- The two are closely inter-linked
Pakistan’s exploding population, like its sharply declining water resources, are red flags that can turn into existential threats in the future, but the approach of successive governments, political parties, and myriad concerned departments has been, and still remains one of, ‘seeing but not perceiving’, and ‘hearing but not heeding’, resulting in the present severe gravity of the situation. The CJP has already highlighted the water scarcity issue, which has raised public awareness, if not so far redoubled government efforts for building dams and reservoirs for storage of the precious life-bestowing liquid. Now the same crusading spirit has been carried over to the country’s population boom, or rather ‘bust’, in a suo moto case taken up by a three-member Supreme Court Bench, in which major stakeholders duly participate, to reduce the galloping birth rate which practically wipes out the positive impact of any economic gains, and adversely affects human development indicators, particularly in the educational, employment and health sectors.
The apex court’s primary concerns are government’s formulation of a uniform and effective population control policy encompassing the entire country, tackling the uphill task on a war-footing, and so on Tuesday’s hearing, a list of recommendations for Council of Common Interests approval within 10 days was presented, which included establishment of provincial/federal task force, family planning initiatives, apart from holding a public awareness seminar soon. Muslim countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh and Iran have successfully curbed their populations by emphasising the economic and social benefits of a small family from mosque pulpits. Pakistan too needs to invest in educating the parent’s, starting right down from the welfare and health centres. Pakistan’s present population of 207.8 million and annual growth rate of 2.4 percent will turn it into the world’s fourth populous country by 2030, a dubious distinction considering its lack of resources, its 147th ranking in Human Development Index, abysmal literacy rate of 58 percent and fear of mass unemployment among youth, which now constitutes 60 percent of the population. An interesting aspect of the equation is that economic prosperity often tends to bring about a corresponding decline in fertility rates, while China’s extreme one-child policy (from 1980-2016) has played a not inconsiderable role in its rapid economic rise.
