NORMAS GENERALES EN VIVIENDA PARA EL DESARROLLO POR CONSTRUCCIÓN

INDIA‟S GROWING POPULATION: A CHALLENGE BEFORE INDIAN ECONOMY Dr. N. S. Sabale

HoD, Dept. of Economics, S.N.Arts, D.J.M. Commerce & B.N.S. Science College, Sangamner Tal. Sangamner , Dist. Ahmednagar

Introduction: The demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people (2011 census), more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing China, its population reaching 1.6 billion by 2050. Its population growth rate is 1.41%, ranking 102nd in the world in 2010. Indian population reached the billion mark in 2000. India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35. It is expected that, in 2020, the average age of an Indian will be 29 years, compared to 37 for China and 48 for Japan.

Economy of India : The Economy of India is the ninth largest in the world by nominal GDP and the fourth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) The country is one of the G-20 major economies and a member of BRICS, and ASEAN. The country's per capita GDP (PPP) was $3,408 (IMF, 129th in the world) in 2010, making it a low-Income country. India recorded the highest growth rates in the mid- 2000s, and is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The growth was led primarily due to a huge increase in the size of the middle class consumer population, a large workforce comprising skilled and non-skilled workers, good educational standards and considerable foreign investments. India is the seventeenth largest exporter and the eleventh largest importer in the world.

Growing population challenges before Indian economy:

1. Population explosion: According to the 2011 census of India, the population of India in 2011 was 1,210,193,422, growing at a rate of 17.6% in a decade approx. Such a vast population puts lots of stress on the economic infrastructure of the nation. Thus India has to control its growing population.

2. Providing employment to growing population: This is so because in the developing economies majority of the population is illiterate. The burden of school age population has already shown signs of becoming unbearable. The proportion of children in schools is increasing fast and, vast numbers are still not covered. The absolute number or illiterate persons increase every year. This is only an indication of the wastage of human resources for want of appropriate development opportunities. The increasing population is pressing hard on economic resources as well as job opportunities. The Indian government has started various schemes such as Jawahar Rozgar Yojna, and Self Employment Scheme for Educated Unemployed Youth (SEEUY). But these are proving to be a drop in an ocean.

3. Problem of utilization of manpower: Better educated manpower aspires for occupations of greater prestige, which are opened up by the new development efforts. Because of its capital intensive nature, the ability, of the new economy for employment generation becomes restricted. Simultaneously, it renders many of the oldest occupations out of the day. As a result, under-employment and unemployment, including unemployment of educated persons, increases. There is thus wastage of even developed human capital.

4. Overstrained infrastructure: Facilities such as housing, transportation, health care, and education become inadequate. The worst symptoms of congestion in every aspect of living conditions are manifested in the urban areas. In countries such as India, a situation of "over urbanization" prevails

SCHOLARLY RESEARCH JOURNAL FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES ISSN: 2349-4766

OCT-DEC, 2017, VOL-6/33 Page 167

which puts unbearable strain on urban amenities. Overcrowded housing, slums and unsanitary localities, traffic congestion and crowded hospitals have become common features in the developing countries. 5. Pressure on land and other renewable natural resources: Common properties such as forest and water are over-exploited. This results in deforestation and desertification in permanent damage to the renewable resources.

6. Increased cost of production: Human ingenuity and technological advancement make it possible to increase production of goods and services. But, it must be kept in mind that, the cost of production of the basic necessities of life, such as food, increases when the population is growing fast and worse lands are brought into cultivation with costly irrigation etc.

7. Inequitable distribution of income: Both at the international and national levels income disparities increase. The increase in gross national product (GNP) is greatly reduced in per capita terms on account of the rapidly growing population. In the face of a rapidly growing population, the major concern of a developing country tends to be focused more on economic growth as such. Considerations of unequal distribution of income are pushed to the background. So inequalities within the country tend to widen further.

8. Poverty: As per the records of National Planning Commission,36% of the Indian population was living BelowPoverty Line in 1993-94. Though this figure has decreased in recent times but some major steps are needed to be taken to eliminate poverty from India. These are challenges can be overcome by the sustainedand planned economic reforms.

Rural population and their development: Over seventy per cent of India's population still lives in rural areas. There are substantial differences between the states in the proportion of rural and urban population, Such as varying from almost 90 percent in Assam and Bihar to 61 per cent in Maharashtra. Agriculture is the largest and one of the most important sectors of the rural economy and contributes both to economic growth and employment. Its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product has declined over the last five decades but agriculture still remains the source of livelihood for over 70 per cent of the country's population. A large proportion of the rural work force is small and consists of marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers. There is substantial underemployment among these people; both wages and productivity are low. These in turn result in poverty; it is estimated that 320 million people are still living below the poverty line in rural India. Though poverty has declined over the last three decades, the number of rural poor has in fact increased due to the population growth. The poor tend to have larger families which put an enormous burden on their main resources, and prevent them from breaking out of the shackles of poverty. In States like Tamilnadu where the replacement level of fertility has been attained, population growth rates are much lower than in many other States; but the population density is high and so there is a pressure on land. In states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh population are growing rapidly, resulting in increasing pressure on land and may be result land fragmentation. Low productivity of small land holders leads to poverty, low energy intake and under nutrition, and this, in turn, prevents the development thus creating a vicious circle. In most of the state's non-farm employment in rural areas has not grown very much and cannot absorb the growing labour force. Those who are getting educated specially beyond the primary level may not wish to do manual agricultural work. They would like better opportunities and more remunerative employment. In this context, it is imperative that programmes for skill development, vocational training and technical education are taken up on a large scale in order to generate productive employment inrural areas.The entire complete range of existing poverty alleviation and employment generation programmes may have to be restructured to meet the newly emerging types of demand for employment. Rural poor have inadequate access to basic minimum services, because of poor connectivity, lack of awareness,

SCHOLARLY RESEARCH JOURNAL FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES ISSN: 2349-4766

OCT-DEC, 2017, VOL-6/33 Page 168

inadequate and poorly functional infrastructure. There are ongoing efforts to improve these, but with the growing aspirations of the younger, educated population these efforts may prove to be inadequate to mee tthe increasing needs both in terms of the type and quality of services. Greater education, awareness and better standard of living among the growing younger age group population would create the required consciousness among them that smaller families are desirable; if all the felt needs for health and family welfare services are fully met, it will be possible to enable them to attain their reproductive goals, achieve substantial decline in the family size and improve quality of life.

Urbanization and Economic Growth: Only 30 per cent of India's population lives in urban areas. This is much lower than in China, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico, and Brazil. Some of this may be due to much lower per capita incomes in India. The Committee's projections suggest that India'surban population as presently defined will be close to 600 million by 2031, more than double that in 2001. Already the number of metropolitan cities with population of 1 million and above has increased from 35 in 2001 to 50 in 2011 and is expected to increase further to 87 by 2031. The expanding size of Indian cities will happen in many cases through a process of peripheral expansion, with smaller municipalities and large villages surrounding the core city becoming part of the large metropolitan area, placing increasing strain on the country's urban infrastructure. Future growth is likely to concentrate in and around 60 to 70 large cities having a population of one million or more. Decentralization of municipal governance and greater reliance on institutional financing and capital markets for resource mobilization are likely to increase the disparity between the larger and smaller urban centers. A satisfying outcome will depend on the formulation of effective public policies to accelerate all-round development of smaller urban centers and to refashion the role of the state as an effective facilitator to compensate for the deficiencies of market mechanisms in the delivery of public goods. Three decades of rapid economic growth would normally have propelled migration from ruralareas but growth in India has not had this effect thus far. This is because industrialization has been capital intensive and the services boom fuelled by the knowledge economy has also been skill intensive. A few citiesof India have acted as centers of knowledge and innovation. As more cities provide economies of agglomeration and scale for clusters of industries and other non-agricultural economic activity, the urbansector will become the principal engine for stimulating national economic growth. Industrialization will absorb more people as India advances further in its integration with the world economy. At the present juncture, India faces the challenge of continuing on its high growth trajectory while making growth more broad-based and labour-intensive.

Summary: Population, which is engaged in any economic activity (employed persons) and population seeking work (unemployed) constitute Labour Force. India has the second largest labour force in the world. Projection of labour force is pre-requisite ensuring optimal utilization of available human resources. Manpower development is then taken up to provide adequate labour force, of appropriate skills and quality to different sectors so that there is the rapid socioeconomic development and there is no mismatch between skills required and skills available. Planning also attempts to provide an enabling environment for employment generation (both self employment and wage employment) in public, private and voluntary sectors in urban and rural areas.

Reference:

"India's population 'to be the biggest' in the planet" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3575994.stm). BBC News. 18 August 2004. Retrieved 2011-09-24.

"World Bank Indicators Databank, by topic" (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator). The World Bank. RetrievedJanuary 2012.

3.Basu, Kaushik (25 July 2007). "India's demographic

SCHOLARLY RESEARCH JOURNAL FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES ISSN: 2349-4766

OCT-DEC, 2017, VOL-6/33 Page 169