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July 01, 2023

Time we solved the population question

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This is with regard to the editorial "Our population question" (1-15 June, 2023). It is well written and covers several aspects related to population growth. However, it still seems incomplete.

It is an important development that India's total fertility rate (TFR) has reached 2.1 or the replacement level (which represents the level at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next, resulting in zero population growth). But this is still not the endgame. We need to reduce the population by orders of magnitude. This brings us to the matter of population regulation, which has unfortunately become necessary. Humans are no longer a direct part of the natural food chain. The only factor directly influencing our population is the availability of natural resources that can sustain only so many of us.

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