India occupies 2.4 percent of the total land area & 4% of the fresh water of the world, but supports 16.7 percent of the world population.
With 328 million hectares of land area and seventh largest nation of the world, India is home to approximately 1.4 Billion human life souls on the planet.
With the density of 325 persons / sq Km and with population growth rate of 1.13% we are expected to become the most populous country by 2024 surpassing China. At this rate by the end 2050 our population is set to reach around 1.7 Billion.
With 4% of world fresh water we do have around 76 million people without access to safe drinking water. And to feed the rising population the usage of water is widely used for agricultural purposes to increase the crop yield. And only 3.9 million hectare of land out of 42.2 million hectare of land is currently under micro irrigation.
The rising uncontrolled population explosion has resulted in Water shortages which is expected to fuel conflict, social unrest and migration.
And to address the problem at the policy level Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occassion of 73rd Independence Day of Nation, last year stated about the problem that threatens to undermine the growth of the country.
Similar concerns were raised by Member of Parliament Prof. Rakesh Sinha when he introduced a private member bill, The Population Regulation Bill, 2019, in the Rajya Sabha.
Earlier this year on the Public Interest Litigation filed by BJP Member of Parliament,Constitutional Expert, Supreme Court Lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay the Apex court issued notice to the Centre. In his plea Ashwiniji outlined according to the Concurrent list or List-III (Seventh Schedule) the centre has to enact law on “Population control and family planning.”
He added around 80 crore people availed free food subsidy scheme and around only 1.5 crore pay Income Tax which is around 1% of population of India. He claimed that India has overtaken China in population with around 70,000 births recorded in the country.
Emphasizing population has root cause Ashwiniji said “population explosion is also the root cause of corruption”, apart from being a contributory factor behind heinous crimes like rapes, domestic violence, etc.
Without the control of population the objectives of Article 21 & 21A being the right to clean air, right to drinking water, right to health, right to peaceful sleep, right to shelter, right to livelihood and right to education guaranteed can’t be secured to all citizens without controlling the population explosion.”
In his plea Ashwiniji sought an order from the court declaring that the Centre “may set two-child norm, as a criteria for government jobs, aids and subsidies, and, may withdraw statutory rights viz. right to vote, right to contest, right to property, right to free shelter, right to free legal aid”, for not complying with it.
As on date around 125 MPs have signed the bill and in April 2020, Union minister Sanjeev Balyan stated that Govt working formulating population control law. With the winter session unlikely to take place due to pandemic, Govt should promulgate Ordinance in this regard.
