Anonline event was organized at the occasion of World Population Day by PushpaGujral Science City on “Global population issues and their impact onenvironment”.
Around100 school & college students participated in the event through virtualmode. The theme of this year’s event is 'The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on fertility' under which the issueof ‘Rights and choices are the answer: Whether baby boom or bust, the solutionto shifting fertility rates lies in prioritizing the reproductive health andrights of all people’ was discussed globally.
TheUnited Nations has sent up the UNFPA (United Nations Fund for PopulationActivities, now known as United Nations Population Fund) and a population divisionto plan programmes to highlight and disseminate information on issues relatedto population.
DrNeelima Jerath, Director General Science City, in her introductory remarks atthe occasion, said that Population growth has both negative and positive impactson the society. On one hand population explosion can lead to overexploitationof resources, create resource crunch for present and future generations, affectage structure of a country, lead to local and international migration and cancause economic inequality thus compromising sustainability; however, on theother side, it can provide a country with a large work force which can helpincrease its commercial output and productivity, innovative potential, tax base and consumerspending, thus creating an impetus for the economy.
“Lowpopulation growth in high-income countries is likely to create social andeconomic problems while high population growth in low-income countries may slowtheir development. However, it is largely accepted that population growthconstantly acts as a hurdle in effectively addressing the problem of poverty,hunger and malnutrition and in providing the better quality of health andeducation, with limited resources. Covid-19 has accentuated these challengesand also raised concerns on the timely attainment of the UN SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs)”, she said.
Sheadded that in order to have a better future for all on a healthy planet,attainment of the SDGs is critical. Hence, providing adequate education andtraining to the large young population would ensure them to be productive,effective and competent, thereby proving themselves as key contributors for theachievement of these SDGs.
Dr.Parmil Kumar, Associate Professor, Dept. of Statistics, University of Jammu wasthe key speaker at the occassion. Delivering his talk he said that the mainobjective of celebrating this day is to raise awareness of global populationissues and its impact on environment, natural resources and human beings. Further,with gradual improvement in the access to healthcare facilities, level ofeducation, availability of proper nutrition and diet etc., life expectancy hasimproved and death rate has declined. The increasing population reflects onhealth problems faced by women during pregnancy and childbirth making the needfor family planning, gender equality, and maternal health more important thanever, he added.
Dr.Rajesh Grover, Director, Science City said that overpopulation is a crucialissue considering depletion of world resources at an unsustainable rate.Population explosion is leading to growing loss of biodiversity, increasinggreenhouse gas emissions and shortages of water, food, and fuel-wood in manyparts of the world. He stressed on the need to educate women and make themaware of the consequences of having more children on their health and societyas well.