UN Population Prospects
- Latest UN report forecasts that India will surpass China’s population by 2023.
- Earlier UN Population Prospects (2019) projected that India will surpass China’s population by 2027.
- Rate of growth of India’s population is faster than that of China.
Learning from China
- China started its economic reforms in 1978 with primary focus on agriculture.
- It liberated agri-markets from myriad controls.
- China’s agri-GDP grew by 7.1 per cent per annum.
- Farmers’ real incomes grew by 14 per cent per annum with.
- As people gained prosperity and farmers’ real incomes doubled, poverty fell by half in just six years.
- Enhanced incomes created demand for industrial products
- Aim of China’s manufacturing through Town and Village Enterprises (TVEs) was to meet rising demand from the hinterlands.
- One-child policy
- China introduced it in September 1980, which lasted till early 2016.
- It is this strict control on population growth, coupled with booming growth in overall GDP that led to a rapid increase in per capita incomes.
Indian story
- India’s overall growth story has not been as impressive as that of China, certainly not in agriculture.
- Market and price liberalisation in agriculture still remains a major issue.
India’s plan of action
- On population front, situation can be tackled through
- Effective education, especially that of girl child
- Open discussion and dialogue about family planning methods.
- Conversations about benefits of small family size in society.
- Biofortification of staples
- Supplying clean and safe drinking water to every household
- Mid-day meals etc. are all steps in right direction to improve well-being of people.