Population Explosion refers the sudden and rapid rise in the size of Population. Population explosion is now a terrific problem in India; it has desperately effected on Indian economy.
The developed countries in the West or in countries like Japan are progressing in industrial, agricultural sector day by day. So they have enough chance for employment. For this reason growth of population does not affect negatively on their economy.
But in developing countries like India, with a backward economy and no big scope for fruitful employment, millions of people find no work to do. The Indian economy mainly based on agriculture. The Industrial sector directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture and unfortunately Indian agriculture hugely dependent on climate. So total economy becomes dependent on climate. So the positive possibility of growth of Indian economy is hampered.
Causes
The causes of population growth can be grouped into two parts which account for this rapid increase, namely (i) natural growth and (ii) migration.
Natural growth : Natural growth of population is defined as the difference between the birth rate and the death rate prevailing in a country. In India, the natural growth rate has been increasing by each passing year. The following major factors are responsible for the explosive birth rate in the country. The first major cause of the high birth rate is the widespread poverty. The incidence of pregnancy and the number of children born in a poor household is generally larger. Second, the birth rate in a country is determined by three factors like (i) number of women in the reproductive age; (ii) number of married women in the reproductive age; and (iii) the average age at marriage among females. Similarly, even today child marriage and marriage at an early age are common phenomena in the country. Third, family planning is not an accepted norm among the couples in the country, especially among the rural people, who belong to the low-income groups. The major reason, again, is poverty, rather than their illiteracy or ignorance about family planning methods, as is generally believed. Further, improved medical and health facilities help people grow well. Epidemics like cholera, HIV/AIDS, small pox, cancer, plague, tuberculosis, etc. that used to take a heavy toll in the past, have been checked to a great extent. Better housing and sanitary conditions have also controlled the death rate.
Migration : Migration and the influx of refugees from neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, in particular, have also been responsible for increasing the number of people in our country. The problem is aggravated by a lack of will of the parties ruling the country to stop this process only because it serves their filthy political interests. Be that as it may, there is hardly any doubt that population growth is playing havoc with the country’s economic system. The increasing birth rate has neutralized all the good efforts made during the Five-year Plans to raise the standard of living and economic welfare of the common people. Population growth can safely be singled out as the most important cause of a number of ills affecting our economy. If population increases by leaps and bounds, the rate of growth of the per capita income will automatically fail to keep pace with the rate of growth of national power. Increasing population top up the supply of undesirable manpower and this ultimately results in high unemployment rate, poverty and frustration, besides fuelling social unrest and all sorts of crimes and violence. There is already an enormous lack of housing, education and health care facilities in the country, and to meet these challenges the government requires additional expenditure in these sectors. And the problem of this additional expenditure is usually solved by the government in power by imposing fresh tax burden on people without going to the root of the malady. Thus the vicious circle goes on and on.
Effects of rapid population growth
Providing employment to the growing population is a great problem which India faces today. This is so because in developing countries majority of the population is illiterate. The burden of school-age population has already shown signs of becoming unbearable. 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 which puts unbearable strain on urban amenities. Overcrowded houses, slums, and insanitary localities, traffic congestion and crowded hospitals have become common features in the developing countries like India. Fourthly, common properties such as forest and water are over-exploited. This has resulted in deforestation and desertification with permanent damage to the renewable resources. Fifthly, human ingenuity and technological advancement make it possible to increase production of goods and services. But it must be kept in mind that cost of production of the basic necessities of life, such as food, increases when population grows fast and infertile lands are brought into cultivation with the help of costly irrigation, etc. Sixthly, 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 and considerations of unequal distribution of income are pushed to background. So inequalities within the country tend to widen further and this has happened in India.