Bhargava on population growth and environmental impact
The Times of India reports on Faculty Associate Alok Bhargava’s comments at the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation on the impact of population growth. With regard to the United Nations 17 sustainable development goals (SDG), Bhargava remarks, “The sub-goals such as ‘ending hunger and food insecurity’, ‘improving education quality’ and ‘providing adequate sanitation’ are adversely affected by population growth. The skilled labour is critical for rapid economic growth afforded by globalization, and formulation of evidence-based policies is critical in the wake of climate change.”
In addition, Bhargava noted that getting environmental information from the GRACE satellite network is not as reliable as the SMAP (Soil Map Active Passive) satellite, which is more precise. Above all, however, “The evidence from India on total and unwanted fertility states that unwanted births are detrimental for maternal nutritional status, children’s nutritional status, and education. . . ." he concluded.