MOST developed nations are worried about their dwindling populations, along with the growing number of seniors. They see their future as uncertain. Therefore, they have embarked upon the path of solving the problem of their stagnant or dwindling populations by various means. Many countries have eased their migration/ immigration laws, allowing work visas to outsiders who fulfil their criteria.

Contrary to this, Pakistan is facing the problem of rapid population growth. This has been termed a ticking time bomb, having a high risk of imminent explosion. Others have declared rapid population growth as the mother of all problems. Feeding their entire population is amongst the greatest challenges every government faces. In the Global Hunger Index, Pakistan is ranked 99th out of 121 countries due to the rapid growth of its population. This condition is likely to get worse with unbridled and unplanned population growth.

Population is a valuable resource of a country, provided its growth is planned. Unchecked growth has been responsible for many of our economic and social issues. The youth segment is considered to be the driving force of a country. But young people are in search of greener pastures overseas, sometimes falling victim to human trafficking. Not too long ago, hundreds of people lost their lives in the open sea when an overloaded boat sank off the Greek coast. Many of the victims were from Pakistan and were trying to make it to Europe illegally.

Many experts suggest that the government should focus on population control, otherwise, all developmental efforts would prove futile. Moreover, the youth need to be nurtured via skill-oriented education. They have a passion to acquire new skills and pursue higher education. The government should, therefore, engage them in nation-building. But unfortunately, our performance in educating our population and providing employment has remained dismal. Many youths are disappointed with the recent economic meltdown. The promise of jobs has remained a pipe dream. Increasing population at the present speed might foil our entire planning efforts.

The state should guide people on the ideal family size.

In order to make Pakistan a country of opportunity, where our youths may find an attractive future, with jobs of their choice, the government should reset its focus on engaging the youth and controlling the excessive population. The Holy Quran says “Verily! Allah does not change a people’s condition unless they change their inner selves” (13:11).

The government may guide people about the ideal size of a family and make them realise the importance of smaller families. It should start a fully fledged drive to convince the masses that an unbridled increase in population numbers is not in the interest of the country. In an ideal family setting, children get enough attention, quality time, love, guidance and patronage. But when the family size is large, the parents may not be able to pay the required attention to each child. Consequently, young ones feel alienated and develop behavioural problems. The Holy Quran directs believers to ward off your families from a fire whose fuel is men and stones (66:6).

As experts have noted, “families are self-stabilising systems, with members interacting and exerting influence to preserve and maintain stability in the face of perturbation”. But when the family size is large and parents do not pay the required attention to their offspring, there are chances of children developing negative traits. Sometimes, they turn recalcitrant and create problems in society.

Uncontrolled population growth needs to be tackled jointly by the government and the people on a war footing. A country becomes developed when the government and its people jointly work on a national agenda. Here, uncontrolled population growth is the main hindrance in our national development. Large-size families may devour familial and national resources with little contribution. They tend to create immense pressure on the food supply as well as health and educational facilities. The rapidly growing population also contributes to scarcity and depletion of natural resources including water, forests, clean air, etc.

Recently, the government constituted a national health and population advisory committee to deal with health- and population-related matters and reforms. The committee will play a role in bringing funding for population control. This is a laudable effort. Just as the government is distributing laptops to the youth or paying money under BISP to the poor, it can also encourage people to adhere to a smaller family size and get monetary rewards. Besides, it should make family planning clinics active and contraceptives widely available, as well as increase awareness among the masses about this key issue.

The writer is an educationist with an interest in religion.
valianiamin@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2023