Population Explosion – Newspaper – DAWN.COM

THIS is in reference to the editorial ‘Population Disaster’ (July 22). The population of the area comprising West Pakistan at the time of partition was about 33 million. Now the rampant population is conservatively predicted to cross 400 million by the time we celebrate the centenary. During this long journey of 77 years, we have not added, conquered or taken possession of any additional land area to cultivate it for agricultural produce to achieve food security. In fact, in many places the rich cultivable land has been encroached upon by the land mafia.

Simply put, the land area has remained the same at 881,913 square kilometers, but the population has already increased by about 218 million.

Similarly, the population density of 308.01 per square kilometre in 2024 compared to 47.35 in 1950 is completely out of proportion to the available resources.

The above is a good example of the Malthusian theory of exponential population growth compared to arithmetic food supply growth. In Europe, when population grew rapidly, food supply also increased simultaneously due to technological developments, whereas in Pakistan this has never been the case. The recent import of wheat, to give one example, is before us all.

Because there are so many people to feed and resources are scarce, there is infant mortality, low birth weight babies, malnutrition and undernourishment.

Utrition and growth retardation are common in 40 percent of newborns and infants in their formative years. As a result, the same deficiencies are reflected and carried over as they grow up.

Since the 1960s, every government has tried everything to curb population growth. But all these efforts seem to be in vain.

Unfortunately, growth is still hovering around 2.5 percent according to the latest digital census from 2023, while in the region it is around 1 to 1.1 percent.

Policymakers need to re-examine the population planning program and the right to reproductive health. At the same time, they need to find out what went wrong in the past and what remedial measures need to be taken to prevent such problems.

Khaled
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, September 16, 2024