One planet, 7 continents, 7 billion people.
A planet endowed with resources to optimally support 2 billion humans bearing more than thrice the weight is what is meant by massive overpopulation.
Until 1974 the population on earth was 4 billion, and in a mere 40 years it nearly doubled. We are expected to reach a staggering total of 10 billion in the next 50 years.
The major bulk of this population lives and grows in developing countries, with minimal resources, and leads a life of extreme poverty.
India, the second most populous nation in the world, is currently home to 1.2 billion people; a country with 2.4% of the world land holds 17.6% of its population. This means that on an average, there are 382 humans in India for every square kilometer of land.
With 323 million women in the childbearing age group and an average of 3 children per woman, the annual growth rate of India is 1.2%, significantly higher than even China (0.5%).
While it may seem unsympathetic to count human lives as statistics and numbers, it is important to understand the finiteness of nature. The earth is weeping under our burden, and repercussions have set in motion.
To support such a huge population, man has cut forests to build industries, cities and agricultural zones. Such short sighted deforestation has disturbed the ecosystem, species have gone extinct, natural water and soil cycles have been disrupted.
With increase in industrialisation and urbanisation, our water, air and soil have turned unfit and polluted. Our sources of coal, petroleum, metal and raw material, all lie on the brink on depletion due to the rash overuse. Global warming, floods, and ozone depletion are at an all-time high.
With production as massive as ours, waste generation has gone up startlingly. Our landfills are overflowing, rivers are drying up, and air is getting smoked faster than ever. Progressing at this rate, we soon might not have any space left to walk on, nor water to drink.
The quality of human life has been degraded, since our human resource too is limited. There are not enough schools to educate our children, not enough jobs for us to earn and lead a comfortable life and not enough hospitals to cure diseases. The rich can afford education, healthcare, and thus jobs, and hence, continue to live in luxury. On the contrary, millions of Indians go without a square meal a day, without clean water, or houses to protect them. They have no opportunity to education or jobs, and thus, continue to suffer in disease and poverty. A vicious cycle has been set up, and it is getting more and more toxic by the turn.
Damage has been done, it is already very late.
The first step to tackle any issue is to spread awareness. People must understand the gravity of a growing population. Awareness programmes need to be carried out starting at the schools, children need to understand the possible consequences, and must be urged to share information with their family and friends. Adult programmes can be carried out as short workshops in the work place, and advertisements.
Contingents of dedicated workers should be sent on short trips to rural areas and economically backward regions of cities and towns to educate villagers and the poor of the problem and measures to tackle it.
Secondly, active birth control steps need to be pursued. Each of us must conscientiously pledge to ourselves to not have more than two children, at most. We have a huge population of orphaned, underprivileged children, whose future, if not salvaged now, is not promising. These children too deserve a happy life. And that can be easily achieved if more couples turn open towards child adoption. Yes, nobody is in a position to ask willing couples to not have many children, but such an act, if not pursued sincerely, will not leave us with resources adequate to support the future generations.
Contraceptive education is indispensable to population control. Couples should be advised on use of temporary contraceptives like oral pills and condoms till they are ready to have children. Also, once a couple has completed their family, permanent measures of sterilisation like vasectomy and tubectomy should be promoted.
In rural and economically backward families, incentives like concession on food and basic amenities like transport, health check-ups, and education can be offered to couples opting for smaller families.
To save our upcoming generations, we need extensive and vigorous action, starting now.
