World Population Crosses 7 Billion Mark: India To Become Most Populous Nation

The world's population touched another milestone on 31 October 2011 as India welcomed the birth of baby Nargis as the "symbolic" seven billionth baby, who was born at King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
The United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), in a recent report titled “India@7 billion”, described the country as a “population billionaire”. India (with about 1.21 billion people at present) is expected to overtake China (1.34 billion) by 2025 to become the world’s most populous country. The UNPF found that the probability of the seven billionth child being born in Uttar Pradesh was high. Every minute, 51 babies are born in India, 11 of them in Uttar Pradesh.
Developing countries with higher population growth rates are often viewed as the source of an emerging environmental crisis. That perspective is narrow and flawed, given the patterns of resource consumption. China reigns as the most populous country, but India will surpass it in 2025 with 1.46 billion people, with the numbers expected to exert enormous pressure on national resources.
That 11 babies of the 51 born in India every minute are, like Baby Nargis, born in Uttar Pradesh, among the lowest ranking Indian States on the Human Development Index, highlights the imperatives for Indian planners: providing access to food, water, health, shelter, sanitation, education and jobs to all; at the same time, balancing these against scarce resources, safeguarding the environment and protecting against climate change.
The birth of Nargis has given a new resolve to her father Ajay, who now wants to work for creating awareness among the people about nurturing the girl child and wants his daughter to become a doctor.
In 2001, there were 80 million elderly people in India. Billimoria belongs to the Parsi community, which represents a separate problem of a vanishing people: Parsis now number around 60,000 in India; Kolkata counts only 600 among its residents.
The UNPF estimated that in 2001, as many as 30 million elderly lived alone. The number of elderly is expected to increase to 173 million by 2026. The other, perhaps more important, challenge is the falling sex ratio and the “vanishing” girl population. The 2011 census showed a steep fall in the sex ratio, from 927.31 girls for every 1000 boys in 2001 to 914.23 a decade later.
Global Fertility Rate
The global fertility rate - the number of children per couple - is about 2.5, but in richer countries this number has already nosedived. And while exact predictions vary, most suggest the global population will peak at about nine to 10 billion around 2070 and then start to fall, perhaps swiftly.
In fact, food Today, approximately a billion people suffer from malnutrition. Investment in agriculture is not keeping pace with population growth. Nearly 30 years ago, about 25 per cent of US foreign aid went to agriculture. It is now 1 per cent. The UNPF states that to feed the two billion more mouths predicted by 2050, food production will have to increase by 70 per cent.
However, in many nations, fertility is high because women are poor, face sexual violence and have limited access to family planning. In Kenya, says the UN, 43 per cent of pregnancies are unwanted, and at least 2,600 women die in hospitals after back-street abortions. In Somalia, where 70 per cent are under 30, only 1 per cent of married women have access to modern contraception.
Other View
Someone has rightly pointed out that individuals in poor nations need choice, not control. Where life is uncertain, people want big families because there are so many jobs to do - fetching water from distant wells, collecting firewood, tending herds. Children are the only life insurance available in your old age. When half your children die before the age of five, it makes sense to have lots. Big families are a symptom of poverty, not a cause.
Moreover, if we see history, it tells that a sustained fall in birth rates is always preceded by a significant fall in child death rates. Women in poor communities do not just need family planning they need full health services. They need rights to food, water, justice and fair wages alongside reproductive rights. Women's literacy programs are what reduce infant mortality and birth rates. That was obvious in India if you compared States like Kerala with the more impoverished northern States
India Faces Daunting Task
The one thing that is certain is there will be more mouths to feed, especially in countries with little resources. Key energy sources are unevenly distributed, with little access for the poor. China reigns as the most populous country, but India will surpass it in 2025 with 1.46 billion people. “India will continue to grow to about 1.7 billion by 2060 before beginning to decline,” the report predicts. A large chunk of the world’s population is based in these two nations.
Moreover, India's decadal population growth rate, which touched a high of over 24 per cent in the 1970s, is slowing down. According to the 2011 Census, it was 17.64 per cent in the past decade. That presents both opportunities and challenges. India will not only need to keep its young population usefully employed, but also needs to plan for an ageing population.
Demand of Situation
The population question is complex and there is no panacea for the travails of hundreds of millions of deprived citizens who need food, shelter, safe water, and energy. It is distressing that more than 800 million people live in slums and a similar number, mostly women, are not literate. In the popular imagination, growing populations can only have a negative outcome, depleting scarce resources faster — more so in an era of economic uncertainty.

Vietnamese Economic Growth

Economic growth is set to reach between 7 and 7.5 percent annually during the 2011-15 period. The growth of industrial and construction value is to rise between 7.8 and 8 percent in each of the next five years, while agricultural growth is to increase 2.6-3 percent. Agriculture is set to comprise 17-18 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP); the industry-construction sector, 41-42 percent, and services 41-42 percent. High-tech and high-tech application products are expected to account for 35 percent of GDP. Trained workers will account for 55 percent of the workforce. Export revenues are set to increase by 12 percent annually while trade deficits will be reduced to achieve a balance of trade by 2020. Social investment is set to comprise 40 percent of GDP on average over the next five years. Tax collection for the State budget is to reach 23-24 percent of GDP.
Budget Deficit
The budget deficit is to decrease to 4.5 percent of GDP by 2015. Eight million new jobs will be created. The agricultural, forestry, and fisheries sector will employ 40-41 percent of the workforce by 2015. Rural incomes are set to increase between 1.8 and 2 times over the 2010 figures. Population growth rate is set at 1 percent by 2015. Per-capita GDP is to reach $2,000 by 2015. Life expectancy is to reach 74 years by 2015. Poverty rate under the new criteria is to be lowered by 2 percent annually. Forest cover is to expand to between 42 and 43 percent by 2015.
Major Tasks
The Party in the 11th term, on the basis of consensus and leadership, aims to execute its views and tasks in all aspects stated in the political report, focus on leadership, and generate radical changes while carrying out these following major tasks:
* To strengthen the Party's leadership and combat capacity;
* To speed up administrative reforms, especially administrative procedures related to business operation and activities as well as people's daily life.
* To improve the quality of human resources in order to meet demands of industrialization, modernization and global integration of the nation.
* To build a synchronous infrastructure system, especially an efficient traffic system to replace an inadequate system which has caused rampant traffic jams, hampered economic growth, and stirred public anxiety.
* To improve wage policies, distribution and incomes of public employees and white and blue-collar workers, while overcoming the current unreasonable and negative impact of the existing wage and salary policies.
* To focus on solving a number of pressing social issues (degrading morality and lifestyle, social evils, and social order and discipline);
* To strengthen and increase the efficiency of the fight against corruption and waste to prevent and push back these evils.
* Approving the report on self-criticism of the leadership by the Party Central Committee, the 10th tenure, submitted at the 11th National Party Congress. Assigning the Party Central Committee, the 11th term, to receive the opinions of the National Congress in order to promote the strong points and adjust the weaknesses, improve the quality and efficiency of the leadership in the coming term.
* Approving the entire Communist Party of Vietnam Statute which has been amended.
* Approving the election results of the Party Central Committee which includes 200 comrades, of which 175 are official members and 25 are alternate members.
* Assigning the Party Central Committee, 11th term, and Party committees and organizations at all levels to develop programs of action and plans in order to work out the details and successfully carry out the policies and guidelines prescribed in the documents of the 11th Party Congress.
* The 11th National Party Congress calls on the entire Party, people, army, and overseas Vietnamese to continue to uphold the glorious tradition of the nation and Party and promote patriotism, self-reliance and persistence in pursuing national independence and socialism. The Congress also calls for dynamism and innovation as well as great efforts to fulfill the resolutions of the 11th Party Congress. Party leadership and fighting capacity should be promoted, national unity strengthened, and the renewal process accelerated in a comprehensive way in order to lay a foundation for the nation to become a modern industrialized economy by 2020 for the sake of a wealthy people, a strong nation, democracy, justice, civilization, and firmly heading toward socialism.

New National Procurement Policy

The federal government has approved a procurement policy under which state-run departments and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) will give preference to micro and small entrepreneurs (MSEs), including those belonging to the Scheduled SC/ST category. The policy has set an annual target of 20 per cent procurement for the federal government departments and public sector units from MSMEs.
Within this limit, four per cent of the orders should be placed with “Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST)” entrepreneurs and 16 per cent for others.
The PSUs are expected to buy goods worth Rs 35,000 crore from the MSMEs, of which a business of Rs 7,000 crore would go to units belonging to “scheduled castes and tribes.”
However, the procurement policy would be voluntary in nature for three years and made mandatory after that. After it becomes mandatory, non-conforming departments will be required to provide reasons for not meeting the targets to a review committee.
Formation of Grievance Cell
Micro, small and medium enterprises, which account for 45 per cent of the country’s manufacturing output and 40 per cent of exports, have also been hit by rising input costs and interest rates. The sector employs 60 million people in 26 million units producing over 6,000 products.
The federal ministries and public sector units will continue to procure 358 items from MSMEs, which have been reserved for exclusive purchase from them on a continuous basis and for monitoring and review of the Public Procurement Policy for MSEs. In addition, a ‘Grievance Cell' would be set up in the Ministry of MSME for redressing the grievances of MSEs in government procurement.
For enhancing participation by enterprises belonging to “scheduled castes and tribes” in government procurement, the central ministries/public sector units will take necessary steps including organizing special vendor development programmes and buyer-seller meets.
Avenue for Increased Consumption of MSME Products
The clearance of the public procurement policy will offer a much needed and less optimally used avenue for increased consumption of MSME products by government departments and PSUs.
More importantly, it will signal a message of confidence and faith in the potential and capabilities of the MSME sector, according to the apex industry chamber.
According to a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) study on worldwide procurement policies, many countries around the world have formulated such policies which have enabled small and medium enterprises to compete even in adverse economic conditions.In India, public sector units procuring a percentage of their goods from MSMEs was not mandatory, but this policy would help transform the authorities’ mindset that goods manufactured by micro, small and medium enterprises are good enough for public sector undertakings and the government.