Birth Rate is a crude measure of fertility of a population and is a crucial determinant of population growth. It gives the number of live births per thousand population in a given region and year. The Birth Rate at all India level has declined drastically over the last five decades …
In his foreword to this collection of essays, Timothy E Writh of the US State Department asserts that "the Clinton administration is poised to take a leadership role on global population and environmental issues". Many of the writers in this book are the architects of the new thinking on population …
The planet's amphibians are under threat. Declining populations of frogs, salamanders and toads have been reported from all over the globe and some of the amphibian groups are disappearing completely from their natural habitats. Frogs are in close communion with their surroundings - both water and soil - at different …
A GIANT question mark casts a shadow over Norway's whale census, Recent revelations in a confidential document from the Norwegian Computing Centre and the University of Oslo disclose errors in the software used to estimate the North Atlantic minke whale population. Norway is in favour of a resumption of whale …
KANYAKUMARI, at the southernmost tip of the Indian land mass, is short on water - this despite the fact that almost one-fourth of the district has forest cover and receives between 100 to 250 centimetres of rain, distributed evenly over 10 months of the year. So why on earth is …
MYANMAR'S minister of forestry Chit Swe has launched, with much fanfare, an ambitious project to artificially inseminate a 6,000-strong herd of elephants, which lift heavy logs in the teak forests of Myanmar. Swe has enlisted the help of Michael J Schmidt, chief research veterinarian of the Washington Park Zoo, in …
THE International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in September, reopened the debate over old Malthusian fears. The conference was convened in the belief that unless governments the world over take firm and coordinated action, the hungry billions will eat up global food supplies and exhaust the world's …
THE Cairo conference turned into yet another example of the governments of rich countries bullying the poor ones into accepting their self-centred perception of how the world's natural resources should be matched with people all over the world. Nobody argues for not keeping the world's population in check; nobody, also, …
I ATTENDED the Cairo Conference on behalf of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), the world's largest and most prestigious professional association of scholars and population experts. The IUSSP has the status of an accredited NGO with the United Nations. Here, then, are a few observations …
ACTION-packed days seem lined up for delegates at the 9-day International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) at Cairo early this month. Although there is general unanimity on overall objectives - the management of rapid population growth, increasing environmental degradation and pervasive poverty - dissensions that marred the preparatory committee …
WHATEVER happened to the North-South wrangle on the consumption issue? Two grandiose international meets are around the corner: on population next fortnight, and on social development 6 months later. In terms of attendance and task, they will belong to the genre of global summits concerned with sustainable development. Yet their …
The wolf is quite literally at the Russian door. The wolf population in the country has risen from 22,500 in 1990 to 30,000 last winter. Animal-watchers see a close link between the rise in lupine numbers and the economic crisis in the country. Inflationary trends have made a mockery of …
Round 1in the current wrestle between the hulking cigarette industry and the government goes to the US administration. Just when the tobacco lobby had heaved a collective sigh of relief at having squeeze in its favour a relatively mild tax of 69 cents per cigarette pack, when the government backhanded …
What are the priorities of the United Nations Population Fund? When I became executive director of UNFPA, I emphasised on 3 things. I insisted on providing information and family planning services on a very large basis, starting at the individual level. Ways have to be found to create an environment …
"WE HAVE to find ways of creating an environment in which the individual most affected (by population control measures), in this case woman, is also part of the decision-making process," Nafis Sadik, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, told the press in New York, on the eve of …
Pathanamthitta district in Kerala may soon have the unique distinction of achieving zero population growth. A recent UNICEF-sponsored survey revealed the district has a birth rate of 5.3 per thousand and a death rate of 4.1, compared to the state average death rate of 5.6 per thousand and birth rate …
FROM EXCELLENT vegetable growers to taxi drivers -- that's the transformation the Jyapus of Kathmandu valley are undergoing. The agricultural practices of the Jyapus, a farming community that produces most of the fresh vegetables sold in Kathmandu, exemplifies the benefits of traditional farming methods. Indra Raj Pandey, an official in …
INDIA has urged the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to forge a common programme on population and development before the forthcoming UN conference in Cairo on the subject. During a SAARC meeting in Kathmandu recently, Indian minister for health and family welfare B Shanakaranand said it was essential …
You have been sharply critical of census methods in different parts of the world, in particular India. Why are you unhappy with the Indian census? Starting from 1881, we have had a census every 10 years, except during the war in 1941, when we had a restricted census. Frankly, I …
THAT THE world's population problem is not merely a numbers game, was the view expressed by most delegates attending the Population Summit of The World's Scientific Academies, held in New Delhi from October 24-27. The summit statement's emphasis on reaching "zero population growth within the lifetime of our children", therefore, …
The relationship between water resources and population growth keeps changing with the adoption of new technologies. Has this been the case with India? Technology cannot increase the water content of the rivers, but it can improve harnessing and conservation techniques and so make more water available for individual consumption. The …
