KODOKUSHI

                                      

                                                               -Bageshwar  Jha

You will be surprised to see the title as it looks like an alien word. Yes, it is a Japanese language word. Similarly its meaning may also surprise you because it is very close to the Hindustani word ‘khudkushi’. In Japan where the population has been declining appreciably, the population of the senior citizens (above 60) has been going up and there are not adequate number of children and youth to look after and give company to them. As a result several of them are succumbing to their utter loneliness. Such a death is called ‘kodokushi’ in Japanese. This is one of the dangerous side effects of uneven demographic control. It will be interesting to see this new problem from some other angles as well so that India, already breaking under population pressure may take a pragmatic view.

POPULATION  BOMB:

With regard to population growth started getting exercised after 1960s when the food production, except USA, Australia and Canada went down everywhere in the world. The position was highly precarious in Afro-Asian countries. The above food supplying countries were giving edibles to the hungry sections of the world under humiliating conditions. Meanwhile, some doomsday economic forecasters in the world called the population explosion as a bomb which might destroy the world. Some said that the days coming would be harder as the resources grew mathematically while the population increased astronomically.  In 1968 Paul Ehrlich in his famous book wrote, “We will breed ourselves into oblivion”. Some persons had still a darker view when they said that the scarcity of foodgrains would force a man to eat a man.

At present when the world population stands at seven billion, the world has to think over the problem afresh as it may bethe last straw on the camel back. The campaign to control population worldwide like in Japan has started showing results. It is not only Japan, there are as many as 61 countries where fall in population is well perceptible. As a result, they are bound to bear the brunt of declining population. This figure is based on a UN paper. For Japan there is an obvious contradiction as they have the lowest fertility rate as well as the highest longevity record. According to the local govt, while 1.28 million  babies were born in 2010, the number went down to only one million in 2014. Less birth and less death produce a strange scenario as Forbes predicted that after next five years adult diapers will outsell the child diapers in Japan. By far the late marriage or no marriage and one child per family norm are creating multifaceted problems. In view of the dearth of adequate young labour, the national growth is feared to suffer a nosedive. As such, for the present, the govt has decided to encourage the citizens to follow a norm of 1.80- child per family. Similarly, the administration feels that the marriage rate which has plummeted, needs to be accelerated.

More or less other countries determined to downsize their population are also on the doorsteps of similar problems. It is for India to draw a lesson. Out of 1.20 billion people in India, 65% are youth under 35. It is a young country which is proving an asset. Bu unbridled or unbalanced growth may turn the table. It is likely to be like walking on a razor’s edge.