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Kathmandu Friday July 13, 2001 Ashadh 29, 2058.
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Population
quandary
Celebrating international population
day has turned out to be nothing more than an annual ritual, more so
in least developed countries like Nepal. Though July 11 comes every
year with new slogans, its underlying message is yet to strike the
right chord. This year too, the population report on Nepal is far from
reassuring. Once again, alarm bells are ringing, and in a more
melancholic tone. Not that our people are oblivious of the population
explosion. No special arithmetic is needed, it is there for one and
all, including political bigwigs and policy makers, to see and feel.
With unfailing regularity, the United Nations Population Fund releases
an annual report on world population. But even before it fulfils this
obligation, most know what is in store. The latest figures put the
world population at an astronomical 6.1 billion, and growing at the
rate of 77 million per year. Back home, the picture is even more
horrifying. Over the last three decades, Nepal’s population has
doubled, and is all set to reach 24 million this year. This
unprecedented growth far outweighs any progress made in the
socio-economic sector. With 300 thousand people entering the job
market
every year, and the official under-employment rate pitched as high as
47 percent, the plight of the economy can easily be imagined. Things
are bad not only on the economic front. Along with this come other
evils that drive men to crime and women to shame. Poverty alleviation
figures high on the government agenda, but without attacking the root
causes of population growth from strategic positions, it will only be
an exercise in futility. Population boom perpetuates poverty,
and poverty in turn perpetuates the population explosion. It is a
vicious wheel of poverty and population. And breaking such a cycle in
one of the world's poorest countries is indeed a Herculean task.
A total break, that too in the near future, is like hoping
against hope. But if better sense prevails among our
policymakers and they really gear up, there are modest chances of
checking the spiralling numbers.
Small beginnings have great endings.
Women’s empowerment can be a wise start off point. Empowering women
is not all about reserving special seats in parliament, as some social
activists seem to understand. It calls for economic independence and
decision making powers that only good education, social reform and
political rights can provide. And more importantly, without equipping
them with the freedom of reproductive choice, population growth will
continue. Unless women are given the right to decide on the
number and spacing of their children, the population menace
cannot find an effective exit. Much has been written and said about
women’s rights, and all civil societies and political parties have
chipped in with their pieces of wisdom on this burning issue.
Ironically, the women’s property rights amendment bill is
still gathering dust in parliament. Given such an attitude among our
legislators, nothing much can be expected when it comes to enhancing
women’s status. Besides, there is also the pestering problem of the
open border with India. Since this is truly a political problem, many
political leaders have tried to manoeuvre it in their own style. That
may have helped them score political points, but not in checking
cross-border migration and the adverse effects of this on employment
opportunities. Growing internal migration in search of better
opportunities, and the resultant imbalance in regional development and
resource allocation are other contributing factors to the population
hazard. Prevalent socio-economic ills, and poor health services in
remote areas have also served to aggravate the problem. Awareness
building and family planning programmes, mostly funded by donor
agencies, tend to revolve around Kathmandu Valley and adjoining
districts. Despite well-drafted policies and programmes, hundreds of
thousands of Nepalis remain unaffected. What went wrong? Competence,
commitment and implementation. Hopefully, the recently
released Human Development Report and the world population report will
prick the conscience of our policymakers, before things spin out of
control.
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