From: manu@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Njan)
Subject: Re: Sex Ratio, Population growth
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 08:38:12 GMT

In article <Aug.16.15.27.33.1992.6202@paul.rutgers.edu> samaddar@siemens.com writes:
>
>manu@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Njan) writes:
>
>>You are not only dumb, but ignorant as well... Kerala ALWAYS had
>                                                       ^^^^^^
>>population growth rate less than all India rate. It was the north
>>Indian run central govt who didn't take family planning seriously 
>>till the seventies... after which Kerala showed remarkable decrease
>
>So, how did Kerala get it's current population density? By migration?
>IMHO, it must have had a high population growth rate in the past (and
>that means past 1000 years).

First of all, there was no India (nor Kerala) before 1947.. so what 
happened before that is irrelevent... but even if you consider that,
there is another explanation. Most of Kerala is/was fertile land, with
abundant drinking water, which made it livable... On the other hand,
many parts of north India (and TN to some extent) had/has problems
with drinking water(natural) which made it unsuitable for human
inhabitation. This probably resulted in smaller number of people
settling there in the first place. Even otherwise, if you consider
only the "populated areas", you'll see that the population density 
of Kerala is not that high compared to a lot of places in North India.

>>in population growth... On the other hand, the North Indians, who
>>always had a high population growth rate, continue to do so even
>>after family planning became so important.
>
>That is bad for the North Indian states. But how does that lead to
>suffering in Kerala? Do these hordes of people come and take away
>jobs/resources from Kerala? Call it lethargy of North Indians or

Yes they will, if Kerala remains in the Indian Union... We will be
indirectly supporting the north Indian poor through increased taxes..
Also, when north India becames unlivable, people will start migrating
towards more prosperous south India (Kerala), which will cause
additional burden on us... (This is already happening in a smaller scale.
You can see poor people from other states(ex: from AP) moving into Kerala,
turning it into a big slum... I don't have time into go into the
details of this migration and how it's affecting people)

>call it dynamism of Keralites but I see more Keralites earning their
>living in North India than vice versa. So, again, how did the high
>pop. growth in North India adversely effect Kerala?

The difference is that most of the Malayalees immigrating to North India
are qualified people who are productive ciitizens, whereas the people
coming(will come) to Kerala are unproductive and are unwanted in their
home states. For example, a significant portion of Bangalore's small
industries are owned/operated by Malayalee businessmen... On a more
indirect level, there are many Malayalee engineers/doctors/other-
professionals working in Bangalore, who is helping Bangalore prosper...
(I'd say that Kerala has a serious problem of brain-drain, something
very similar to what India is facing). Even the least educated/qualified
Malayalee end up doing something productive in the home state he has
emmigrated to.

But, the people who are (will) migrating to Kerala are the poor, illiterate
people from other parts of India who are nothing but a liability. Most
of them don't even speak the language which makes it even more difficult
for them to engage in some productive job... (which in any case is
difficult to find!)

>No, only when M.P. crosses Kerala in population density can you start
>grumbling about population growth in M.P. People from M.P. should curb
>population growth on their own, but coming from a dense state like Kerala,
>you are not in any position to point fingers.

Increased taxes, lowered quality of life (which indirectly affects tourism,
a potentially big source of revenue), sanitation problems, health care,
illiteracy etc.. aren't these good enough reasons to complain?

Also, you seem to suggest that Japan doesn't have a reason to complain about
global population explosion!!

>I wrote this to make you see why pop. explosion doesn't automatically
>hurt other people.

What insight! You are the first person I've seen who seem to think that
population explosion is NOT a problem!

>No, but then why are you complaining about pop. growth in North India. Why
>not let North India get to the situation of Kerala and Japan :-)

Because there are too many north Indians in this world, already a bit more
than what the world can handle!

>Sumitro

Njan
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala