India, the second largest population on the planet, is predicted to overtake China with its booming birth rate. The years 1980 to 2011, saw India's population grew by 50%, the highest by any nation. According to the a study conducted by the French Institute of Demographic Studies, India's population is set to reach 1.6 billion by 2050. India is on the cusp of either a new chapter in its progression or at the beginning of economic doom. I have chosen three recent media articles from the (i) East Asia Forum namely by Ranjit Goswami titled 'India's population in 2050: extreme projections demand extreme actions', (ii) by Raymond Zhong and Saptarishi Dutta in the Wall Street Journal titled 'As Growth Slows in India, Rural Workers Have Fewer Incentives to Move to Cities and (iii) by Jinoy Jose P from The Hindu newspaper titled 'India's growth model is a disaster'. This essay provides a synthesis followed by critical analysis of each media piece.
Ranjit Goswami sheds some light on the diminishing per capita consumption indicators of India in his article in the East Asia Forum. The Indian population boom has been predominant in the poorer socio-economic states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar having have a fertility rate of 4. However the inherent problem is that 76% of India's population live on less than US $2 per day. With the increasing cost and decreasing supply of food, India's economic situation is on the decline. Despite the multifold increase in population, the 2004-05 per capita food grain production was no more than the values seen in the 1970's. An average Indian consumes 2300 calories per day, which is 100 calories below the defined norm, this trend is expected to worsen in the near future. .
Despite India being capable of feed its billions, growth in food production may not be ecologically sustainable as producing one ton of food grains requires a thousand tons of water. It is predicted that the world's water requirement in 2050 would be greater than 50 % of the 2000 level.