[esteem_lover]

There was a department called family planning, is it still there ?

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by spawnofsatan

I am starting this thread to brainstorm ideas which can BE PUT TO USE to effectively control our growing population. Because if we do not control it now eventually we will all pay, heck we are all paying right now.

Please do not say "nothing can be done" or "In India nothing will happen" things will happen if we make an effort, every small effort is a drop in the ocean.

This may sound cynical, but the easiest solution to the population problem is the European way - conquor other lands (preferably continents) and settle your people there. Just think of how much of a problem they would have if you sent all the Caucasians back from the Americas, Australia, South Africa and other parts of the world back to where they came from - Europe. You think we have a problem ?

We dont have a population problem. We just didnt have far-sighted rulers in the past who didnt plan for the natural growth of population to fill new lands.

That said, there's nothing much we can do about the past and I doubt we can conquor anything now after doing nothing for a few thousand years. So we better get around to managing our problem.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

This may sound cynical, but the easiest solution to the population problem is the European way - conquor other lands (preferably continents) and settle your people there.

How about the vast cold lands in Russia ? I heard they have a different kind of population problem there.

it is not necessary that we use up more forest land or use more resources. it is necessary that we use what we have efficiently. a good chunk of our arable land is wasted on subsistence farming.large qties of our fuel is wasted due to poor roads and traffic planning. large qties of power generated is wasted due to poor maintenance of transmission facilities. massive qauntities of rain water is wasted by runoff into the sea.

efficient utilisation of available resources is the way to solve the problem rather than trying to obtain more of the resources(that is the american way)


agreed, we will need more land, we will need more energy etc to deal with the increased population, but those needs can be offset to a very large extent by proper application of planning and technology.

[spawnofsatan]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

This may sound cynical, but the easiest solution to the population problem is the European way - conquor other lands (preferably continents) and settle your people there. Just think of how much of a problem they would have if you sent all the Caucasians back from the Americas, Australia, South Africa and other parts of the world back to where they came from - Europe. You think we have a problem ?

We dont have a population problem. We just didnt have far-sighted rulers in the past who didnt plan for the natural growth of population to fill new lands.

That said, there's nothing much we can do about the past and I doubt we can conquor anything now after doing nothing for a few thousand years. So we better get around to managing our problem.

Aren't Indians already settled everywhere possible?

Now imagine if they all came back.

[diabloo]

I made 2 points:

1. Educate all
2. Provide good health care facility to all.

Neither of these require cutting down trees.

Originally Posted by condor

But if you still insist on two points to be the path & means to automatically control population, pls have the government also get more land, more water, more food to support the existing population. BUT - without cutting the forests & destroying wildlife.

[Bass&Trouble]

Originally Posted by diabloo

So large population of India must be considered blessing in disguise.

Agree with you.

I was recently reading somewhere that population growth in other countries has slowed down, notably China with their one-child policy etc. A burgeoning population will only mean more and more Indians to work and take up more opportunites in the world. As you mention, education and infrastructure will also determine whether this indeed happens or not.

With an increasing population, India is bound to be plagued by the problems that one sees in metros like inhuman population densities, overburdened transport systems, illegal encroachments etc. The solution is to tackle these problems rather than adopting measures to control population IMHO.

[condor]

Originally Posted by diabloo

1. Educate all
2. Provide good health care facility to all.

Neither of these require cutting down trees.

So where do you get the materials & physical resouces to achieve these two points ?

Remember, almost anything that you do uses something from the environment. The only exception is energy through solar sources. To harvest & use this energy also you will need material & things created from what's available in the environment.

So, to educate all & to provide health-care, you will use resources from the environment.

And where are these resources available ? out-side the cities. From water, air, land - everything's out there - which we are using up.

And more people means more efforts to do what you have suggested. More efforts means more resources.

What you said in your original post is not in-correct. But there is a bigger urgency - rather, an emergency - to get things done faster. The slow but quite sure method is not sufficient at this time.


Btw, even you need energy to create even the thoughts you have. So, you are using some resouces even to think ! There is no escaping it - the resources are limited, and demand is out-pacing not just the supply, but even the availability of the resources needed.

[DKG]

The crux of the problem often is a combination of illiteracy and lack of awareness and economic wellbeing. Often in poorer families every extra child means additional money earned into the family. So partly poverty is also a reason why people still have more kids.

Once people realise that having fewer kids leads to a better life they will slowly change.

Economic upliftment through education does remain the core requirement

[kutlee]

Originally Posted by clevermax

Rest of the states should start leaning from Kerala. More than two kids and you have to pay 10,000/- to the state. I feel that this amount should be increased to 50,000/- or so. and it should be calculated based on on'es income.

sorry but i never knew this. But how the state is ever going to know this?
i am not so confident on one kid policy. will affect back up plans and lead to a lot of biasing. 2-3 should be OK.

[mobike008]

IMO, the main problem of this escalation in population is a combination of lack of education and superstition. Former is self explanatory whereas latter is predominant in illetrate,economicly backward, minority communities where they feel the need to continously have children till they get what they want ( in their case most often it is a male child).

Funnily, read often in magazines this incident is reverse in most urban population these days-no children due to high stress at work.

OT: In Italy, they pay money in certain parts of the country for having children. I guess this policy is available in several other countries too where they have a scarcity of people like maybe NZ.

[aerohit]

what nonsense am i reading here? that higher population is good for indians getting jobs? are you normal?

If there is 100 Rs and 10 people - each gets 10 Rs [lower standard of living-current situation]

If there is 100 Rs and 5 people - each gets 20 Rs [higher standard of living]

If india does not reduce its population, nature will reduce it. Nature has done this in the past. Civilizations have been viped out in the past due to famine and plague. This will be no surprise to india.

India simply does not have enough water and food resources to manage and feed 1 billion people.

and how dare some of you look down on China? why? because you dont like to follow rules and laws? Chinese Govt dont want their people to breed like cats and dogs - hence they are doing what they can to protect their country.

There needs to be a fine balance of population. For example not too less or not too high. India population is very high. For example, as an estimate, 500 Million may be an ideal population for india.

Since i am an educated citizen - I do consider adopting a child in India to prove that i am an educated citizen and do my part. This shall prove that majority of the indians even though they have a degree (or piece of paper) are actually uneducated.
(indians think that education is only about speaking english and adding numbers - which is quite uninformed)

the consequenses of overpopulation are visible right now, everything is infront of you. it is filthy.
1 billion people taking dump everyday = smelly air. ooh i forgot we dont even have sewage to handle 1 billion of them. HAHA

May be indians think, i can have more than 1 child, its ok, my neighbour will have less. It just doesnt work that way!

[condor]

aerohit : and how dare some of you look down on China? why? because you dont like to follow rules and laws? Chinese Govt dont want their people to breed like cats and dogs - hence they are doing what they can to protect their country.

Yes. Better to take the pain initially than be pained later. I dont think China is repenting today. They may have a problem of an ageing population - but some other countries too have this. If today they feel about an ageing population, they still have the resources to support that group - while parallely allowing a controlled birth rate to sustain their human capital requirements down the years.

But with our situation, we are at risk of un-controlled growth, and if we dont do it ourselves, circumstances & situation will force things upon us, in an unpleasant way. May not be so obvious today. The symptoms today may just be rising prices, more traffic .. but we need to read these symptoms seriously and act to prevent things from getting worse.

aerohit : There needs to be a fine balance of population. For example not too less or not too high. India population is very high. For example, as an estimate, 500 Million may be an ideal population for india.

And maintained at that level, too.

[thiyags22]

Indians especially the lower class (they are the ones currently lagging behind in general education also) need S** education with extra focus on contraceptives. My wife is a gynaecologist who did her masters degree at Stanley where pregnant women would come for their 4th or 5th delivery and when asked would not know details about contraceptives / protection.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I'm a newcomer here, so please be kind if you have to let me know that I'm talking out of the wrong hole!

At least in the two Southern states that I have a small knowledge of, is it not the case that, where families would have had eight or nine or more (even until the poor woman was worn out with child bearing), now only have one or two, sometimes three?

I asked my wife recently, what about Roman Catholics (she is one)? Do they teach here that contraception is evil, like other places in the world? She said, "yes, but most people ignore it and adopt family planning".

So, I'm not sure whether India still has a problem for the future or not, but it does seem to be something many people have already taken on board.