In a fool’s paradise
Those who wish even greater population for the country are selfish; fools are those who mistakenly agree with them

I keep coming back to my pet topic, population debate. But what to do? Each time I attend a discourse on development, I come back very disturbed. The standard line of thought taken on these occasions is: India can become the skills capital of the world, because the world will face a shortfall of manpower, whereas India will be in a position to provide a whole world of it. One gentleman, a senior manager from the Punjab National bank, went to the extent of saying recently, "Rather than discourage population growth, we should encourage it." How irresponsible is that comment? Increasingly, the likes of that PNB manager have come to narrow the population debate on one point: The world needs people to produce things and to consume things. So, as if population is just about production and market. This narrow vision refuses to see beyond the vacancies in call centres and a multi-crore market for cold drinks, biscuits, micro-finance and cars.

The PNB manager claimed that worldover several countries lost out on power because they didn't have enough manpower. He missed out on one quotient: quality of life. Perhaps he was alluding to countries like Denmark, Norway etc. Well, they might not figure on power quotient but can we beat them in dignity quotient? Or happiness quotient? I would rather live in a country where there's some basic sanity left, rather there's little space left to breath. This was what historian Ramachandra Guha also said recently, in his talk on 'Why India cannot and should not become a superpower'. He said, and I think on the same lines: It's more important to have quality of life than being a superpower.

Some Fresh Air. A decent, airy home. Some greens. Roads where I can use the pedestrian path without having to bother about stumbling on shit. These are the things which should be included in development talk. And frankly, enough personal space so that I can grow personally. Which, you will have to admit, can't be expected when people are living a worm's life.

The gentleman who gave us the vision for further population growth might be getting his share of fresh air when he goes on junket on government of India largesse. But what about the vast majority of us who have to live our lives here. Why should we lead a claustrophobic life because some people want more manpower, larger market?

I have a few questions to him: Where will the basic resources for this even larger population — like water, the ever-costlier food, schools, electricity, houses, roads and commodities — come from? From Mars? Where will we throw the litter which this population will generate? On moon? And has he thought what education, what skills have we imparted to the already existing population of 1.14 crore? Is that population ready enough to do the kind of work that Indian industry, forget the world industry, demands?