Page 1 of 7
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at https://pen2print.org/index.php/jsmap/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 05 Issue 02
February-2019
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/IJR/ P a g e | 78
Population, Poverty and Its Environmental
Effects in Bihar
Saroj Kumar Singh
Department of Rural Economics
S. N. S. R. K. S. College, Saharsa,
(A Constituent Unit of B. N. Mandal University, Madhepura, Bihar)
E-mail: drsaroj999@gmail.com,
Abstract:
The present paper examined the relationship of
population to the environment and with growing
population, poverty and urbanization the
environment is degrading. Conducted an analysis of
changes and trends over last fifty years. The study
reveals that the country's population growth is
imposing an increasing burden on the country's
limited and continually degrading natural resource
base. The natural resources are under increasing
strain, even though the majority of people survive at
subsistence level. Population pressure on arable
land contributes to the land degradation. The
increasing population numbers and growing
affluence have already resulted in rapid growth of
energy production and consumption in India. The
environmental effects like ground water and surface
water contamination; air pollution and global
warming are of growing concern owing to increasing
consumption levels. The paper concludes with some
policy reflections, the policy aimed at overall
development should certainly include efforts to
control population and environmental pollution.
Introduction
The rapid population growth and economic
development in country are degrading the
environment through the uncontrolled growth of
urbanization and industrialization, expansion and
intensification of agriculture, and the destruction of
natural habitats. One of the major causes of
environmental degradation in India could be
attributed to rapid growth of population, which is
adversely affecting the natural resources and
environment. The growing population and the
environmental deterioration face the challenge of
sustained development without environmental
damage. The existence or the absence of favorable
natural resources can facilitate or retard the process
of economic development.
The three fundamental demographic factors of
births, deaths and migration produce changes in
population size; composition, distribution and these
changes raise a number of important questions of
cause and effect. Population Reference Bureau
estimated the 6.14 billion world's population in mid
2001. Contribution of India alone to this population
was estimated to be 1033 millions. It is estimated
that the country’s population will increase to 1.26
billion by the year 2016. The projected population
indicates that India will be a first most populous
country in the world and China will be second in
2050 (Population Reference Bureau, 2001). The
increase of population has been tending towards
alarming situation. India is having 18 percent of the
world's population on 2.4 percent of its land area has
great deal of pressure on its all natural resources.
Water shortages, soil exhaustion, deforestation, air
and water pollution afflicts many areas. If the world
population continues to multiply, the impact on
environment could be devastating.
As the 21st century begins, growing number of
people and rising levels of consumption per capita
are depleting natural resources and degrading the
environment. The poverty-environmental damage
nexus in India must be seen in the context of
population growth as well. The pressures on the
environment intensify every day as the population
grows. The rapid increase of human numbers
combines with desperate poverty and rising levels of
consumption are depleting natural resources on
which the livelihood of present and future
generations depends. Poverty, is amongst the
consequences of population growth and its life style
play major role in depleting the environment either
its fuel demands for cooking or for earning
livelihood for their survival. The unequal distribution
of resources and limited opportunities cause push
and pull factor for people living below poverty line
Page 2 of 7
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at https://pen2print.org/index.php/jsmap/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 05 Issue 02
February-2019
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/IJR/ P a g e | 79
that in turn overburdened the population density in
urban areas and environment get manipulated by
manifolds, consequently, urban slums are developed
in urban areas.
The growing trends of population and consequent
demand for food, energy, and housing have
considerably altered land-use practices and severely
degraded India's forest vis-à-vis environment also.
The growing population put immense pressure on
land intensification at cost of forests and grazing
lands because the demand of food could not increase
substantially to population. Thus, horizontal
extension of land has fewer scopes and relies mostly
on vertical improvement that is supported by
technical development in the field of agriculture i.e.
HYV seeds, Fertilizers, Pesticides, Herbicides, and
agricultural implements. All these practices causing
degradation and depletion of environment with
multiplying ratio.
The relationship between population growth,
resource depletion and environmental degradation
has been a matter of debate for decades. The
argument has been between those who view
population numbers per se as the main culprit in
increasing pressure on the environment and those
who place more blame on economic development,
non sustainable agricultural and industrial practices,
and excessive and wasteful consumption. In fact,
both population growth and no sustainable
development are cause for concern in India. Though
the relationship is complex, population size and
growth tend to expand and accelerate these human
impacts on the environment. What is more concern,
the number of population rise will increase to such
an extent in future that it will cause overall scarcity
for resources. Decades of economic expansion and
population growth have degraded its land, air and
water.
The present paper examines the relationship of
man to the environment and with growing
population, poverty and urbanization the
environment is degrading in India.
Population Growth in India
India is the second most populous country in the
world after China. Recently, the population of India
has crossed the one billion marks. According to the
Census of India 2001, the population of India on 1st
March 2001 was 1027 millions. At the time of
independence, the country's population was 342
million. The number has multiplied three-fold in
around five decades. The population growth of India
from 1951 to 2001 is presented in Table 1. The total
population size of India had grown from 361 million
in 1951 to around 1027 million in 2001. The
population of India increased by three times during
the period of 1951-2001. The rural population of
India has increased around two and half times from
298.7 million to 741.7 million during 1951-2001,
whereas the urban population has grown 4.6 fold
from 62.4 million in 1951 to 285.3 million in 2001.
The decadal growth rates of the population are
irregular, as it increased from 13.31 percent in 1951
to 24.8 percent in 1971. It declined to 24.7 percent in
1981, 23.8 percent in 1991 and 21.35 percent in
2001. The rural decadal growth rate of population
varies from 8.79 percent in 1951 to 17.97 percent in
2001, whereas the urban decadal growth rate of
population varies from 41.43 percent in 1951 to
31.11 percent in 20011.
There are various reasons for this variation in the
trend of population growth rate in various censuses.
The increase in population has been due to the
improvement in health conditions and control of
diseases. The density of population has gone up from
117 in 1951 to 312 persons in 20011 and it always
shows an increasing trend over the census years in
persons per square kilometer.
Several push and pull factors are presumed to be
operative towards distress out migration from rural to
urban areas. This might be due to the declining
resource availability per capita and shrinking
economic opportunities in rural areas, and better
economic opportunities, health and educational
facilities etc. in urban areas, providing opportunities
for higher level of human capital development could
be the underlying factors for rural out migration.
Vital Rates in India
The growth of population depends upon fertility,
mortality and migration. The process of accelerated
population growth in India till 1970s were observed
to witness a marginal deceleration during 1980s, as
the decadal population growth was 23.9 percent
compared to 24.9 percent in 1970s. Further declines
in fertility have been witnessed during 1990s and
2000s.
It is revealed from table that birth rate in India has
declined from 33.9 per thousand populations in 1981
to 29 per thousand populations in 1991 and it further
declined to 25 per thousand populations in 2001. At
the same time crude death rate has also declined
from 12.5 per thousand populations in 1981 to 9.8
per thousand populations in 1991 and it further
declined to 8 per thousand populations in 2001.
Page 3 of 7
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at https://pen2print.org/index.php/jsmap/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 05 Issue 02
February-2019
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/IJR/ P a g e | 80
Thus, the natural growth rate of India's population
has declined from 21.4 percent in 1981 to 17 percent
in 2001. The Total fertility rate has also declined
from 4.5 children per women in 1981 to 3.1 children
per women in 2001. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) per
thousand in India has steadily declined from 110 in
1981 to 72 in 1991 but the IMR (66) in 2001 is still
very high.
Trends in Poverty and Its Environmental
Effects in India
Trends in poverty and its environmental effects in
India. Most of India's poor live in rural areas and are
engaged in agriculture. India's poverty reduction
through the anti-poverty and employment generation
programmes along with overall economic growth
planning efforts has helped to reduce the poverty
ratio in the country. The trends in poverty in India
are depicted in Table 3. The people below poverty
line declined from 55 percent in 1973 to 26 percent
in 1999-2000. The absolute number of poor have,
however, declined from 320 million in 1973-74 to
260 million in 1999-2000. During the same period
the fraction of population below poverty line
dropped from 56.4 percent to 27.1 percent in rural
areas and from 49 percent to 23.6 percent in urban
areas. Over the period 1987-88 to 1999-2000, urban
and rural poverty declined but more declines has
been experienced by urban areas.
Poverty is said to be both cause and effect of
environment degradation. Poorer people, who cannot
meet their subsistence needs through purchase, are
forced to use common property resources such as
forests for food and fuel, pastures for fodder, and
ponds and rivers for water. It also contributes to
environmental degradation through over exploitation
of natural resources like land, air and water.
Population pressure driven overexploitation of the
surface and underground water resources by the poor
has resulted into contamination and exhaustion of the
water resources. Urban population is also using
rivers to dispose of untreated sewage and industrial
effluent. The result is that health of those dependents
on untreated water resources is increasing at risk.
Moreover degraded environment can accelerate the
process of impoverishment, again because the poor
depend directly on natural assets. The poverty and
rapid population growth are found to coexist and thus
seems to reinforcing each other. Poverty also affects
the demographic characteristics of the population and
hinders the transition to slower population growth.
Acceleration in poverty alleviation is imperative to
break this link between poverty and the environment.
The deterioration of natural resources and unsafe
living conditions affects the environment and health
of the poor people.
Environmental challenges
Population growth and economic development are
contributing to many serious environmental
problems in India. These include pressure on land,
land/soil degradation, forests, habitat destruction and
loss of biodiversity, changing consumption pattern,
rising demand for energy, air pollution, global
warming and climate change and water scarcity and
water pollution.
Pressure on land
India faces the most acute pressure on agricultural
land. Today every million hectares of land supports
7.27 million people. Forty three percent of the land is
under cultivation, one of the highest in the world. A
change in land utilization pattern implies an increase
or decrease in the proportion of area under different
land uses at a point in two or more time periods.
Table 4 describes the land utilization pattern in India
from 1951 to 2001. Over the past fifty years, while
India's total population increased by about 3 times,
the total area of land under cultivation increased by
only 20.27 percent from 118.75 million hectares in
1951 to 142.82 million hectares in 20011. Most of
this expansion has taken place at the expense of
forest and grazing land. Despite past expansion of
the area under cultivation, less agricultural land is
available to feed each person in India. It shows
variations in land use and a narrow range of
fluctuations in the proportion of net sown area to
total land in the country since 1951 to 2001. Out of
total geographical area of 329 million hectares, only
306 million hectares is the reporting area (the rest
being un-administered for various reasons). The land
for non-agricultural uses (housing, industry and
others) is increased from 9.36 million hectares in
1951 to 22.97 million hectares in 2001. More than
19.4 million hectares are snow bound and remote
leaving only 237 million-hectare for agriculture,
forestry, pasture and other biomass production. The
area under cultivation had increased by about 30
percent until 1981 and thereafter depicts marginal
decline. The net sown area increased from 119
million hectares in 1950-51 to 140 million hectares
in 1970-71 mostly through reclamation of old fallow
and cultural wastelands and diversion of groves. The
net area sown has increased only marginally from
140 million hectares in 1970-71 to 141 million
hectares in 2000-2001, indicating that the private
efforts have peaked and the intervention of the
Government is required for further land reclamation.
