India against China's one child model

New York: India, which aspires to grow like China has in various spheres, is interestingly against replicating the Beijing model of population control as it feels that a sudden reduction could impact supply of labour.

"It is not a good idea to bring down the population suddenly as was done by China as it (such a move) has a bearing on supply of labour. But then the growing younger population is a double-edged sword," India's Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said addressing a meeting organised by CII and Indian Consulate in New York.

He was alluding to the one-child norm implemented in 1979 by China, the world's most populated country. India ranks a close second in terms of population.

Ahluwalia pointed out that the expectations of the younger population was very high especially in the information age when they were informed of developments around the world.

As such, it was imperative that they be absorbed in a productive work, which put a lot of pressure on the political system.

He said India's farm sector was not doing well and so it was necessary to shift 3.5 per cent of the population out of the sector to achieve a growth rate of four per cent.

The Deputy Chairman said there was a need to enhance growth of services and manufacturing sector to absorb those taken off from agriculture sector.

The next plan, he said envisaged an average growth rate of nine per cent which would meant that per capita income would have risen by about 35 per cent over the five-year period.

"The pressure on the government now is to sustain the growth and build on the momentum that has been established," Ahluwalia said.

Ahluwalia said shifting workforce from agriculture sector to other sectors meant huge urban expansion and the challenge was to ensure the urban economy was dynamic enough to absorb them and provide the kind of service they required.

He argued that one of the key challenges before the government was to ensure generation of jobs, as there were some countries, where productivity rose but jobs did not grow.