Expressing concern over the “rising population” and “population imbalance”, the Chief Minister, on the occasion of World Population Day, said that along with population control, efforts should be made to maintain the demographic balance in all communities.

“Vast differences in growth rates of different religious groups (religious demographic imbalance) may cause chaos and anarchy in the country. It should not happen that the speed/percentage of population growth of any one class is more whereas the natives should be made conscious to control the population through efforts of stabilisation.

In countries with higher populations, the demographic imbalance becomes a matter of concern. Therefore, all religions, classes, and sectors should be equally added to the efforts of population stabilisation. The challenge of demographic imbalance should not arise anywhere, he added.

Kicking off the Population Stabilisation fortnight in the state on Monday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath presented ‘shagun kits’ to the newlyweds and also formally launched family planning services through teleconsultation at health and wellness centres in Uttar Pradesh.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said, “We face another challenge when we often talk of controlling maternal-child mortality, preventing maternal anemia. That is, both maternal and infant mortality rates are high in a particular category. If the time interval between the birth of two children is less, it will also affect the maternal and infant mortality rate and society will also have to pay its price.”

Maintaining the mass awareness programs of the population stabilisation that have been going on for the last five decades, has yielded good results, the CM said a huge population is also a resource. But this achievement is only possible when people are healthy. Where there is a lack of medical resources, and diseases prevailing, population growth is a big challenge. World Population Day exemplifies this challenge.

The Chief Minister said that it took lakhs of years for humans to reach 100 crores but only 183-185 years to reach 100 to 500 crores. If the growth rate remains this way, by the end of this year, the world’s population is expected to be 800 crores.

“India has a population of 135-140 crore and Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state with over 24 crores people, which is going to cross the mark of 25 crores in no time. This speed is a challenge. We have to make efforts for its control/stabilisation,” he stated.

The CM went on to say that awareness is of utmost importance in achieving population stabilisation. Awareness is not just the responsibility of the health department. Rather, the departments of urban development, rural development, and education, among others, should be associated with it.

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“In controlling meningitis, we have seen the importance of interdepartmental coordination. Today, up to 95% of child deaths from this disease have been controlled. Similar inter-departmental coordination should be made in this regard too. ASHA, Anganwadi workers, teachers, representatives of gram panchayats, and religious leaders can play an important role in population stabilisation,” he added.

Mentioning the achievements of Uttar Pradesh in the last five years, the CM said that maternal anemia has come down from 51.1% to 45.9% today. While full immunization has gone up from 51.1% to about 70% in the last five years. The rate of institutional deliveries, which was 67-68% earlier, is going up to 84% now. Efforts to control maternal-child mortality have yielded good results.

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