Should India feel proud about touching the one billionth mark in population?
India was the first country to introduce the family planning programme way back in 1952. But, today there seems to be no control on the level of population that can be absorbed on Indian soils. There is no serious concern about the ill-effects of population growth. Further, our population statistics are not very reliable as many centres are inaccessible for counting. So, it is quite possible that India might have reached the one-billionth mark much earlier.

Certainly, it is nothing to feel proud about, especially while looking against growing income inequalities, increasing number of illiterates and rising homeless population in the country.

Yes, India has marched ahead in technology. But, on the health front and in providing human development standards, it is lagging far behind. Population is not a numbers game and could be one of the major deterrents to progressive economic growth.

How effective will be the the new Population Policy in curbing population growth?
I can only say that it is better late than never. For, governments of the past did not figure out population as a menacing problem of the future. Only when India's population touched the one-billionth official mark, India’s prime minister woke up to the gravity of the problem and set up a mammoth 100-member National Population Committee to address the problem.

But again, the Population Policy only targets the urban population leaving out the 40 per cent rural poor. The policy does not mention about development of rural infrastructure, which if improved could help reduce the number of migrants to the urban centres. For urban India, rural migration is a pressing problem today. It is then very important that employment opportunities are provided in the rural areas.

Availability and development of basic health, sanitation, education and drinking water facilities will not only improve the health of the rural Indians, it will also stem rural migration to the cities where the problem of unplanned slums is only increasing accompanied by the problem of increasing levels of unemployment.

The policy also fails to encourage women's participation and developing female education centres. Also, there is a need to invest in developing medicines.

Why has China been successful in reducing its population? Can India follow its example?
A few years ago, China was worse off than India. But, today it is very successful in reducing its population size. Not only has it reduced its actual numbers, it has also improved the living conditions of the masses alongside.

This is very essential if population growth has to be reduced in the future.

Educating the masses about the benefits of having small families should help to take preventive measures.

China was successful as it was tackling the problem at the root level. Many believe that being a non-democratic nation it could adopt harsh compulsory measures, which in India may not be possible.

But, what did China do that India cannot? China took to providing monetary benefits and removing people off the ration list who did not stick to the two-children norm. It is not that India cannot adopt these measures.

Basically, we lack administrative skills. India does not have a very comfortable growth rate and any increase in the level of population results in the number of people living below the poverty line rising faster.

What more should the Indian government do to curb population growth?
The prime minister chairing the National Population Committee and announcing the year 2000 National Population Policy are not final solutions. What we require is proper implementation. Population control is a very complex issue and only reducing the numbers will not help. India has to tackle the problem by looking at overall human development of the masses. On the one side, the government should try and convince the people about the benefits of a small family and on the other help people to dispel age-old beliefs that children are gifts of God and that a boy-child is a must.

The government should try and focus more on developing infrastructure which will not only create more employment but will also improve the living conditions as it will be a source of income. Female participation should be encouraged and educational facilities should be provided, as these will reduce the urge to have for more children. Rural India today lacks in basic facilities and amenities and this increases rural migration to the urban areas.

Hence, agro-based and agro-product industries should be developed in rural areas which can become additional sources of income. Finally, the government should focus more on implementation and not just try to tackle the issue by merely announcing monetary benefits.

What in your opinion will India's population be in the next ten years?
There is no reliable data in India and this makes future forecasting very difficult.

Officially, India has surpassed the one-billion mark in May 2000. But looking at hard facts, it is quite possible that we could have reached this target many years back. There is no systematic accounting packages which can give us the proper breakup of the population.

However, it is not that India has neglected the problem. It has tried to curb population growth in the last few years and fertility rates have come down. It is not the birth rate that is so much of a problem. It is the fall in the death rates that is fuelling the problem. The National Policy has said that population would stabilise by 2045. But, looking at the present growing rural population and the low rural literacy rates and high rural high birth rates, it is very possible that India will soon surpass China in population.

Why is rural population a bigger problem in India?
Much of India's population lives in the villages and depends mainly on agriculture as a source of income. Latest figures show that the urban population has come down, while the rural population has shot up by 40 per cent. This results in higher migration to the urban centres which puts pressure on the availability of basic amenities in the cities. It also leads to overcrowding and congestion in the cities and exerts pressure on the general infrastructure such as hospitals, education centres and housing facilities. So much so, slums have mushroomed in the urban centres haphazardly, in turn affecting the environment too. High rural influx into the cities has also aggravated the problem of urban unemployment.

So, it is important to tackle the population problem at the rural level, as illiteracy and high birth rates are more prevalent in rural India.

How best to curb population?
Today, the government is targeting at a higher GDP growth of around eight per cent. But, all its efforts will get diluted if the population is not kept in check. For, with a rising population the per capita income levels of a country comes down and food availability to the overall population also reduces. To bring about a healthy reduction in the population level, the government will have to bring about an increase in the human development index which will focus on education, food, housing, sanitation and medical health of the people.