Making Population a Strength
World Population Day 2021 / 11 July /
Article
Making Population a
Strength
Fr Dr M. D. Thomas
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s ‘world population day’ on the 11th day of July. It was established by the United Nations in its Governing Council of Development Programme, in 1989. The source of inspiration for making this day was 11 July in 1987, when the population of the world reached five billion. The ‘five billion day’ was then suggested as ‘world population day’ by Dr K. C. Zachariah, who was Senior Demographer at World Bank.
‘Population’ is the total of individuals occupying a
certain geographical area and making up a whole. In other words, it is the
complete number of people or inhabitants in a country or a region. A population is a distinct group of
individuals, sharing a common characteristic. Further, it is the pool of
individuals of the same species, who are capable of interbreeding.
World Population Day is geared towards raising the awareness of the people on population-related issues, like family planning, gender equality, maternal health, poverty, human rights, environment and development. The day calls on leaders, policy-makers, organizers at the grassroots, institutions and others to facilitate reproductive health and rights becoming a reality for one and all.
The United Nations Population Division in special is committed to promoting the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. It collaborates closely with governments, non-governmental organizations, civil society, faith-based organizations, religious leaders and others, in order to make the above commitment to population realistic.
Currently, the world population is nearing 8 billion. Major scientists consider that the Earth has a maximum carrying capacity of 9 to 10 billion people. As per the present trend of growth, the population of the world is likely to cross 10 billion before the close of the 21st century. Population growth is greater in developing countries than in developed countries, due to lack of education for girls and women, along with lack of information and access to birth control. This is a matter of great concern, as well.
Population is the most significant reason for global warming, directly or indirectly, as a result of the emission of carbon dioxide, by the richer all the more. Global warming is the most detrimental to the populace, too. That would amount to say that balance has to be maintained between population and global warming and that studied measures have to be evolved, in view of addressing the matter, in a serious manner.
‘Family planning’ is fundamental to the good health and wellbeing of the family, which is the smallest unit of the population or society. Good health and wellbeing have two respects, quantity and quality. As regards ‘quantity or number’, there is a saying in Hindi, ‘Razaayee jitnee lambee hei, pair utne hee phailaane chaahiye’. That would mean, ‘stretch out the feet only as long as the blanket’. Family has to be a comfortable number of people.
As far as ‘quality’ is concerned, there has to be spirit of non-discrimination, freedom, privacy, dignity, justice, equality, love, fraternity, rights and duties, freedom, informed decision-making, larger outlook, availability of basic needs, reliability, responsibility, accountability, participation, democratic set up, happiness, fellowship, and the like. These ‘core values of life’ make population strength or a blessing, and absence of these values, a liability, too.
China is the ‘most populated’ country in the world, India and United States of America being the second and the third in the row. Vatican City is the ‘smallest’ country in the world. Singapore, China, Hong Kong and South Korea are known to be the ‘smartest’ countries of the world. The ‘nicest’ countries with people friendly, welcoming and helping towards travelers are Bosnia & Herzegovina, Portugal, Senegal, Austria, Macedonia, Morocco, New Zealand and Iceland. The ‘happiest’ three countries of the world are Finland, Denmark and Switzerland. These indicators validly highlight what really a populace has to be.
The rising population causes several issues, like gender equality, poverty, maternal health and human rights, along with environmental strain and human stress. Policies and practices of unsustainable growth of the population and development cause climate change, deforestation, declining groundwater, etc. The ‘greed of the creamy layer’ terribly tells upon the need of the larger public and that obviously upsets the balance of the population.
The United Nations Population Fund invites the attention of the world to the ‘needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls’ and to undertake ‘sustained efforts to safeguard their health and human rights’, especially during the pandemic times. The increasing cases of violence on women, gender discrimination, genital mutilation of the female, forced marriage, rising household tensions, economic pressures and movement restrictions are matters of grave concern.
India holds the
second biggest share of the population of the world. Is it strength or liability?
Is the population in India just a cosmetic number for researchers to keep
recording and for politicians to play with? In special, what about those human
beings who are below poverty line and are deprived of food, shelter, clothing,
health, education and human dignity, well, millions and millions in number? Do
they also figure out anywhere when world population day is observed? These are
certain razor sharp questions to be answered today and ahead, decisively
so.
World Population Day 2021 is here for the stakeholders and citizens in India and across the nations to commit themselves anew to do all that is possible to ‘empower people, control population, plan the family, safeguard the rights of weaker sections, especially women and girls. May this day add to the ‘good sense’ of the humans to collectively progress towards good health and well-being and to celebrate life, in line with the design of the owner and author of life!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The author is Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi, and has been committed to interfaith relations, national integration and social harmony, for the past over 40 years. He contributes to the above cause through lectures, articles, video messages, conferences, social interactions, views at TV channels, and the like.
He
could be viewed, listened to and
contacted at the following portals – websites ‘www.mdthomas.in’
(p), ‘https://mdthomas.academia.edu’ (p), ‘https://drmdthomas.blogspot.com’
(p) and ‘www.ihpsindia.org’
(o); social
media ‘https://www.youtube.com/InstituteofHarmonyandPeaceStudies’ (o), ‘https://www.facebook.com/mdthomas53’ (p), and ‘https://twitter.com/mdthomas53’ (p); email ‘mdthomas53@gmail.com’
(p) and telephone 9810535378 (p).
Comments
Post a Comment