India surpasses China in population

 Few days back flashed this news in media, social or otherwise - "India surpasses China in population". I was far from thrilled. It's probably the only way I expected India to overtake China in my lifetime and we did it in a spectacular manner. 

India is now the world's most populous nation at 1.42 billion plus. I think it's high time a Population control bill is brought by the BJP led central government with certain disincentive measures to control population which will be the right step in the right direction. Modi led BJP government has the mandate, they can do it. If there is a will there is a way. Population control is of paramount importance for the nation and I support any Bill which can achieve it. Wish rest of the states in India 🇮🇳 follow the suit.

Our burgeoning population is probably the major hindrance to our growth. If you add up the population of the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Haryana it becomes equivalent to the population of the United States, a country which is almost 4 times the size of India. That's a gargantuan number with a high population density. If it becomes impossible to control the spread of population, it becomes an enviable challenge to any government.

With a strong 1.42 billion plus and still growing India's population is on a rapidly expanding mode. We should remember that natural resources available to mother India is finite, so it can't sustain a population growth at this current rate for too long. It brings in additional challenges on resources and infrastructure, putting pressure on our challenged infrastructure.

One major victim of this unchecked population growth is our motherland itself. It is a huge deterrent to its growth, yet hardly anyone at the helm of affairs ever talks about the stark necessity of controlling it. We simply breed like rabbits. Our men are randy and women are fecund. Currently at 1.42 billion and still going strong, we are getting nowhere. Whatever economic progress we make is gobbled by this teeming, monstrous millions. India is apparently sitting on a human time bomb ready to explode any moment. Most of the agonies our nation faces today can very well be traced back to this burgeoning POPULATION. 

Our politicians rarely bother about it, let alone have an agenda. Not long ago, a Hindutva protagonist advocated Hindus to have 5 children each as if we don't have enough. Tomorrow a Mullah or an Evangelist might match this rhetoric by an equal number, if not more. As the old African proverb goes - if two elephants make love or war, it is the grass which suffers. It is India which suffers due to the battle of rhetorics from religious bigots.

It was never too late for China to address this issue in late 1970s. It is said that the Middle Kingdom would be having 1.8 billion humans instead of 1.42 billion now had it not strictly implemented the one child principle. With that population it won't be where it currently is. We are not under a dictatorship like China who can ruthlessly impose any such agenda on its citizens. Only a conscious effort by the populace can bring it down. 

Interestingly, the only politician who seriously ever tried to control this epidemic was Sanjay Gandhi, the maverick son of Indira Gandhi with dictatorial tendencies with least regard to the democratic norms. (Another agenda of his was to keep our cities clean, free from dirty slums which were perennial eyesore. He was a goon, but in this area he was ahead of his time). His grandfather Nehru supposedly said "Population is the strength of India" at a time when J R D Tata, a steel tycoon and a great visionary warned the former PM about it. CV Raman was more blunt and said "let's stop producing like pigs". Many including educated folks I know, knowingly go into a Repeat - Until loop (in computer coding parlance) until they produce a male progeny to carry on their linage.

It is time to put a break on it. Like certain laws of Chemistry hold good under Normal Pressure and Temperature, India would have been far better off with a population of 700 millions (half of present) under normal conditions of Chaos and Corruption. 

Sad that in our chaotic democracy a few Netas, Mullahs and Mahants can only think parochially to achieve their political goals, rather than taking the Bull by the horn. Hope our politicians come to sense on this and do something before it is too late.