It is imperative to make national population control laws for the unity and integrity of the whole country and implement them equally
India’s uncontrolled population growth has become the central topic of discussion among common people these days. It is true that the discussion began before independence, but due to a lack of determination within the Government, positive observations emerged from the debates.
In 1940, the National Planning Committee established a sub-committee whose purpose was to initiate resolution-focused discussion regarding population growth. In 1946, the Health Survey and Development Committee submitted a report, in which the 11th chapter titled “The Population Problem”, worried about the uncontrolled problem of overpopulation and mentioned several facts about it. So when an interim government was formed in 1946, policymakers agreed that such uncontrolled population growth could become a problem for the future.
However, even after all these years, some selfish powers want to change the demographics of India in a well-planned way by looking at the population control debate with a community lens. Because of this type of thinking, a lobby is against population control and opposes it to serve its bigoted political masters.
The family planning program started in India in 1952. At the time, India became the first country in the world to start such a program. Starting with allocating? 15 lakh on the program in the first five-year plan, approximately? 300 crores were spent there in the fourth five-year plan. Moreover, between 1947 and 2014, the Indian government spent €2,000,000 to control the population, however, due to the government’s sectarian views, we did not get any meaningful or proper results. In fact, because of this, there has been a lack of effort, motivation, politics and seriousness.
The National Commission (NCRPWC) formed by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000 also called in its report for population regulation laws. Apart from this, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujrat, as well as many other states in India have made efforts in population regulation at their own level and also passed laws to this subject. However, not all states as a whole have yet made a favorable effort at the national level.
The demand for population control measures has also been raised from time to time in the Parliament of India. In 2018, parliamentarians called on the prime minister to strictly enforce the two-child policy in India. Apart from that, many parliamentarians from both Houses and different parties have, so far, proposed 35 private bills; 15 parliamentarians also come from the Congress. Today, as it is discussed again inside and outside Parliament, a handful of alleged secular politicians, as well as columnists and writers inspired by leftist ideologies and historians, are using the glossary of “saffron demography”. Their motivation is to plan ahead and toss aside the discussion and meaningful steps regarding population regulation.
The Sarsanghchalak statement of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Mohan Bhagwat, on the occasion of this Vijayadashmi, on this subject is a crisp response to the proponents of false secularism. These elements also wrongly argue that such debate is done for the purpose of creating a Hindu nation by instilling the fear of being a minority in the minds of Hindus. That in itself is humorous.
In the pre-independence era, when the census report came in 1901, the Bengal Census Commissioner, HH Risley, said in his report, “It seems that Muslims and Christians are rapidly increasing in society. This raises the question whether the Hindu community will be able to salvage their position?
Therefore, this initiative is not “saffron demography”, but “civilizational demography”, which will prevent the changing character of cultural nationalism, Indianism, culture and civilization of India.
In 1980, 57% of the world’s population was unable to obtain the necessary resources; the number rose to 72% in 2017. In 1992, when the world population exceeded 300 crore, 1700 academics, economists and scientists, representing the world, signed a petition to declare that population had become a huge problem for the world .
The whole world is currently going through an ecological crisis. If everyone in the world started to reach the standard of living of an average American, five more Earth-like planets would be needed to fill the stomachs of the world. Similarly, if everyone in the world started to live like Europeans, three more planets would be needed. We understand by this how important it is to save the Earth. Saving the Earth also means saving the living beings residing on the planet, so that the environmental balance can be maintained. This task can be performed by human beings. Population control laws prove crucial in this regard, as one in five people in the world live in India.
Part of the population of our country points to the rapidly declining population in America and European countries to reason that the growing population in India is not a problem but a resource. And that the people of our country can make profits abroad by working as laborers.
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait are among the 18 countries where emigration control is required where maximum people go to work as laborers in order to earn money. silver. Doesn’t it hurt the pride and self-respect of India, the country that was famous for its leadership all over the world, to say that its people will work as laborers for someone else?
Looking at the census figures in India, we can understand the accelerated pace at which this growth has taken place. The fact to pay attention to is that from 1951 to 2011, the Muslim population fell from 9.8% in 1951 to 14.23% in 2011. During this time, a sharp decline was reported in the Hindu population. The Hindu population was 84.1% in 1951, and it fell to 79.80% in 2011. If we look at the growing population of Muslims by district, then out of the 748 districts of India, the Muslim population exceeds by 20% in 116 districts, which include the 32 districts in 8 states where their population exceeds 50%. Despite this, why were they granted the advantages of a minority in these neighborhoods?
Recall that in 1947, the population was the main reason for the partition of India. Currently, there is also an anti-Indian gang or ‘tukde-tukde’ inside the country, which is plotting to divide the country. During these times, it is imperative to make national population control laws for the unity and integrity of the country.
India always talks about Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, therefore to say that making population control laws would harm or benefit a particular religion is not legitimate. Our country is concerned about the decrease in the population of Parsis. It is the specialty of Indian culture that we put effort through social and cultural methods to ensure that the population of Parsis does not decrease further. Bearing in mind available resources, future necessities and the problem of demographic imbalance, it is urgent that population control laws be created for the national benefit and implemented equally for every religion and community.
(The author is the Vice President of the BJP in Bihar and a member of the Bihar Legislative Council. The views expressed are personal.)