'Population explosion affects progress'

Students take out jatha in districts; awareness among ruralites stressed

MLA M K Somashekar said that population explosion had been the reason for all the problems and it was even hindering development.

He was speaking at World Population Day organised by the district administration, Zilla Panchayat and District Health and Family Welfare Department, in Mysore, on Thursday. He said that illiteracy, superstitions and lack of awareness had resulted in an increase in population. “There is need for awareness among women,” he added.

Dr S M Malegowda, District Health Officer, said that the population in the country was increasing by one crore people every year. “If the scenario continued, the country would have 240 crore population in the next 40 years,” he added.

Earlier, awareness jatha was taken out from St Theresa Church.

In Chamarajanagar Deputy Commissioner M V Savitri said though the government had been introducing various programmes to control the population level, it was not successful due to lack of awareness.

Speaking at a programme organised as part of World Population Day, organised by district administration, Zilla Panchayat, and Department of Health and Family Welfare at J H Patel auditorium, she attributed slow development of the country to population explosion.

The next generation should be aware of the consequences and put a hold on increasing population level. The day should be observed as Population control day, she suggested.

India’s population may exceed China’s population by 2032. The reason for financial crisis, poverty, lack of housing and medical facilities was due to population explosion. Good health, education and lifestyle were the important factors for development of country. Achieving 100 per cent literacy was the solution to the problem.

DHO and Family Welfare Officer Dr N Ramesh Babu said there was a rise of 5.77 percent population as per the 2011 census. The district was in the first place in the last three years in controlling population under Family welfare programme, he added.

IN Hassan, ZP president Ambika Ramakrishna said that the child marriage practice, which was still highly prevalent was the reasons for rise in population level. Speaking at a programme as part of population day in Hassan on Thursday, she said there was a need to create awareness on the same among the rural counterparts. This could be achieved by providing higher education to girl children. MLA H S Prakash opined that the government should implement stern measures to control the population level. Various government projects are not able to be implemented due to higher population level. The government should make an announcement that various government benefits will be cut for those with more than one child, he added.