Population of India:

Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world's land area, it supports over 15% of
the world's population. Only China has a larger population. Almost 40% of Indians
are younger than 15 years of age. About 70% of the people live in more than
550,000 villages, and the remainder in more than 200 towns and cities. Over
thousands of years of its history, India has been invaded from the Iranian plateau,
Central Asia, Arabia, Afghanistan, and the West; Indian people and culture have
absorbed and changed these influences to produce a remarkable racial and cultural
synthesis.

Religion, caste, and language are major determinants of social and political
organization in India today. The government has recognized 18 languages as official;
Hindi is the most widely spoken.

Although 83% of the people are Hindu, India also is the home of more than 120
million Muslims--one of the world's largest Muslim populations. The population also
includes Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Parsis.

The caste system reflects Indian occupational and religiously defined hierarchies.
Traditionally, there are four broad categories of castes (varnas), including a category
of outcastes, earlier called "untouchables" but now commonly referred to as "dalits."

Within these broad categories there are thousands of castes and subcastes , whose
relative status varies from region to region.

Despite economic modernization and laws countering discrimination against the

lower end of the class structure, the caste system remains an important source of
social identification for most

Hindus and a potent factor in the political life of the country.

India Population : The 1991 final census count gave India a total population of
846,302,688. However, estimates of India's population vary widely. According to the
Population Division of the United Nations Department of International Economic and
Social Affairs, the population had already reached 866 million in 1991. The
Population Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific (ESCAP) projected 896.5 million by mid-1993 with a 1.9 percent
annual growth rate. The United States Bureau of the Census, assuming an annual
population growth rate of 1.8 percent, put India's population in July 1995 at
936,545,814. These higher projections merit attention in light of the fact that the
Planning Commission had estimated a figure of 844 million for 1991 while preparing
the Eighth Five-Year Plan (FY 1992-96; see Population Projections, this ch.).

India accounts for some 2.4 percent of the world's landmass but is home to about 16
percent of the global population. The magnitude of the annual increase in population
can be seen in the fact that India adds almost the total population of Australia or Sri
Lanka every year. A 1992 study of India's population notes that India has more
people than all of Africa and also more than North America and South America
together. Between 1947 and 1991, India's population more than doubled.

Population projections

• 2010: 1,173,108,000
• 2020: 1,326,093,000
• 2030: 1,460,743,000
• 2040: 1,571,715,000
• 2050: 1,656,554,000

2020 Estimate

Year Under 15 15–64 65+ Total

2000 361 604 45 1010
2005 368 673 51 1093
2010 370 747 58 1175
2015 372 819 65 1256
2020 373 882 76 1331
Cause of Population:

Information collected from research articles and newspapers.

"Census of India-2001 Report: The total population of India as at 0:00 hours on 1st March 2001 stood at
1,027,015,247 persons. With this, India became only the second country in the world after China to cross
the one billion mark. The population of the country rose by 21.34 % between 1991 - 2001. The sex ratio (i.e.,
number of females per thousand males) of population was 933, rising from 927 as at the 1991 Census. Total
literacy rate was returned as 65.38%."

"At district level the North East district in Union territory Delhi has the highest population density in the
country with 29395 persons per square kilometer."

"The population clock in the Union Health Ministry, Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi, now ticks at the rate of 31
persons per minute. The clock shows that about 44,640 babies are born in India everyday. "

"In the last several decades, fertility control policies in India have failed to promote a sustainable solution to
the problem of overpopulation. What factors have caused these efforts to fall short? "

"Currently the sex ratio is 960 women for every 1,000 men - a statistic that the UN says reflects the lower
status of women in India, who are more likely to be deprived of food, education and health services. "

"The prominence of female sterilization indicates another flaw in the India population control strategies. By
targeting women instead of men, the government inadvertently opts for the more hazardous means of birth
control. "

"Population in itself is NOT the problem. Lack of basic education and poor economic conditions are. You
cannot solve the population problem by clinics. Your assumption that people have no access to family
planning methods is only partly true and in any case is not the root of the problem. Population has remained
a problem because EDUCATION continues to be a problem. "

"The fast rate of growth of population has affected the quality of life of the people. The time has come when
future citizens while in educational institutions should understand various issues related to the population
problem."

"In some places there is no drinking water. People started migrating to cities where they can get some water
and work. People will start fighting for food, water and place to live."

"The birth rate in India (31 per thousand people) is greater than that of China (20 per thousand people). If
this trend continues, India will beat up China by 2025.A.D."
Unemployment:

The problem of unemployment is the most serious problem facing our country. A large
number of educated and uneducated people loiter about in search of some job. They are
willing to work but they cannot get it. There is unemployment in cities, towns and even in
villages. There are two types of unemployment in India : partial unemployment and full
time unemployment.

There are many causes of unemployment in India. The greatest cause of unemployment
is the overpopulation of the country. The population of the country is increasing fast but
the jobs cannot be increased in that proportion. So a large number of people remain
unemployed. Another cause of unemployment in our defective system of education. The
present education is bookish. It should be job-oriented. It does not prepare students for
life. Every young man of today is suitable only for a white collar job.

At the completion of education, students dream of Govt. jobs, they rush for Govt. jobs.
They are least interested in self-employment because some of the youth see more respect,
glamour and comfort in jobs while some seek challenges in jobs. Prevailing corruption in
our society is also one of the cause of unemployment. Machines are also responsible for
the problem of unemployment. The machines are labour-saving device. These machines
throw thousands of persons out of work. People rush to cities in search of employment.
The result is that the cottage industries which provide employment to many, are impaired.
Gandhiji warned the people against industrialization, "India needs not mass production
but production by the masses."

There should be a check on the rapid growth of population. The program of family
planning should be made more popular in rural areas. All efforts should be made in this
direction. The system of education should be changed. Importance should be given to
technical and vocational education. Education should be sound and practical.
Government should create more jobs for the educated unemployment.

Cottage and small-scale industries should be developed. We should lessen the use of
labour-saving machines. Banks should advance loans to the youths to set up small
industries. Luckily our government is fully alive to this problem. Technical and
vocational colleges are being opened. Cottage and handloom industries are being
encouraged. Efforts to control population are being made. Irrigation and other multi-
purpose projects are increasing. These steps will help a lot in solving the problem of
unemployment.

An empty mind is the devil's workshop. An unemployment person is a nuisance to the

society. A hungry man can do any wrong. Therefore, it is the duty of the government to
solve the problem of unemployment as early as possible. Government should encourage
policies of self-employment. In this regard govt. policies should be liberalized.

Population, Labour Force and Employment

(Million)
8th Plan 9th Plan 10th Plan
1978 (a) 1983 (b) 1994 (a)
(1992-97) (f) (1997-02) (f) (2002-07) (f)

718.2 895.0 951.2 1028.9 1112.9

Population (c) 637.6
(2.19) (2.12) (1.89) (1.58) (1.58)
286.6 368.5
Labour Force 255.8 374.2 423.4 478.8
(2.09) (2.42)
281.2 361.5
Employment 249.1 367.2 416.4 474.7 (d)
(2.23) (2.42)
Unemployment 6.7 5.4 7.0 7.0 7.0 4.1 (e)
Rate (%) 2.63 1.89 1.89 1.87 1.66 0.86 (e)
Notes:
1. Estimates of labour force and employment are on usual status concept and pertain to 15 years
and above.
2. Figures in brackets are compound growth rates in the preceding period.

(a) As on 1st January

(b) As on 1st July
(c) Population at the terminal year of the plan
(d) Required to attain near full employment.
(e) Unemployment reduces to negligible level by the year 2007
(f) Labour force, employment and unemployment are stated as annual averages during the Plan period
Poverty in India

Poverty is widespread in India, with the nation estimated to have a third of the world's
poor. World Bank estimates, 80% of India's population lives on less than $2 a day.[1]
According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 41% of India falls below the international
poverty line of US$ 1.25 a day (PPP, in nominal terms 21.6 a day in urban areas and
14.3 in rural areas); having reduced from 60% in 1981.[2]

According to the criterion used by the Planning Commission of India 27.5% of the
population was living below the poverty line in 2004–2005, down from 51.3% in 1977–
1978, and 36% in 1993-1994.[3] A study by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development
Initiative using a Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) found that there were 645
million[4] poor living under the MPI in India, 421 million of whom are concentrated in
eight North India and East India states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. This number is higher than
the 410 million poor living in the 26 poorest African nations.[5]

Estimates by NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research), show that 48%
of the Indian households earn more than 90,000 (US$1,953) annually (or more than
US$3 PPP per person). According to NCAER, in 2009, of the 222 million households in
India, the absolutely poor households (annual incomes below 45,000) accounted for
only 15.6 % of them or about 35 million (about 200 million Indians). Another 80 million
households are in income levels of 45,000-90,000 per year.[6]

Since the 1950s, the Indian government and non-governmental organizations have
initiated several programs to alleviate poverty, including subsidizing food and other
necessities, increased access to loans, improving agricultural techniques and price
supports, and promoting education and family planning. These measures have helped
eliminate famines, cut absolute poverty levels by more than half, and reduced illiteracy
and malnutrition.[7]
Slums:

The origin of the word slum is thought to be the Irish phrase 'S lom é (pron. s'lum ae)
meaning "it is a bleak or destitute place."[10] An 1812 English dictionary defined slum to
mean "a room". By the 1920s it had become a common slang expression in England,
meaning either various taverns and eating houses, "loose talk" or gypsy language, or a
room with "low going-ons". In Life in London Pierce Egan used the word in the context
of the "back slums" of Holy Lane or St Giles. A footnote defined slum to mean "low,
unfrequent parts of the town". Charles Dickens used the word slum in a similar way in
1840, writing "I mean to take a great, London, back-slum kind walk tonight". Slum began
to be used to describe bad housing soon after and was used as alternative expression for
rookeries.[11] In 1850 Cardinal Wiseman described the area known as Devil's Acre in
Westminster, London as follows:

"Close under the Abbey of Westminster there lie concealed labyrinths of lanes and
courts, and alleys and slums, nests of ignorance, vice, depravity, and crime, as well as of
squalor, wretchedness, and disease; whose atmosphere is typhus, whose ventilation is
cholera; in which swarms of huge and almost countless population, nominally at least,
Catholic; haunts of filth, which no sewage committee can reach - dark corners, which no
lighting board can brighten."[12]

This passage was widely quoted in the national press,[13] leading to the popularisation of
the word slum to describe bad housing.[14][15]

Other terms that are often used interchangeably with "slum" include shanty town, favela,
skid row, barrio, and ghetto although each of these may have a somewhat different
meaning. Slums are distinguished from shanty towns and favelas in that the latter initially
are low-class settlements, whereas slums are generally constructed early on as relatively
affluent or possibly a prestigious communities. The term "shanty town" also suggests that
the dwellings are improvised shacks, made from scrap materials, and usually without
proper sanitation, electricity, or telephone services. Skid row refers to an urban area with
a high homeless population and a term is most commonly used in the United States.
Barrio may refer to an upper-class area in some Spanish-speaking countries and is used to
describe only a low-class community in the United States. Ghetto refers to a
neighbourhood based on shared ethnicity. By contrast, identification of an area as a slum
is based solely on socio-economic criteria, not on racial, ethnic, or religious criteria.
Land: