Question.
Examine the population problems of India along with their spatial variations. ( 64th BPSC, 2019)
Answer.
India is the second-most populous country in the world after China and as per the United Nations World Population prospect, India will become first in terms of population by 2027.
As per the 2011 census, India is home to 1.21 billion people which makes India an overpopulated country with the presently available resources. The distribution of the population in India is not the same. Some regions are overpopulated and some regions are underpopulated. The followings are some data regarding population density:
- Arunachal Pradesh; 17 people per sq. km
- Delhi: 11320
- Bihar: 1106
- West Bengal: 1028
- UP: 829
- Kerala: 860
As per the above information, we can make the following patterns and correlate with the overpopulation, underpopulation, and optimum population( we can generalize the things because the concept of optimum population is very complex and really hard to find out because resources are also not equally distributed everywhere) :
- Hill states of the Himalayas and northeastern states have relatively lower population densities ( underpopulation).
- Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu have a relatively higher density ( overpopulation) while the rest of the states have moderate population density( optimum population).
Environmental and economical problems:
The following are environmental and economical problems due to overpopulation:
Resources depletion and pollution
Due to overpopulation, some natural resources are depleting very fast.
For example,
- Facing water shortage in most parts of the country.
- The level of groundwater is going down each year.
- Pollution level is very high in surface water, groundwater, soils, air, etc.
- Forest depletion
Lands shortage and food insecurity:
- India is facing insufficient agricultural land for food for all populations. India has a very high physiographic density in the world.
- India is home to the largest number of children of malnourish.
Health care burden:
- The healthcare burden is increasing due to the growing population and other indirect effects of the growing population.
Others problems:
- Lack of quality education
- Unemployment
Political Problems:
The following are political problems in India due to unequal population distribution and the growth of the population.
- North India Vs South India divide
- Lok Sabha seat sharing
- Central fund sharing
Social Problems:
- Growing unemployment, high pollution level, resources shortage, food shortages may lead to social distress among the communities or individuals.
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