POPULATION STABILISATION
SHOULD BE A MASS MOVEMENT –
A. RAJA
WORLD
POPULATION DAY OBSERVED
Minister of State for Health and
Family Welfare, Shri A. Raja has said that children and youth
of the country can play a lead role in converting the awareness
on population stabilisation into a spontaneous mass movement.
He said that youth are the builders of the future in the country
and we need to formalize interventions to include adolescents
within the ambit of reproductive health programme. Shri Raja was
addressing the gathering on the occasion of the World Population
Day, here today.
The Minister stated that on this
day in 1987, the World’s population crossed 5 billion mark. The
India’s population has gone up to 1051 million which is a cause
of concern. The country’s population increased by of 181 million
people between 1991-2001 which is more than the population of
Brazil, the fifth most populous nation in the world. Demographers
estimate that by year 2050, India will overtake China and become
the most populous country. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous
state with 16.17% of India’s population followed by Maharashtra,
which has 9.42% of the total population now. The population of
Uttar Pradesh (166 million) is more than the estimated population
of Pakistan. With 8.7% of the total population, Bihar occupies
the third place.
The Minister later flagged off the
population race in which nearly 5000 students from various schools
and colleges took part. Famous dancer, Mrs. Shovana Narayan and
the members of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) also participated
in the run.
The World Population Day is an important
event to spread the message of population stabilisation and developing
healthy and well-educated society. To mark this day, population
races involving 45,600 school children is being organised at 36
places in different states and union territories.
