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 …
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 …
FAMILY planning practices are growing rapidly, but not fast enough to make a dent in the world's population. The UN argues there is a large unmet demand for family planning services. In one generation, the proportion of married women in the developing world who are using contraception has risen to …
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 …
You seem to have a fascination for models on diverse subjects. Does your background have something to do with this? I'm basically a chemical technologist. I have co-authored a book on polymer science -- a rather popular book, I would say. As far as my personal background is concerned, I …
WESTERN nations are worried about increasing international migration. Says a 1992 document of Western nations, "Migration is now seen as a priority issue equal in political weight to other major global challenges such as the environment, population growth and economic imbalances between regions." The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in …
EVENTS leading to the 1992 Earth Summit, then to the Commission on Sustainable Development and to the UN Conference on Population and Development in 1994 have reinvigorated the South as an important bloc in international negotiations. After its heyday during movement in the 1970s for a new international economic order, …
AFTER years of trying to make family planning enthusiasts understand that population control is not merely condoms, pills and other birth control devices, next year's international conference on population in Cairo nevertheless looks like it will be dominated by, well, condoms, pills and other birth control devices. The second preparatory …
WHEN CHINESE leader Mao Zedong opposed curbs on China's population growth on the ground that productivity of each extra pair of hands outweighed consumption of each additional mouth, international birth control activists were aghast. The country already accounted for about a quarter of all humans on the earth, they said, …
THERE are few words in the English language as evocative as population. Most tongues would wag it as something uncontrollable. It also evokes the notion of pressure, of human flotsam spilling over national boundaries. Among development experts, it evokes the concept of irresponsible procreation, and insufficient funding for birth control …
VIRTUALLY all population growth is centred round the Third World. According to an annual survey by the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau, the number of people in the world is rising at the fastest pace ever. Population figures are expected to touch 5.5 billion by mid-1993 and 8.5 billion by 2025, …
ACCORDING to the department of ocean development there are 40 heavily polluted areas along the Indian coast. Marine pollution problems, though localised, occur off most metropolitan cities and thickly populated coastal towns. Untreated domestic and industrial wastes are a serious problem in Bombay, Vishakhapatnam, Porbandar, Veli near Thiruvananthapuram, Tuticorin Kakinada, …
TWO HUNDRED years ago, Thomas Malthus had asked at what point man's population would exceed his means of subsistence. The world's population then had not reached 1 billion. Today, a year before the population conference in Cairo, the total number of people in the world is fast approaching 5.5 billion. …
THE WHOLE world, including the most sober environmentalists, seems obsessed with the dangers of a rising population. An obsession that has led people to be unjustly branded pollutants in our collective environmental consciousness. And the causes for this are essentially threefold. In part, this phenomenon stems from a misconception of …
More than two children in a family could land one in serious trouble, if the recommendations of the population committee of the National Development Council are an indicator. Transgressors of this family norm, the committee recommends, should be excluded from the public distribution system. Taking a leaf from the population …
UNDER the unrelenting pressure of population growth, millions of landholdings in Asia and other parts of the developing world are small - and getting smaller. India alone has at least 33 million holdings of less than half a hectare. These plots may be small but they are far from insignificant. …
THE DEBATE on abortion between pro-choice and pro-life supporters is as old as antiquity, historian Angus McLaren says in his book, A History of Contraception. McLaren argues the issues raised by even the most recent breakthroughs in reproductive technologies are firmly rooted in the cultural traditions of the West. He …
THE UNITED States Agency for International Development (USAID) stopped assistance for irrigation development projects in India with effect from September 15. Sources attribute this measure to the gradual shifting of US attention to areas such as health and population control and agriculture -- specifically food processing. Some observers feel irrigation …
THE MINISTRY of Environment and Forests recently produced a document formally entitled National Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and Development. The document purports to spell out details of the government's strategy to reconcile conflicts between environment and development. Unfortunately, the document does not leave anyone any wiser. It …
