AIZAWL, Sept 10 - Decrying the Central Government�s population control policy, Zoram Nationalist Party president Lalduhoma has advocated a �Baby Boom� policy for Mizoram where the population density is 52 persons per square kilometre, against 382/sq km national average.
�Next only to Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram has the second lowest population density in India. Promoting population control in such a situation is one of the biggest blunders,� Lalduhoma said.
Further criticising India�s birth control policy as a whole, Lalduhoma said that low population alone does not lead to development.
�India was the first country to adopt Family Planning Policy in 1952. In the 1950s, India�s population was 360 million. At that time, India imported a huge quantity of rice from America under the PL 480. Now, even though we are 1,200 million people, we produce surplus rice, which means that larger the number of workers, the more we produce,� he said.
About 17.5 per cent of world�s population live in India, and the country�s per capita income is US Dollar 3,290.
Lalduhoma said that many countries have been remorseful about their birth control policy. �Many European countries have more and more aged people, due to expanding life span, while the population of work force is low. This poses threats to their economy and even national security. France has gone back to the baby boom policy,� he said.
Even China, where 19.4 per cent of world�s population live, has adopted a two-child policy from 2015, being well-aware of the benefits of high population. �China�s production by the masses has put the country among world�s great economies, with a per capita income at US Dollar 7,518,� Lalduhoma said.
Countries with high population density like Japan has per capita income of US Dollar 33,828, while South Korea has US Dollar 27,791 per capita income, he said.
Singapore is just 648 sq km, about six times the size of Aizawl, and a population density of 7,000 person per square kilometre. It does not have agricultural land, yet it is a rich country, Lalduhoma pointed out.
Hongkong, with 1,070 sq km geographical land, is about 1/20th of Mizoram. Its population density is 6,500. It has a rich economy and the streets are not congested with traffic, he said.
Lalduhoma said at the present rate of population growth of Mizoram, the State�s population would be just 86.51 lakh in another hundred years.
�Many native tribes like Native Americans, Fijis, Tibetans, etc., have been and are being assimilated by those who are stronger in numbers. We have seen some tribes in our neighbouring States in North East who have met with the same fate. We need to be larger in numbers to survive,� he said.
If his party is voted to power, it would take steps not to apply the Family Planning Programme in Mizoram, he asserted.
