https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/09/12/another-day-another-16000-mouths-to-feed/
A huge population is a threat to its components both individually and collectively, particularly if the size precedes prosperity; a poor country cannot feed or educate a large population, or provide any of the other conditions necessary for prosperity, because the needs of a large population are greater than its lucrative output. Rather like a city that floods after a downpour where you must first unclog the drains to enable the streets to dry, you must clear the way for a large population to sustain itself before it can become prosperous. And without prosperity there is corruption, crime and all the other factors that we see around us in Pakistan.
Pakistan has one of the fasting growing populations in the world– although it is outstripped by Afghanistan and some other countries. Pakistan’s population is estimated at 220.9 million according to the 2020 World Population Data Sheet released by the US Population Reference Bureau, and it is ‘growing rapidly, with an annual fertility rate of 3.6 children per couple.’ According to the same report, Pakistan has a growth rate of 3.6 percent. It points out that a population of this size doubles itself every 19 years.
Reducing the growth rate is not impossible. Other countries with larger populations have managed to reduce the growth rate, India being one of these with a growth rate of 2.2 percent while Bangladesh stands at 2.3 percent after both countries made efforts to bring it down.
China with its massive population, has brought its growth rate down to 1.5 percent, but given the way it achieved this, it is perhaps not the best example.
In 1980 when the Chinese population was nearing the one billion mark the government announced its ‘one child policy’ which meant that it became against the law (except in certain cases such as where the first child was differently abled) to have more than one child per couple. Those violating the policy were sanctioned in various ways. To encourage compliance the government offered free contraception, as well as financial incentives, even preference in employment, for complying individuals. At times stronger measures were taken, such as forced sterilization and abortions. There was obviously a decline in the population rate as a result. In 2015 China announced that it was allowing families to have two children.
For obvious reasons such forcible measures are undesirable, and in any case they cannot be implemented in Pakistan where contraception faces a backlash. However some measures can be taken on board such as the free contraception and the financial incentives.
Pakistan has a family welfare programme with clinics throughout the country. Attempts are made to include less accessible regions by means of mobile vans. There are health workers who reach out to the public. The clinics include mother and child wellness programmes including childhood immunization and health checks, educational talks and assistance with contraception. But a survey reported that many women preferred attending private clinics where possible because private clinics were better equipped with seating and so on, and they the women were treated with more dignity there.
According to Dr Ansar Ali Khan, an advisor on the subject of reproductive health to the United Nations Population Fund Programme in Pakistan, “A combination of factors like non availability of services, baseless traditional beliefs and misconception play a big role” in this country.
He is not wrong. In the Punjab for example local culture frowns upon parents living with their daughters even when they attain old age.
Dr. Ali Khan adds that a sizeable part of the population “believes the use of artificial contraceptives for family planning is against nature and also against Islam.”
It is yet another example of a poor understanding of religion standing in the way of progress in this country. Pakistan needs to not just educate its people on such (and other matters) but also the mullahs, and to woo the latter onto their side as Afghanistan has apparently managed to do. The American National Broadcasting Company NBC reported a few years ago that in Afghanistan several mullahs endorsed contraceptives as a means of increasing the gap between births. Some even delivered the message during Friday prayers. The mullahs’ major concerns centered on safety and infertility. The report quoted the programme director of a British based family planning organisation in Kabul who said that thousands of religious leaders in Afghanistan had been trained on the subject.
The American National Public Radio quotes a cleric belonging to one of Lahore’s oldest religious seminaries as saying that ‘family planning is wrong and un-Islamic if practiced routinely.’ In support of his statement the cleric cited one of the most misunderstood passages in the Quran which enjoins us not to kill a child for reasons of poverty, because Allah takes it upon Himself to provide sustenance. This injunction is commonly construed as saying that humans can go ahead and reproduce all they want because God provides, regardless.
The fact that God has also asked us to give our children a good, comfortable upbringing is in that case threatened, since almost 40 percent of the children in Pakistan under the age of five are underweight, and mother and child are both undernourished. None of the family is educated and nor does the poor man of Pakistan live in safe housing and neighbourhoods. And most of Pakistan consists of ‘the poor man.’
One of the reasons for the high birthrate in Pakistan is that infant mortality is so great here at 57.2 per 1000 live births. Couples therefore produce many children against the eventuality that only one or two will survive. In the process they often end up with more mouths than they can feed. The fact is that in the absence of pensions for much of the population, who is to look after an aged couple if not their child?
They also keep producing children until they have a son, given that sons are more important in this culture than daughters.
A doctor working for the family welfare programme in Pakistan suggests the importance of incentives given to parents to keep the birthrate down. A pension, as mentioned above is a good idea, something to keep an elderly couple off the street. It is also a good idea to provide free contraception and consultation to patients.
The doctor also suggests that family welfare programme workers should be given better incentives─ salaries, pensions and perks at a level with other government officials, along with better training.
There is little time to spend on pondering this issue. Every day brings with it an average of 16,918 live births, every hour 704.90. Each day lost increases the problem by as much as that.
God did say our destiny lies with Him. But he also gave us free will and a brain. Why not use the brain and the will and plan accordingly?
Population has to be controlled.
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