1.1 billion and still growing

Recently I was watching an interview of Malcom Speed the then outgoing CEO of ICC .The interviewer was Harsha Bhogle. Harsha asked him how he views the role of BCCI in international cricket. In response he said India being a market of 1.1 billion people and cricket being hugely popular in India , BCCI has an important role to play.

According to a recent World Bank Report out of an estimated population of about 100 crore in 2005, the number of poor people living below $1.25 a day has increased from 42.1 crore in 1981 to 45.6 crore in 2005. This is the biggest challenge facing India .

These are the two sides of India’s burgeoning population . On the one hand MNC ’s look at India’s large population as potential consumers and India’s large young workforce as cheap source of skilled labour. On the other side ,nearly 45 per cent of India is poor which though can provide cheap manual labour is certainly not what marketing teams of MNC’s are looking at .

While comparing India and China a factor which is often cited in favour of India is that in few decades China will experience a demographic shift(it’s population will start to age) due to its successful population control programme while India will still be young.

But is n’t it the time that we start looking at India’s large population as a problem and not as a resource. Do we as a country have the resources to fulfil the needs of our huge population. Can we really eliminate poverty from this country if we continue growing at this rate ?

PS: Also published here