Population — A liability or an asset?

Strap: Experts discuss its pros & cons at Pushpa Gujral Science City

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 11

A lecture was organised on the occasion of World Population Day by the Pushpa Gujral Science City on “Global population issues and their impact on environment”. Around 100 school & college students participated in the event through virtual mode. The theme of this year’s event is ‘The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on fertility'. Under the same theme, the issue of ‘Rights and choices are the answer: Whether baby boom or bust, the solution to shifting fertility rates lies in prioritising the reproductive health and rights of all people’ is being discussed globally. The United Nations has sent up the UNFPA (United Nations Fund for Population Activities, now known as United Nations Population Fund) and a population division to plan programmes to highlight and disseminate information on issues related to population.

Dr Neelima Jerath, Director General, Science City, in her introductory remarks on the occasion, said population growth has both negative and positive impacts on the society. Whereas on one hand, population explosion can lead to over-exploitation of resources, create resource crunch for present and future generations, affect age structure of a country, lead to local and international migration and cause economic inequality thus compromising sustainability; however, on the other side, it can provide a country with a large workforce which can help increase its commercial output and productivity, innovative potential, tax base and consumer spending, thus creating an impetus for the economy. Low population growth in high-income countries is likely to create social and economic problems while high population growth in low-income countries may slow their development.

However, it is largely accepted that population growth constantly acts as a hurdle in effectively addressing the problem of poverty, hunger and malnutrition and in providing the better quality of health and education, with limited resources. Covid-19 has accentuated these challenges and also raised concerns on the timely attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is therefore important to understand that in order to have a better future for all on a healthy planet, attainment of the SDGs is critical. Hence, providing adequate education and training to the large young population would ensure them to be productive, effective and competent, thereby proving themselves as key contributors for the achievement of these SDGs.

Dr Parmil Kumar, Associate Professor, Department of Statistics, University of Jammu, was the key speaker at the occasion. Delivering his talk, he said the main objective of celebrating this day is to raise awareness of global population issues and its impact on environment, natural resources and human beings.

Dr Rajesh Grover, Director, Science City said overpopulation was a crucial issue considering depletion of world resources at an unsustainable rate.

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