD) has now said that India will overtake China to become so next year, four years earlier than expected. Ordinarily, this should have sent alarm bells ringing and a rush to devise policies for population control. But with all indicators like fertility rates and population growth showing that population in India is likely to plateau and start declining in the near future, there is no need to panic.

Unlike China, India has, barring the Emergency when there was forced sterilization for some time, always used  persuasion and education as the means to control population. It has been extremely successful in bringing the sustained total fertility rate from 6 in 1951 to 2 now (as per the National Family Health Survey-5) which is less than the 2.1 that the UNPD prescribes for attaining population stability. While China had forced the one-child policy on its people and was successful in controlling growth of population, the ill-effects - an ageing population and a skewed gender ratio, among others - of the policy has now forced it to abandon it. As India has reached the replacement level fertility rate, there is no need for special coercive policies to control the growth of population. Persuasion and education, coupled with rising aspirations which induces couples to have only as many children as they can bring up well, will work fine.

Instead, the need for the government is to turn this perceived liability into an asset. India needs to provide the best of healthcare, nutrition and education facilities for its burgeoning population and skill them to make them productive so that they can rise up the value-generation curve. It needs to rapidly develop the country so that these educated and skilled people get jobs and are productive. India is blessed with a young population. It only needs to make them partners in progress by allowing them to be healthy, educated and skilled in a manner in which they can contribute to building the nation.

Picture courtesy: downtoearth.org.in (caption ours)

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