Population, The Environment, and Social Change

Indian Census: Population About 1.2 Billion

By AP / MUNEEZA NAQVI Thursday, Mar. 31, 2011

(NEW DELHI) — India is now home to 17 percent of all people in the world as its population climbed to 1.21 billion in 2011, though growth actually slowed for the first time in 90 years, census officials said Thursday.

The South Asian nation still saw a double digit jump in people, adding 181 million in the past 10 years, said C. Chandramouli, the census commissioner. The 17.6 percent increase was down from 21.5 in the 2001 count.

The last time India showed slowing in population growth was in the 1921 census. (See if the world is ready for 7 billion people.)

United Nations projections still show that India could overtake China and its 1.34 billion people as the world's most populous nation by 2030, though Chandramouli said a more rigorous analysis of data would be needed before India made its own projections.

The numbers released Thursday were preliminary and official figures and analysis weren't expected to be released until next year.

The census, India's 15th such exercise since 1872, was a mammoth effort spread out over one year. It involved 2.7 million census-takers who surveyed some 300 million households, noting for the first time whether people live in basic huts or concrete structures, have electricity and access to toilets and if they have spent any time in schools.

The questions will help administrators develop policies and set budgets for a nation where 800 million people live in poverty.

Almost all residents, regardless of nationality, are included in the count, even those imprisoned like Pakistani Ajmal Kasab, who is on death row for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Millions of homeless were also counted.

The initial numbers show a decline in the number of children under the age of 6, down 5 million since 2001 to 158.8 million. They also indicate a continuing preference for male children over females in a country where female infanticide is still common and the government has banned doctors from revealing the sex of unborn children. (See the myths of the only child.)

A gender breakdown among children showed fewer girls than boys are being born or surviving, with 914 girls for every 1,000 boys under the age of 6, compared to 927 for every 1,000 in the last census.

"This is a matter of grave concern," Chandramouli said.

Indians continue to favor sons over daughters mostly because of the enormous expenses involved in marrying them. Even the poorest families are often likely to go into debt arranging marriages and paying elaborate dowries to their daughter's new family. Hindu custom also dictates that only sons can light funeral pyres.

"Whatever measures that have been put in over the last 40 years has not had any impact on child sex ratio and therefore that requires a complete review," India's Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said.

The overall sex-ratio showed a marginal improvement, with 940 women counted for every 1,000 men compared to 933 in the last census.

The census also showed that the literacy rate went up to 74 percent nationwide for people aged 7 and older, from about 65 percent in the last count.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2062360,00.html#ixzz1IWYNreG1

 This video is titled "The Greenhouse Effect"

 The following are links for further research:

http://www.sociosite.net/topics/activism.php

- This website titled "Activism, Collective Action, and Social Movements" and it is a list of a number of major social movements in the making around the world.  It is a great link for those looking to get more involved and participate a collective behavior social movement that can have a positive impact on the culture and society.

http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_archive/populationanddevelopment

- This is a link to a website called "Center from Global Development" and it has information on the population dynamics of different nations around the world.  It has links to other news stories and blogs about the development of multiple nations, as well as other social issues taking place.


Cesar Chavez was speaking out about about  social change, saying "Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed.  You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read.  You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride.  You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.  We have seen the future, and the future is outs."


 The chapter Population, The Environment, and Social Change is an important one because of the the effects that each of these three factors has on a society.  Not only that but these factors are also interconnected within themselves.  Population density effects the environment and how quickly we use its resources and if people see changes within the environmental behavior than social change is bound to follow.  This is true today for the Green movement after people began to see the effects that industrialization has had on our environment over the last hundred years.  This is why I used the video titled "The Greenhouse Effect" as it steams from this movement and also shows the effects that our industrious population has had on our environment.
As we modernize and mobilize we are in turn urbanizing and this is the reason for the picture of the urban setting above.  Cities like this are become more and more frequent and small towns begin to grown and people migrate towards the cities in hopes of economic prosperity and a better life.  The reason for this recent urbanization has come from the influx of population growth as exemplified by the article "Indian Census: Population About 1.2 Billion." This population growth has lead to a change in the way societies have to operate to be sustainable.  People behaviors are also being to change as this is why I add the two link for further research.  While the first link is to a website that headlines social movements happening throughout the world, the second shows how nations throughout the world are developing and from there one can infer the way people in that society might behave.  Lastly, I used the quote from Cesar Chavez for obvious reasons since a major theme within the chapter was social movements and the ways society can gain from them.

G C N D E M O G R A P H Y F I V R R S B 
G R E O B I H G F I Z C A C K E E N O D 
G T E N I W B V K F L H D T T F B O C B 
K T G E S T F C T O V A T K O V S I I B 
O F A Y N U A U F K T Q G R R A W T A L 
O F V D B H S Z I C X N M Y L O L A L M 
E T E T J J O Y I S T M P J M P Y Z M W 
N X T O J W T U J L O D O X E S N I O Y 
U S X A Q D C I S V A F D Y O O S N V K 
G P T A N S W L E E F B A D I M R R E B 
B T A Y T A P M K E E H O T F K A E M T 
E P I D E O E Y G N U F A L O U U D E F 
Q Q M A D N V Z I T L Z F T G F H O N A 
M A Y Y T I G G E J I U R E B M P M T I 
D K M S X B V W D N P B A F C U K M S T 
G N I M R A W L A B O L G Q M T N W T C 
G K J Z P N R B E U R H L Z N A X B H W 
Z Y L K U U R K B H V R E I C F T F Q Y 
W I X N G U G K O U Q M Y W B S H J I X 
C O L L E C T I V E B E H A V I O R V I 

CENSUS - a count of the entire population of a country
COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR - behavior that occurs when the usual conventions are 

suspended and people collectively establish new norms of 

behavior in response to an emerging situation
DEMOGRAPHY - the scientific study of population
GLOBALIZATION - increased economic, political, and social interconnectedness

and interdependence among societies in the world
GLOBAL WARMING - the systematic increase in worldwide surface temperature 
GREENHOUSE EFFECT - a rise in the earth's surface temperature caused by heat

trapped by excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
MODERNIZATION - a process of social and cultural change that is initiated by 

industrialization and followed by increased social 

differentiation and division of labor
REFORM MOVEMENTS - social movements that seek change through legal or other

mainstream political means, by working within existing 

institutions 
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS - a group that acts with some continuity and organization 

to promote or resist social change in society 
URBANIZATION - the process by which a community acquires the characteristics of 

city life