A grave concern
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: July 12, 2014 -

With rapid growth of human population giving considerable stress on the limited resources of the planet Earth we live in, every year people from all sections across the globe joined in observing World Population Day on July 11 to raise awareness on global population issues. As of 1 January 2014, it is said that the world's population was estimated at 7,137,661,030, and is increasing by 2.3 people every second.

At this rate, the population in the world is expected to reach 11 billion by 2050.

Established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989, the observance of World Population Day has been inspired by the interest in Five Billion Day on 11 July 1987 – approximately the date on which the world's population reached five billion.

In 1989, in its decision 89/46, the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme recommended that, "in order to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues in the context of overall development plans and programmes and the need to find solutions for these issues, 11 July should be observed by the international community as World Population Day."

Since then, July 11 is judiciously observed as World Population Day across the globe under various themes. For 2014, the UN agency has chosen "Investing in Young People" as the theme in due consideration of the fact that today about 1.8 billion young people, who are "shaping social and economic realities, challenging norms and values," and are acting as the foundation for the future of this globe.

As in the case of other UN designated day, Manipur judiciously joined the rest of the International community in observing the World Population Day on July 11 by organising different activities.

Speaking on the occasion, many resource persons or experts have stressed on the need for either proper planning of the family or underscored the need for empowering youths towards building a positive, prosperous and optimistic society.

Here, we would like to point out that the problem in Manipur is not so simple for classification either as one of population growth or decline that need proper family planning or involving young people in all decisions that affect them (as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has underlined in his message for World Population Day) for lying the groundwork for a more sustainable future for generations to come.

As Prof RK Narendra Singh, the Head of Biostatistics, RIMS, Imphal, had pointed out in his research findings (which we reproduced as a special write-up in connection with the World Population Day), we need to be concerned about the difference in the growth rate between the hills and the valley or district-wise imbalance in population that could lead to various unwanted consequences and the curious case of disparity in sex-ratio.

It has been noted that during the first 0-6 years of life, the number of female in lesser than male population in Manipur but after 6 years of life, the number of male deaths, either from natural or unnatural causes, is significantly higher than the number of female deaths.

This should be a matter of grave concern not only for the health planners of the Government but also for all of us.