By Nadir Ali
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the population is “the whole number of people or inhabitants in a country or region”. Its explosion is one of the greatest issues of the contemporary world. It is affecting the world economy directly. Owing to less economical resources and more population, it increases the chances of unemployment in society. Numerous factors are involved for over population. Some common are: lack of family planning, literacy rate, women unemployment, Imbalance between birth and death rate, and immigrants, strong religious beliefs and poor response from the government side are causes for population explosion.
The governments worldwide have devised population policies, developed countries like the United Kingdom and the United States and China etc, are very circumspect and integrated their population policies from time to time. They formulate policies and emphasize poverty eradication, gender equality, human rights, women empowerment and environmental protection. Albeit, they provide convenience to their citizens, and the people are also cooperating with the government. China made steady efforts to control population explosion earlier in the 1980s. The then-leader Deng Xiaoping had implemented one-child policy at the central government and enforced it nationwide. At the end of the 1970s, China’s population touched 1 billion-mark. Although this was the draconian law, it was the part of the plan to designed and control the birth rate of people in the country. In 2015, this policy expunged, but it blisteringly changed the demographics culture of China. Over the next 100 years until the year 2100 will produce an estimated 11.5 billion people. Many strategies were devised for reducing rapid population growth exclusively through family planning and strict policies from government sides in different spheres of the world but those have not been sufficient.
Pakistan was one of the first countries to launch its national population programme in 1965 and this was an ambitious step for population control.
Pakistan has become the fifth largest populace country in the world and faces different challenges inclusive unemployment, nutrition, health issues, and literacy rate, etc.
According to world meter, the rate of population in Pakistan is 221,190,207 as of Wednesday, July 29. According to the UN data, it is assumed that the growth of people in the mid of this year will be more than 220,892,340. Surprisingly, the population density in Pakistan is 287 per Km2 (742 people per mi2) which is an alarming situation for the country as a whole, the rapid growth in over-population will slow economic growth and the country may get ambidextrously growth and will become self-subsistence.
The government needs to envisage the issue and can take safety measures among the couples to implement some strong campaigns adequately. Numerous techniques which can help to control this explicit issue. Also, facilitate people by providing pertinent information about to promote family planning. Initially, some facilities must be given to the couple who do not have any child. Very stern laws must be implemented immediately regarding Population explosion.
Positive actions have already been taken by the government of Pakistan in three provinces like Punjab, KP and Sindh for girls’ educations. The purpose of these steps is to improve the life standard of people in health, education, nutrition, etc. For population control introduction of new contraceptives measurement for the poor people, and to control the birth rate at the provincial level, ladies health workers have been given the task to collect the data for population control, however, these actions need to be enhanced at urban areas.
Today, Pakistan’s population programme stands at threshold along with other programmes at social sectors. The time has come where government and non-government donor organization must cooperate to achieve tangible results for population control. The government must adopt some precautionary measurements for the over-population by undertaken necessary steps at the federal and provincial levels. They should involve many celebrities for endorsements, media campaigns for awareness, improvement of existing service quality, positive attitude among high public and political officials. Women social status and education, religious leaders voice to endorse the programme and the role of donor agencies such as World Bank and the UN, Nongovernmental Organization (NGOs along with the government of Pakistan funded the programmes for family planning (FP).
The writer is a graduate of the Strategic Studies Department at NDU, Islamabad, and can be reached at hafiznadirali7@gmail.com.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article/Opinion/Comment are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Dispatch News Desk (DND). Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of Dispatch News Desk.
