Syllabus- Population – distribution, growth, Demographic characteristics, Demographic dividend and transition, HDI, Population problems and Policies.
Number of questions- Mains: 02, Prelims – 10
Mains Questions of the day-
1.India is projected to become the most populous nation by 2027. This huge population can become a bane if not engaged properly. Explain.
Introduction: –
Write briefly about India’s population trend.
Body: –
Write the associated challenges with rise of the population in India.
Conclusion: –
- This demographic Dividend potential can be converted into actual growth only if the rise in the working-age group is accompanied by increasing levels of education and employment.
- India is on one side of demographic transition that provides a golden opportunity for its rapid socio-economic development if policymakers align the developmental policies with this demographic shift.
- To reap the demographic dividend, proper investment in human capital is needed by focusing on education, skill development and healthcare facilities.
Content: –
- According to the UN’s World Population Prospects 2019 report, India is projected to become the most populous country by 2027 surpassing China and host 1.64 billion people by 2050. The fertility rate in the country still lies in the range of 2.1-4.
- According to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), demographic dividend means, “the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working-age share of the population (14 and younger, and 65 and older)”.
- Demographic dividend occurs when the proportion of working people in the total population is high because this indicates that more people have the potential to be productive and contribute to the growth of the economy.
- More than 63% of the population in India is in the age group of 15-59 years termed as India’s demographic.
Associated challenges of growing population: –
- Difficult in stabilizing Population:
- Reduction in fertility rate is one of the prerequisites for stabilizing the population growth.
- It would be a challenge to achieve optimal fertility rate in states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh which have higher fertility rate.
- Rising the livelihood cost:
- India will need to invest in augmenting its education and healthcare system, grow more food, provide more housing, sharply increase its drinking water supply and add capacity to basic infrastructures, such as roads, transport, electricity, and sewage to provide a minimum quality of life to every citizen.
- Heavy Expenditure is required in order to fund the basic needs and augment the social infrastructure of India for accommodating the rising population, for that India will have to raise resources through taxation and other means.
- Even if less than five million people are entering the workforce every year, employing them at a decent wage is a complex task.
- Malthusian fears (Shortage of food):
Malthus argued that because there will be a higher population than the availability of food, many people will die from the shortage of food.
- Turning Demographic dividend into the burden:
In order to reap the benefits from the rising demographic dividend India needs to develop a strong base of human capital that can contribute significantly to the growth of the economy but India’s low literacy rate (about 74% – leaving a quarter of the population without basic reading and writing skills) will turn demographic dividend into the burden.
- Need for sustainable Urban Growth:
- UN report suggests that by 2050, the urban population will be increased to 87.7 million and the number of urban agglomerations consisting more than a million people is also expected to be doubled by 2035.
- Thereby creating the need for improvisation of urban facilities with an emphasis on access to good, affordable housing and mobility.
- Twin challenges of Population:
- As per India Ageing Report 2017 by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) the share of the population over the age of 60 could increase from 8% in 2015 to 19% in 2050.
- Thereby twin challenges of rising population and old age dependents will add to India’s troubles of providing jobs, education, health along with geriatric care.
- Inequitable income distribution:
In the face of an increasing population, unequal distribution of income and inequalities within the country would be a possible outcome.
- Unemployment:
- Rapid population growth leads to a large population of young people who are dependent on a relatively small section of the working population
- Unemployment: In many underdeveloped countries industry is not well established and there are few employment opportunities for unskilled workers.
- Environmental degradation:
- Use of natural resources, as well as growing in energy needs from coal, oil, and natural gas (fossil fuels), is having a negative impact on the planet.
- Use of water for domestic, industrial and agricultural uses leading to increased river pollution and decrease in self-cleaning properties of rivers.
- Increasing water requirement leading to tapping deeper aquifers which have high content of arsenic or fluoride resulting health problems.
- Food security:
- It is estimated that the growing population will double the requirement of food grains.
- In the next five decades, the food and nutrition security could become critical.
2.Discuss the underlying factors responsible for the prevalence of poverty in India. Suggest the strategy in order to accelerate poverty eradication in a sustainable manner.
Introduction: –
In brief define poverty with current statistics of poverty in the country.
Body: –
- Discuss the various factors responsible for poverty in India.
- Discuss the strategy to combat poverty in sustainable manner.
- Mention few of the government schemes in this regard.
Conclusion: –
Poverty is a multi-faceted problem so the solution also needs to be a multi-faceted one. We have taken leaps in poverty reduction with the increased employment based growth and efficient anti-poverty scheme implementation, but more needs to be done to take poverty heads on. Overcoming poverty should be seen as a fundamental right of the citizens and should be given its due importance.
Content: –
- Poverty is a state or condition in which a person lacks the resources for a minimum standard of living.
- Traditionally, the term poverty refers to lacking enough resources to provide the basic necessities of life – food, clean water, shelter and clothing. But modern economists extend the term to include access to health care, education and even transportation.
- Poverty is often further divided into absolute poverty and relative poverty.
- According to the 2018 global Multidimensional Poverty Index(MPI) released by the UN, over 270 million people in India moved out of poverty in the decade since 2005-06. But India is home to 26% of the global extreme poor. Global Hunger Index 2018 placed India at 103rd position out of 119 countries.
There are different factors responsible for poverty in India such as:
Economic Factors:
- Slow economic growth leads to increase in unemployment and poverty.
- Decreased agricultural output due to unpredictable weather patterns leads to some serious inflation issues.
- Due to inadequate industrialization in certain areas, employment opportunities become limited.
- Uneven concentration of wealth and resources in the country.
- Unemployment and Under-employment.
Social Factors:
- Social evils like untouchability affects democratic rights like employment etc. which leads to poverty among certain lower castes.
- Widespread ignorance and illiteracy: Uneducated people are unaware of their full potential which leads to limited earning sources.
- Mass migration to cities causes increased competition in the employment sector especially in cities which leads to poverty even among the educated population.
- High divorce rates and unequal employment opportunities to women leads to feminization of poverty.
Geographical Factors:
- The unfertile lands are responsible towards poverty naturally.
- Environmental and climatic factors include floods, droughts etc.
To have sustainable poverty reduction, these areas must be focused:
- Accelerate rural poverty reduction: Capitalize on growing connectivity between rural and urban areas, and between the agriculture, industry and services sectors, has been effective in reducing poverty.
- Creating more and better jobs: Efforts are needed to address rapid job creation in labour intensive sectors.
- More focus is required on the low participation of women in the labour market and the slow progress among Scheduled Tribes.
- Smart Cities along with Smart Villages are required (PURA model).
- Improve human development outcomes for the poor which are central to improving their quality of life.
- Special Employment Schemes for the Poor such as MGNREGA.
- Need to incorporate technology for identification of beneficiaries to prevent leakages of various subsidies, adopt direct benefit transfers such as in PDS.
- Revolutionizing the anti-poverty programmes by replacing the current difficuls and checking the leakages in the distribution of benefits.
- Adopting a holistic definition of poverty should be considered instead of the current expenditure-based poverty line etc.
- Now there is more focus on job creation through entrepreneurship and converting job seeker into job creator through hand holding approach in terms of targeted loans under Mudra Scheme, Start-Up India, Stand-Up India, Aspire etc.
- Providing employment also mitigates poverty in following ways:
- Better wages provide access to education as well as health care thus, providing future avenues of poverty alleviation
- Increased Income also provides better access to services.
- According to NITI Aayog, the strategy for combating poverty must rest on two approaches, those are:
- Sustained rapid growth that is also employment intensive and
- Making anti-poverty programs even more effective.
- Thus, rapid growth not only a sufficient condition but also a rapid expansion of social spending is a necessary condition for poverty eradication.
- There needs to be focus on combating Poverty through efficient anti-poverty programmes as well to ensure direct help to the poor in terms of addressing specific aspects of poverty such as food and nutrition, water, literacy, health etc.
Various steps taken by the government to mitigate poverty:
- National Food Security Act: Providing 75% rural population and 50% urban population with 5 kg of food grains per month, ensuring health and prospects of coming out of poverty.
- MGNREGA: provides with specified wage in a given year to unskilled labour, thus providing them some source of income, thereby increasing their purchasing power for essential needs.
- Housing for All- rural and Urban to enable affordable asset creation for poor covering shelter part for the poor.
- In order to make anti-poverty programs effective, the government has taken a lot of efforts like channelizing the potential of JAM (Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar, and Mobile), providing biometric identity to the poor to avail the benefits of government schemes.
- These direct measures towards poverty reduction are required to support poor families to ensure basic necessities are available and accessible for the poor. At the same time, job creation is also important to empowering them so that they continue to fulfil their needs.
Prelims Questions of the day: –
1.What is the age bracket of the working population as per United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)?
- 15-64 years
- 18-62 years
- 16-60 years
- 17-65 years
Answer: A
Explanation:
- According to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), demographic dividend means, “the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working-age share of the population (14 and younger, and 65 and older)”.
- India has 62.5% of its population in the age group of 15-59 years which is ever increasing and will be at the peak around 2036 when it will reach approximately 65%.
2.Which of the following is viewed as the demographic dividend?
- Share of working age population/ share of non-working age population
- Fertility rate/ Mortality rate
- Both A and B
- None of the above
Answer: A
Explanation:
The economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working-age share of the population (14 and younger, and 65 and older) is viewed as a demographic dividend.
3. Working age population bulge is going to last in India till?
- 2022
- 2030
- 2055
- 2042
Answer: C
Explanation:
This bulge in the working-age population is going to last till 2055, or 37 years from its beginning.
4.Prior to Census 2011, in which among the following census highest Sex Ratio was recorded in India?
- Census 1941
- Census 1974
- Census1951
- Census 1961
Answer: D
Explanation:
- India shows the sharpest decline of 11 points in the sex ratio between 1961-71. The sex ratio in 1931 was 950(females per 1000 males). The sex ratio in 1961 was 941(females per 1000 males).
- Based on the sex ratio of 2011: The sex ratio of India is 943 females/ 1000 males.
5.The percentage of scheduled tribes is lowest in which of the following states?
- Bihar
- Kerala
- Tamil Nadu
- Uttar Pradesh
Answer: D
Explanation: –
States and Union territories having minimum ratio of Scheduled tribes, as per Census-2011 (in ascending order)- Uttar Pradesh (0.6%) < Tamil Nadu (1.1%) < Bihar (1.3%) < Kerala (1.5%) < Uttarakhand (2.9%) [Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Puducherry have no population of Scheduled tribes
6.What can be included in the causes of demographic dividend?
- Falling birth rate
- Lower fertility rate
- Increased longevity
- All of the above
Ans. D
Explanation:
Change in population structure occurs due to-
- falling birth rate
- lower fertility rate
- increased longevity.
7.Who is responsible for the Census in India?
- Ministry of Statistics
- Ministry of Home Affairs
- Ministry of Defence
- PMO
Answer: B
Explanation:
The responsibility of conducting the decennial Census rests with the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner under Ministry of Home Affairs.
8.Which of the following cannot be considered as measures to be taken so that demographic dividend would benefit?
- Increase spending on health
- Increase spending on education
- Decreased investments in Research and Development
- Increased efforts for skill development
Answer: C
Explanation:
The following can be considered as measures to be taken to reap the benefits of demographic dividend
- Increase spending on health
- Increase spending on education
- Increase investments in Research and Development
- Invest more in skill development
9.Which of the following index summarises the population dynamics all together?
- Fertility rate
- Gini coefficient
- Demographic Index
- Mortality rate
Answer: C
Explanation:
Demographic Index can summarize population dynamics and characteristics in one number.
10. Which of the following state has the lowest literacy rate according to 2011 census?
- Himachal Pradesh
- Bihar
- Uttarakhand
- West Bengal
Answer: B
Explanation:
- As per the 2011 census, among states, Bihar has the lowest literacy rate of 47%.
- The male and female literacy rate is the lowest in Bihar (male: 71.2%, female: 51.5%) and highest in Kerala (male: 96.1%, female 92.1%).