We the Billion

Population stabilisation in India should be considered a high-priority area requiring immediate attention, the more so since India’s population has tripled in the 50-odd years since Independence. In We the Billion: A Social Psychological Perspective on India’s Population, Ragini Sen has addressed the problem of population stabilisation from a new and different perspective. She contends that the issue of fertility cannot be treated as a problem of statistics alone as it involves people who are affected by social and cultural influences. Hence, the author emphasises the importance of a model which accords primacy to ‘soft’ cultural variables and provides insights into collective beliefs. The author reasons that fertility is a supra-individual issue and cannot be treated on an isolationist basis. It needs to be addressed with a holistic approach for which a comprehensive government policy and communication strategy is essential. In this context, the use of a social representational approach which focuses on social change and transformative processes is discussed. One of the major causes of the population problem in India is the low level of female literacy and the low status accorded to women in society. The author argues that an emphasis on the elimination of dowry and prioritising female literacy be made the focal points of a population policy. This will help in changing the negative representation of women by increasing their overall autonomy which, in turn, will bring down fertility rates. Simultaneously, it will help to introduce a more ‘humane’ representation of the campaign itself. In addition, the author also calls for an examination of the role played by the mass media. Education, irrespective of religion, and the elimination of socio-cultural differences will lower fertility rates further. In this context, she highlights the need to dispel the myth that over-population is a creation of the ‘minorities’. Finally, the book argues for the need to decentralise the population issue. Instead of a population policy that encompasses the entire subcontinent, the need of the hour is to have district-specific guidelines. Dr. Sen also suggests that the ‘success stories’ of districts within each state be benchmarked, and models based on these effective districts be made available to each state. An important work that goes beyond conventional theories in studying India’s population problem, this book will be of interest to policymakers, demographers, social scientists and activists, as well as to an informed general audience.