Introduction
Overpopulation is something India with the rest of the world is suffering from. Overpopulation in India can be dated from the time of colonization. There are reports during the time of colonization showing that India’s population is getting out of hand. Pressure of population does not concern only the people of India or human beings; it is a great biological problem which affects all kinds of living things. In the case of humans, a community of 1,000,000 people which doubles its numbers every twenty years would become 32,000,000 at the end of 100 years, more than 1,000,000 after 200 years, and 32,000,000,000 in 300 years. Unrestricted increases in population take place by geometrical progression, so that given a few hundred years a very small community could populate the whole world. The effect of western influence has shown itself by the increase in population growth. The application of medical science in India has greatly reduced the death toll due to smallpox, cholera and other diseases. Famine was also controlled by and eliminated for several decades by building of a network of railways and roads which helped with the transportation of food to the deficit areas. By the end of the nineteenth century there was a question about overpopulation. The birth rate had remained constantly high and the death rate was going down. The mortality rate and fertility rate were highest in the records for a sizeable population. The birthrate was under some control because of the fact that remarriage for widows was banned among certain sections of the society. The ban was seen mostly among the Hindus of the upper caste. There has been an indication that artisan and laborer groups have larger families than trade and professional groups and that Brahmin families are smaller than those among low caste groups. The differential on the basis of religion is much more clear-cut. The proportion of Muslims to the total population of the subcontinent ha been steadily rising while the proportion of Hindus has been as steadily declining. The population has been increasing from the nineteenth century till now and there has been many discussion on this topic on various occasions, but the discussion has not seen many outcomes and the population continues to rise in our country.
Inference
The fundamental causes for over-population are mostly same in all colonized countries. Before the modern government, more efficient economic production, and elementary sanitation, death rates were very high, and population were more or less in balance at the densities possible with inadequate economic techniques. All such societies must have high fertility, and universally their social structures are those that elicit high birth rates. High evaluations are placed on the perpetuation of the family, clan, or other group. Fertility has not declined or very little which is seen in only societies in which values are developed in a modern urban life. The transition from the earlier set of values to the new individualistic ones in gradual. So, universally the decline in the birth rate lags behind the death rate until both reach rather low levels.
The significance of rapid growth for future political and economic development in the areas under consideration depends on a variety of factors, such as the stage of economic development, the resources on which new industries may be based, the outlets for settlement, the size of the populations and the future policies of the dominant power towards them.
Regions that have readily available resources are now less fully developed, may emerge with sufficient political unity and industrial strength to give their growing number power. Failing to find a solution to their problem within their own borders, they have may easily become threats to world peace by their endeavors to expand. Major colonial powers are more directly involved in the problem of the areas that are not under control than in those of the smaller areas that it governs. Since past policies have failed to prevent the development of critical situations, it is necessary to consider possible alternatives to their re-establishment.
Conclusion
The low fertility of large cities than of rural areas in India give us the evidence that colonization has affected the rural areas of our country. Western patterns of reproduction cannot be expected to develop from the imposition on other cultures of one or two gross externals of Western life. More adequate knowledge of the precise determinants of reproductive behavior, especially in Oriental cultures, would undoubtedly permit greater efficiency in inducing a fertility decline, and this knowledge is among that most urgently needed in the field of demography. Pending its acquisition, reduction of fertility among today’s backward people will come only in response to a combination of the major elements which preceded that response in the modern nations of the West.
Suggestions
Some scope of changes is based on bringing the rate of fertility down by:
- Economic: The growth of industries by urbanization can lead to the employment of women in these fields, which gives them freedom on their own and makes them aware that their job is not just about giving birth to kids and taking care of them. It gives them the sense of independence.
- Educational: The rapid extension of popular education throughout all available mediums, unlike the education of some colonial systems, create new wants for physical and maternal well-being, and the skills appropriate to modern techniques in industry and agriculture. This leads to a fact that rural families can use these technologies in their fields instead of raising kids to help them in the fields.
- Birth Control: It is important that specific and widespread propaganda be directed to developing an interest in the health and welfare of children rather than in large families for their own sake. Such education would also involve the propaganda in favor of controlled fertility as an integral part of a public health program. It is a matter of economic necessity; the efforts would have to be confined largely to the educational level.
- Public Health: Public health is a very important factor in terms of India as country. The health conditions of women during pregnancy has not reached satisfactory level in our country. Too many pregnancies can lead to diminishing of the health condition of those women. Most women of the rural areas don’t get enough nutrition during their pregnancy period which leads to the poor health of both the mother and the child.
Reference
Notestein, F. (1944). Problems of Policy in Relation to Areas of Heavy Population Pressure. The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 22(4), 424-444. doi:10.2307/3348055
Megaw, J. (1938). PRESSURE OF POPULATION IN INDIA. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 87(4491), 134-157. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41361488
Mandelbaum, D. (1949). Population Problem in India and Pakistan. Far Eastern Survey, 18(24), 283-287. doi:10.2307/3023735
Overpopulation In India 