World Population Day and present scenario of Manipur

L Devakumar Singh *

Crowd at Cheirao Ching Kaba, Chingmeirong on April 13 2012 :: Pix by Bunti Phurailatpam

The UN World Population Day is annually observed on July 11 to reaffirm the human right to plan for a family. It proclaimed that individuals had a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and timing of their children. This day is being observed all over the world with the aim to spread awareness among the people. The UN authorized the event as a launching pad to build an awareness of population issues and impact they have on development and the environment.

Around 7 billion people live on earth today and another 3 million more may likely be added by 2050. Given these number it is easy to assume rising human population is the real root of the global warming, poverty, starvation and extinction of habitat.

Experts and scientists have expressed that by 2025 just 13 years from now, humans will have modified half of all the land on Earth. We will have turned space that once supported complicated systems of plants, animals, soils, water and microbes into cities or farms. Already, we've taken over 43% of the land. The left over is mostly criss-crossed by our roads. By 2060, 70% of the earth surface could be covered with human development.

From a human perspective, though the important changes will be to the resources we depend upon for survival. Within a few generations, the forests, fisheries and agricultural systems that feed us could change so much that they will no longer be able to sustain our species in the fashion to which we've become accustomed.

Growing human population and ravenous consumption of resources is pushing these changes. We are breaking up habitats, hustling to use up energy sources wherever we can find them and changing the climate by throwing carbon into the atmosphere. It is not clear how much of the earth surface we would have to change. Human now dominate Earth changing it in ways that threaten its ability to sustain us and other species. We need to be equally concerned for us and the other species. But the rules of life dictate that we care most about our own kind.

The state of Manipur is also no exception to such dramatic changes. The population of the state grew almost 5 times from 578,060 to 2,721,756 persons during 1951 to 2011 (National Census). Decreases in famine related deaths and infant mortality rates are partially responsible for this rapid population growth.

In addition, advances in public health and medicine have increased the life expectancy of the state. However, this rapid population growth and development has occurred unevenly throughout the state with increasingly unsustainable utilization of natural resources and its adverse impact on environment.

Population and environment are closely related in a complex and dynamic manner and this relationship is mediated by number of socio-economic, cultural, political and developmental aspects whose role varies considerably from one context to other. Thus the rapid growth of human population is often identified as population affects the environment through changes in land use and industrial metabolism.

The question about the impact of population growth with limited and often degraded resources is most relevant for backward state like Manipur. During the last few decades there has been phenomenal rise in population in Manipur. Manipur account 0.22% of India's population and is growing at 1.72% per annum.

Manipur supports its population with 0.67% of India's land area and 2.54 percent of India's forest. Taking into account the total land resources including hills, lakes, rivers and lands of all description, the availability of land per head in Manipur comes to only 0.82 hectares.

Even though Manipur recognised the problem of rapid population growth it has limited success in controlling its growth rate. This has been shown by the fact that the population growth rate of Manipur is more than overall growth rate of India which stood at 17.64 whereas the growth rate of the state of Manipur is 18.65.

The consequences of such population growth are the changes in land use, increase in carbon release, depletion of natural resources and increase in social crimes.

As population increases the distortion of our environment begins. The extent of resource exploitation, waste generation and environmental damage relies on our lifestyles and pattern of consumption. The expansion of urban settlement has serious impact on the availability of arable land and subsequently leading to deforestation in several parts of the state.

Unabated population growth, as at present not only adds to the economic burden or all developmental activities, but also reduces the impact of economic growth on our society. Population growth in the state is now no doubt slowing down but its impact on land use trend is quite distressing. The changes in land use obviously reflect the pressure on land resources due to rising population.

The distressing features are in the form of considerable increase in land put to non-agricultural uses. However, it is a fact that there is a lack of sufficient, accurate and up-to-date data on land conversion and infrastructure deployment patterns as a serious obstacle for designing better land management and human settlement policies in Manipur.

The most disturbing trend over the past few years has been the spread of dangerous or bad air quality. To address the problem of air pollution comprehensively, an integrated air quality management approach is required, which cuts across different sectors and addresses social, economic, and technological issues. It should consider issues related to population distribution, land use, and transport planning, infrastructure development and environment. Thus greater efforts are required for bolstering data collection and dissemination mechanisms in this context.

Integration of decision across different institutions and levels of the government is a prerequisite for ensuring effective implementation of policy. In Manipur, the lack of integrated resource management can be considered as a major weakness of policy. This precludes a comprehensive and long term view of fund availability, the multifarious pressure on it and how they interact and change overtime and the available options to manage it.

Close interaction is essential among the government functionaries and local bodies and also between various departments of government, so that Manipur could move in the direction of set targets to control population growth and environmental degradation.