REASONS FOR INCREASE IN POPULATION IN INDIA

I. BIRTH RATE

(a) Poverty:-According to ABC News, India currently faces approximately "… 33 births a minute,2,000 an hour, 48,000 a day, which calculates to nearly 12 million a year". Unfortunately, the resources do not increase as the population increases. Instead, the resources keep decreasing, leading to making survival for a human being more and more competitive even for the basic necessities of life like

food, clothing, and shelter. India currently faces a vicious cycle of population explosion and poverty. One of the most important reasons for this population increase in India is poverty. According to, "The World of science" More than 300 million Indians earn less than the US $1 every day and about 130 million people are jobless." The people, who have to struggle to make two ends meet, produce more children because more children mean more earning hands. Also, due to poverty, the infant mortality rate among such families is higher due to the lack of facilities like food and medical resources. Thus, they produce more children assuming that not all of them would be able to survive. The end result is a mounting increase in the population size of India. Due to the increase in population, the problems of scarce resources, jobs, and poverty increase. Thus the cycle continues leading to an ever-increasing population. This cycle in fact might be considered as positive feedback, in that the increase in one results in the increase of the other factor. As the poverty and the population both increase, the development of the country and the society seems even more far-fetched.

(b) Religious beliefs, Traditions, and Cultural Norms:-India's culture runs very deep and far back in history. Due to the increased population, educational facilities are very scarce. As a result, most people still strictly follow ancient beliefs. In addition, a lot of families prefer having a son rather than a daughter. As a result, a lot of families have more children than they actually want or can afford, resulting in increased poverty, lack of resources, and most importantly, an increased population. Another one of India's cultural norms is for a girl to get married at an early age. In most of the rural areas and in some urban areas as well, families prefer to get their girls married at the age of 14 or 15. Although child marriage is illegal in India, the culture and the society surrounding the girls in India does not allow them to oppose such decisions taken by their family. For many, giving a girl child in marriage is done not by choice, but rather out of compulsion. The poor economic status of tribal villagers is attributed as one of the primary factors responsible for the prevalence of child marriages in India. Due to the young age of these girls, they have more potential of bearing children, and that is, since they start bearing children at a very early age, they can have more children throughout their lifetime. This results in an increase in the global fertility rate. Since these girls get married at a very early age, they do not have the opportunity to get educated. Therefore, they remain uneducated and teach the same norms to their own children, and the tradition goes on from one generation to the other.

II. DEATH RATE:-

Although poverty has increased and the development of the country continues to be hampered, the improvements in medical facilities have been tremendous. This improvement might be considered positive, but as far as population increase is considered, it has only been positive in terms of increasing the population further. The crude death rate in India in 1981 was approximately 12.5, and that decreased to approximately 8.7 in 1999. Also, the infant mortality rate in India decreased from 129 in 1981 to approximately 72 in 1999. These numbers are clear indications of the improvements in the medical field. This development is good for the economy and society of India, but strictly in terms of population, this advancement has further enhanced the increase in population. The average life expectancy of people in India has increased from 52.9 in 1975-80 to 62.4 in 1995-00. Although our near and dear ones would live longer, due to the increase in the population, the resources available per person would be much less, leading to a decrease in the curvature of the slope of development instead of a higher gradient. In addition, abortion is not allowed by several religions that are followed in India. In fact, in Islam, one of the leading religions of India, children are considered to be gifts of God, and so the more children a woman has, the more she is respected in her family and society. As a result, although the measures to control birth are either not available or known to the public, the facilities to increase birth through medical facilities are available.

III. MIGRATION:-

In countries like the United States (U.S.), immigration plays an important role in the population increase. However, in countries like India, immigration plays a very small role in population change. Although people from neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal, migrate to India; at the same time Indians migrate to other countries like the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. During the 1971 war between India and Pakistan over Bangladesh, the immigration rate increased tremendously. However, currently, the migration in India is -0.08 migrants per 1000 population and is decreasing further. This is definitely good for India. This way, the population might eventually come close to being under control and more people may get better job opportunities and further education. For example, the students in my university from India, like myself, have better chances for job opportunities and better education outside India than we would have had in India.