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Among the negative factors associated with the rapid growth
of population are poor prospects for economic development, high unemployment,
high mortality rates among women and children and generally a poor quality of
life. Certain poverty-stricken souls born amidst dismal
circumstances are trapped in the reverse income flow of child labour.
Underprivileged families can easily be exploited in a dysfunctional welfare
system, when parents are unable to raise their offspring even according to a
minimum required criterion. Thus they further fuel their desperation and those
of their future generations by getting caught in a brutal daily wage survival
mode. Even if a child is not coerced into labour, he or she is usually neglected
and hence, remains ill-equipped to become a productive member of the society.
The crux of the matter lies in bringing a change of
attitude in the very psyche of masses. The average reproductive couple must
visibly realize that despite their seeming compulsions of strengthening means of
livelihood, seeking means of old age security or a hedge against infant
morality, having a large number of children is not an asset but a liability. If
the new life brought into this world cannot be looked after, it merely becomes
another detrimental factor contributing to existing troubles and the declining
quality of life.
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