Population policy and Family Planning ( Sociology Optional)

Every day we add 227,000 more people to the planet and the UN predicts human population will surpass 11 billion by the end of the century.
As the world's population grows, so do its demands for water, land, trees and fossil fuels all of which come at a steep price for already endangered plants and animals.
Thus, measures to control this increasing population is need of the hour.

Thinker’s and organisational views

Berelson (1971) defines population policy as any ‘''actions by government, whether statements of position, laws, decrees, or administrative programmes” when they are directed towards the human population.
Driver (1972) has described all “direct and indirect measures” of a government which influence the “size, distribution, or composition of human population” as a population policy.
The United Nations Population Commission (1974) defined such a policy as “measures and programmes designed to contribute to the achievement of economic, social, demographic, political and other collective goals through affecting critical demographic variables, namely, the size, and growth of population, its geographical distribution (national and international) and its demographic characteristics”.
Demeny (2003) summarised these views in his definition of these policies as the ones that “are deliberately constructed or modified institutional arrangements and/or specific programs through which governments influence, directly or indirectly, demographic change”

Malthus believed that through preventative checks and positive checks, the population would be controlled to balance the food supply with the population level.
Malthus then argued that because there will be a higher population than the availability of food, many people will die from the shortage of food. He theorized that this correction would take place in the form of Positive Checks (or Natural Checks) and Preventative Checks. These checks would lead to the Malthusian catastrophe, which would bring the population level back to a ‘sustainable level.’

A. Positive Checks or Natural Checks

He believed that natural forces would correct the imbalance between food supply and population growth in the form of natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes and human-made actions such as wars and famines.

B. Preventative Checks

To correct the imbalance, Malthus also suggested using preventative measures to control the growth of the population. These measures include family planning, late marriages, and celibacy. Preventive checksare voluntary actions people can take to avoid contributing to the population.

Population change often has weighty consequences throughout a society. Not just Population growth, but population decline is also a concern.
Growing population brings changes in social values and beliefs, cultural behavior, traditions and customs of the society. It also affects the marriage patterns, festival, dresses, ornaments and thinking of the people.
Whereas declining population creates increase in dependency ratio, reduces the demographic dividend, loss of culture and the diminishment of trust amongst citizens etc.
India faces an issue of overpopulation in general. Due to this various socio economic issues are also prevalent in India.

These Issues are: