Gandhinagar: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said that India's population is declining due to education, social awareness, and prosperity. At an event in Gujarat, where he launched the Gujarati translation of his book, 'The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World', he discussed India's population and said, "The growth rate of the Indian population is declining. The reason for this is there is education, social awareness, and prosperity. With the passage of time the size of the family is small among each of us."
Since its independence, India has seen a drastic change in its demographic structure. It has gone through a population explosion (Census 1951) and a decline in the total fertility rate has also been observed. At the same time, various mortality indicators have improved, but there are still some barriers to achieving the demographic dividend in terms of improving living standards, providing skills and training, and creating jobs.
The UN World Population Prospects (WPP), 2022 predicts that India will overtake China to become the most populous country with a population of 140 million by 2023. At present, India has 17.5 percent of the world's population. India is projected to reach 150 crore by 2030 and 166 crore by 2050.
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"...Forcible population control can have very dangerous consequences, it can create gender imbalance," Jaishankar said. In 2021, India's total fertility rate (TFR) fell below the replacement level of fertility (that is, 2.1 children per woman) to two. Jaishankar also highlighted India's independent foreign policy, which has been transformed under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“For some political reasons, we had to restrict ourselves from enhancing ties with Israel. PM Modi was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel… Gone are the times when we can separate national interest for vote bank politics," External Affairs Minister Jaishankar said. Appreciating PM Modi's initiative in foreign policy, he said, "I would envy the person who will be the foreign minister in 2047, but I will tell you one thing, being the foreign minister of the Narendra Modi government is also of a great strength, confidence and attitude, and the world is recognizing that."
Foreign policy did very well during the first term of the Modi government. There were hardly, if any, wrong moves. Across the board, starting with the idea of a 'neighbourhood first' policy and building strategic partners, Prime Minister Modi, and his personal approach of reaching out to various stakeholders, has paid off huge dividends. (ANI)
