India on The Move Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

India on The Move - Essay Example While this was attempted to be addressed through the, highly unpopular, forced sterilization program in the regime of Indira Gandhi during the 'emergency' years attention seems to have fallen by the wayside. The population continues to grow at a rate of 1.5% and India is expected to cross China by 2018. This is the result of higher birth rates coupled with increased life expectancy. At the root of the problem, however, lie poor literacy levels. Growth of the economy, to a large extent, is negated by the population rise and the number (and percentage) of people living below the poverty line continues to be at a staggering level of 44% of the population. The unemployment levels are also consistently high. With the unofficial figures estimating these to be above the 20% mark this indicates a lack of balanced growth. Since agriculture provides sustenance for more than 72% of the population, it seems obvious that this sector of the economy has been neglected at the cost of modernization in the more visible sectors like IT, manufacturing industry and services. Fractured and regionalized politics is perhaps the next biggest problem facing the country.