What is in news : Uttar Pradesh  launched the State’s population policy for 2021-2030

What are the objectives:

• Decreasing the total fertility rate of UP from 2.7 to 2.1 by 2026 and 1.7 by 2030
• Increase modern contraceptive prevalence rate from 31.7% to 45% by 2026 and 52% by 2030
• Decrease maternal mortality rate from 197 to 150 to 98
• Decrease infant mortality rate from 43 to 32 to 22
• Decrease under 5 infant mortality rate from 47 to 35 to 25
• Maintain a balance of population among the various communities
• Awareness and extensive programmes would be held among those communities, cadres and geographical areas that have a higher fertility rate
• It also speaks about increasing male contraception

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS :

Maternal Mortality Rate – Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) is defined as the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births due to pregnancy or termination of pregnancy, regardless of the site or duration of pregnancy. The maternal mortality rate is used to represent the risk associated with pregnancy among women.

Infant mortality rate – Infant mortality is the death of an infant before his or her first birthday. The infant mortality rate is the number of infant deaths for every 1,000 live births.

MAHITI FOR MAINS :

Problems of Population increase –

1. Unemployment: Generating employment for a huge population in a country like India is very difficult. The number of illiterate persons increases every year. Unemployment rate is thus showing an increasing trend.
2. Manpower utilisation: The number of jobless people is on the rise in India due to economic depression and slow business development and expansion activities.
3. Pressure on infrastructure: Development of infrastructural facilities is unfortunately not keeping pace with the growth of population. The result is lack of transportation, communication, housing, education, healthcare etc. There has been an increase in the number of slums, overcrowded houses, traffic congestion etc.
4. Resource utilisation: Land areas, water resources, forests are over exploited. There is also scarcity of resources.
5. Decreased production and increased costs: Food production and distribution have not been able to catch up with the increasing population and hence the costs of production have increased. Inflation is the major consequence of over population.
6. Inequitable income distribution: In the face of an increasing population, an unequal distribution of income and inequalities within the country widen.