Indian PM: Uncontrolled Population Increase Hampering Growth

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, July 11, 2003

Indian PM: Uncontrolled Population Increase Hampering Growth

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Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said Thursday "uncontrolled" increase in population was hampering the country's speedy growth and asked people to make population stabilization a mass movement by keeping families small.

Issuing an appeal on the eve of "World Population Day," he saidgrowth of population beyond sustainable levels is in nobody's interest.

"People are a nation's most prized resource and the main pillarof its progress and strength. Government is committed to ensuring a better quality of life for all citizens," he said.

"However, uncontrolled growth of population has become a hurdlein the path of India's efforts to achieve speedy and sustainable socio-economic growth and environmental protection," the prime minister said.

India has 17 percent of the world's population on a landmass that is only 2.4 percent of the world's area, he noted.

Every sixth human being is an Indian and nearly 15 million children are born each year, Vajpayee said, adding it is "our moral duty" to ensure all of them have access to health and education facilities, and are able to grow up in a fair, just and equitable system.

"For this it is necessary to achieve population stabilization as envisioned in the holistic National Population Policy adopted in 2000," the prime minister said.

"I appeal to people belonging to all communities, and especially in states that are lagging behind in this regard, to make the task of population stabilization a mass movement" by pledging to keep families small, he said.

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