India’s place is unique not only because it is populous but also because it will maintain this status till the end of this century
Anxieties over population size and the Earth’s carrying capacity have died down, given the signs of the global population tending towards stability (although there is potential for its growth for another 50-60 years). The global population is going to peak at 10.3 billion by the 2080s. This growth from the current count of 8.2 billion does not seem enormous, and it is expected that after attaining this peak, it will slowly stabilise around 10.2 billion at the end of the century. Although these trends are quite promising, the geography of this count, along with its composition, is going to pose a real challenge in the coming times. While 28% of global citizens are found in countries whose population count has already peaked, another 10% are in 48 countries where the population sizes are expected to attain their respective peaks between 2025 and 2054. The rest of the world, consisting of 126 countries, is likely to experience population growth till it attains national peaks only by the end of this century.
Socio-economic causes, practical constraints, and structural barriers deter migrants from participating in the biggest festival of democracy. Their rights need to be protected better
S Irudaya Rajan and Varsha Joshi
S IRUDAYA RAJAN & ROHIT I & VARSHA JOSHI
MARCH 23, 2023
A serious concern to protect interstate migrants from all forms of violence must be reflected in the draft National Migrant Labour policy and its future implementation
S Irudaya Rajan, AUG 15 2022, 00:30 IST
- According to data from the Ministry of External Affairs, some 18,000 Indian students were studying in Ukraine at the time Russia invaded; most of them were medical students.
- Though the Indian government brought them all back, there is considerable uncertainty over their careers.
- The government has to come up with a policy, on an ad hoc basis, to ensure these students are able to continue their education on a predictable, reliable path.
Redistribution measures have been ineffective and there are no policies discouraging accumulation of income and wealth
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the stark divide between the rich and the poor. At this juncture, evaluating the state of inequality serves as an eye-opener on the income/wealth divides prevailing across regions. Such divides are represented in terms of the share of income/wealth among the top 10% of the population against the bottom 50% of the population. With regard to income, the top 10% of the global population share 52% of the total income, while the bottom half survives with a mere 8.5% of it. This leaves 40% in the middle with 40% of the income. This distribution shows the tendency of a rising middle class with the lower disparity in income, but it also shows that the status of the poor is worsening day by day. In terms of wealth, the top 10% of the global population own 76% of the total wealth, while the bottom 50% share a mere 2%. The practice of unabated accumulation has been possible in the absence of effective measures of redistribution on the one hand and the absence of measures discouraging undue accumulation on the other.