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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

02/02/24 08:55 AM IST

Committee will study ‘fast population growth’ and demographic changes

In News
  • A high powered committee will be constituted to consider the challenges arising from “fast population growth and demographic changes”.
Fertility rate dropping
  • India has not had a Census since 2011.
  • The latest Sample Registration System (SRS) report for the year 2020 said that the total fertility fate (TFR), or the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime, has actually dropped to 2, from 2.1 in 2019.
  • The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 for 2019 to 2021, released in May 2022, stated that the TFR has further declined from 2.2 to 2 at the national level, in comparison to the last such survey held in 2015 and 2016.
  • NFHS-5 said that there are only five outlier States which have a TFR above the replacement level of 2.1 — Bihar (2.98), Meghalaya (2.91), Uttar Pradesh (2.35), Jharkhand (2.26), and Manipur (2.17).
  • The NFHS data does not give a complete picture as its sample size is too low and the survey is spread over many years. 
  • The NFHS-5 was conducted over a period of two years and the data cannot be said to be statistically sound.
Demographic security concerns
  • At the annual Director General of Police (DGP) conference in 2021, police officers from Uttar Pradesh and Assam submitted a research paper flagging concerns about demographic changes in districts along the international border with Nepal and Bangladesh.
  • The officers highlighted an increase in the number of mosques and seminaries, as well as a high decadal growth in population in these areas.
  • The Assam police paper said that the decadal growth in population, between 2011 and 2021, within 10 km of the Bangladesh border stood at 31.45%, which is higher than the projected national and State averages of 12.5% and 13.54% respectively.
  • The 2011 Census reflected the demographic changes and the “demographic balance has changed in Bengal and Assam leading to revolt among the people, voting pattern has changed in the neighbouring border districts … the government thinking was that this notification can help in catching the infiltrators.
  • The Uttar Pradesh police paper said that out of 1,047 villages in the seven border districts of Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Balrampur, Bahraich, Shravasti, Pilibhit, and Khiri, 303 villages had a Muslim population between 30% and 50%, while 116 villages had a Muslim population of more than 50%.
Source- The Hindu

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