Sample essay topic, essay writing: The Population Growth Rate In India - 1451 words

The Population Growth Rate in India For many years concern has been voiced over the seemingly unchecked rateof population growth in India, but the most recent indications are that somesuccess is being achieved in slowing the rate of population growth. Theprogress which has been achieved to date is still only of a modest nature andshould not serve as premature cause for complacency. Moreover, a slowing of therate of population growth is not incompatible with a dangerous populationincrease in a country like India which has so huge a population base to beginwith. Nevertheless, the most recent signs do offer some occasion for adopting acertain degree of cautious optimism in regard to the problem. One important factor which is responsible for viewing the future withmore optimism than may previously have been the case has been the increase inthe size of the middle class, a tendency which has been promoted by the currenttendency to ease restrictions on entrepreneurship and private investment.

It isa well-known fact that as persons become more prosperous and better educatedthey begin to undertake measures designed to eliminate the size of theirfamilies. (The obvious exception would be families like the Kennedys whoadhere to religious strictures against artificial birth control, but the majorIndian religions have traditionally lacked such strictures.) Ironically, thestate of Kerala which had long had a Communist-led government had for many yearsrepresented a population planning model because of its implementation ofprograms fostering education and the emancipation of women. The success of suchprograms has indicated that even the poorer classes can be induced to think interms of population control and family planning through education, but increasedaffluence correspondingly increases the pressure for the limitation of familysize, for parents who enjoy good life want to pass it on to their children undercircumstances where there will be enough to go around. In contrast, underconditions of severe impoverishment there is not only likely to be lack ofknowledge of family planning or access to modes of birth control, but childrenthemselves are likely to be viewed as an asset. Or, perhaps one might moreaccurately say with regard to India, sons are viewed as an asset

We will havemore to say later about the relationship between gender and population growth, but here we may make the obvious point that if a family seeks sons it may alsohave to bring into the world some 'unwanted' daughters, thereby furthering thetrend towards large families. Under conditions of severe impoverishment, attended as it has traditionally been by high childhood mortality rates, 'it hasestimated for India that in order to have a 95 per cent probability of raising ason to adulthood, the couple had to have at least six children.' In general, direct efforts on the part of government to promote familyplanning have had only limited success in India. In large part this has beendue to the factors which have traditionally operated in Indian culture andsociety to promote large families, of which more will be said later. Here, however, it might be noted that the most common family planning modes haveproven difficult to implement under Indian conditions. Where government effortsare concerned, 'for mass consumption only three methods are..advocated:sterilization (vasectomy for fathers and tubectomy for mothers), IUDs andcondoms.' Sterilization has traditionally met with strong resistance amonguneducated sectors of the population who associate it with loss of virility orfeminimity, and, often being irrevocable, it has been a source of understandableconcern in a society where couples who may already have several children risklosing some or all of them as a result of such factors as epidemics earthquakesor floods. Resistance to sterilization has traditionally been strongest amongmen, Chandrasekhar suggesting that the prevalence of tubectomies as opposed tovasactomies serving serving indication that 'women are becoming increasinglyaware of the problem and want to solve it without waiting for their husbands todecide on vasectomy.' In regard to IUD, which has been promoted since its introduction inIndia in 1963, the method has not proven popular because of the relativefrequency of excessive bleeding and, though more infrequent, involuntaryexpulsion. Taking note of the fact that in traditional Indian societygynecology, obstetrics and other fields requiring intimate contact andconversation with women are invariably reserved to female doctors only, Chandrasekhar observes that 'the real problem is the lack of sufficient numbersof dedicated women physicians who are willing to work in rural areas and spendsome time in pre-insertion and post-insertion follow-up of their patients.'The third major mode of contraception-condom use has seen a marked increase inusage in India in recent years; however, much of this increase has been due lessto family planning concerns but to fear of AIDS on the part of sexually-activepersons, such as prostitutes and their clients, who could be expected to takeprecautions against pregnancy anyway.

As for the pill, it still has not provena major contraceptive mode among the uneducated masses who are most inclined tohave large families. In addition to long-recognized family planning modes, other factors havebeen operating to limit the rate of population growth in recent years. Unfortunately, infanticide of girl babies has become increasingly commonplace inIndia, perhaps because the growth in materialism has led the lower classes tobecome more and more aware of the 'undesirability' of girls. While the Hinduemphases upon dowery, which can have the effect of impoverishing a family withmany daughters, is no doubt a significant contributing factor, it should bepointed out that population figures for Pakistan and Bangla Desh would suggest aprevalence of infanticide of girl babies in these nation as well, despite thefact that under Islam there has traditionally been no dowery at marriage but, instead, a so-called 'bridal price' paid by the family of the groom. Thus, indications are that Muslims throughout the subcontinent have accepted theIndian cultural presumption that girl babies are undesirable even though underIslam the bride's parents theoretically stand to benefit financially. MahmoodMamdan notes that, in regard to India, 'the preferential treatment of male overfemale clearly shows in the much higher infant death rate among females and inthe resulting higher ratios of males over females in general population,' addingthat 'in most other parts of the world, females of a general population havelower death rates than males.' Indeed, except for the Arab all countries of thePersian Gulf, which offer employment to large numbers of unmarried men fromother areas of the Middle East, the only other countries which display apopulation ratio significantly in favor of males on the Indian pattern arePakistan and Bangla Desh, where, as has already been noted, the infanticide offemale babies presumable also prevails.

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