The Root of India’s Development Problems Is Overpopulation
Introduction
- According to 2016 estimates, India ranks 131st on the Human Development Index, keeping us in the medium human development category even after 70 years of independence and many concentrated efforts.
- Development can be understood generally as overall increase in living standards, reduced economic inequality and poverty, and increased life expectancy and education levels of a society. Some may also add political and economic freedom, gender equality, reduced violence, and general peace to this list.
- We can only comment on the status of development of a society by comparing ourselves to others and by looking at our past performance. It is often argued that compared to other countries, India lags behind due to its vast population, which ranks it as the second most populous country in the world after China.
- Main argument of the essay: The causes for the development problems that persist in India are complex and multidimensional; therefore it would be inappropriate to attribute them blindly to overpopulation. However, population does have a major role to play if we are to address development issues.
Body
Roadblocks in India’s path to development:
- India’s literacy rate, at around 74%, is still below par. There is a high dropout rate especially after high school and the literacy rate of women (about 65%) still lags behind the literacy rate of men (about 82%). This scenario exists despite initiatives like RTE, Midday Meal Scheme, and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
- In Gender Inequality Index (GII), India ranks at a meagre 125 out of 159 countries. This shows skewed . resource allocation and power distribution in favour of men.
- In Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which measures education, health, and living standards, India’s performance is not good either. According to this measure, almost 55.5% of India’s population is multidimensionally poor.
- This short list shows that there is much to improve for India in areas of education, health, gender parity, living standards, etc.
How population plays a role in stagnating development in India:
- The rate at which resources are being generated is not adequate to provide for the ever-growing population and this creates a mismatch. For instance, the transport services have a very vast network, which is still inadequate owing to increasing population.
- The number of people who are unemployed is also growing along with their poverty because job generation is not happening at the rate of the population entering the workforce.
- There is overall pressure on infrastructure such as housing, sanitation, healthcare, and education due to increasing population and slower rate of infrastructure development.
- With higher fertility rates among the poor and illiterate than among the rich and educated, economic resource allocation is becoming further imbalanced, which results in lower living standards, poverty, and inequality. Considering these causes, it is important to appreciate that vast population cannot be blamed for all the ills that are present in the country.
Other major causes of staggered development of India:
- Heavy reliance of the majority of population on traditional agriculture causes disguised unemployment, lack of skills for modern jobs, and material losses due to unpredictable monsoon cycles.
- Hierarchical systems that are rooted in traditions such as caste system are a barrier for many, especially in rural areas, to get out of the cycle of poverty, lack of political power, inadequate social power, etc.
- With new scams being unearthed every other day, it is clear that corruption is rampant at multiple levels in this country. It creates problems for development as government schemes are implemented improperly, government credibility is reduced in international markets, and the economy functions inefficiently.
- The system of capitalism is such that the rich keep getting richer due to returns on wealth investment, while the poor are unable to save. This leads to uneven income distribution and the cycle of poverty.
Conclusion
- Population plays an important role in holding back development due to slower growth of resources and infrastructure, high pressure on existing systems, cycle of poverty, and unemployment due to higher fertility rates among the poor.
- However, there are other equally important causes of underdevelopment in India-corruption, reliance on traditional agriculture, caste system, and crony capitalism.
- The government needs to find ways to address all these problems, with major emphasis on population control, so that the major impediments in the way of development are removed. Controlled population growth will add value to the human resource of the country and will certainly be more manageable.
Notes
- Keywords: development problems, overpopulation
- Although the two keywords are quite obvious, you need to explain your understanding of the word ‘development’, which is the crux of this essay.
- This is a current topic with multiple examples and arguments all around; so choose wisely to make your essay effective.
- Do not forget to consider the contrary arguments no matter what stance you take.