One too many

 On the BMCC Road, right next to the GIPE entrance, there is an electronic board. The digits on this board are forever moving, literally non-stop. Do you know what this board indicates? The population! Literally growing by the split second!

Indeed the population growth is a huge problem, at least in India. Obviously the rampant population explosion is a drain on the resources. To give an example, if education upto the secondary level is to be made compulsory, however many schools are opened, how would the system balance the ever abundant number of possible students?

With the population explosion, there is yet another huge problem. Apparently, we have the demographic dividend. That is to say, there is a huge chunk of the population who are young, that is, below thirty-five. 

Yet the percentage of the elderly is huge, too. Remarkable it is that these days practically every household has at least one person nearing ninety. The majority of this group belonged to the non-government or the agrarian sector during their productive years. Now in their old age, they do not have a financial safety net, especially when they need money, given the physical deterioration.

If this age group of the population is non-productive, the young are not in a better position either. Majority of the youngsters are not well-trained. As it is most of them, given the very many distractions,  never ever study seriously. Conceptually they are absolutely weak. They lack practical knowledge, moreover, and soft skills, too. Unique problems they have.

Given these realities, which are almost the same the world over, especially in the developing countries, the importance of the World Population Day!

Related to the ratio of child birth is yet another huge problem, that is, the health of the mother. In the pre-natal stage, most mothers-to-be often are anemic which affects the foetus' health. During the lactating stage, many mothers suffer from neonatal depression which mostly goes completely ignored. If such is the mother's physical and psychological health, how would she properly care for the baby? Hence the need for a huge campaign for maternal health which would help the child, and her own health during the early months of motherhood, and later even during her old age.

Pratima@Both these issues  ARE getting attention, but it needs to grow in size, scope and focus, both quantity- and quality- wise!