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Updated as on July 11, 2000

You are cordially inveted to

Population, Environment and Development

Ideas of Julian L. Simon
on
July 16, 2000, at 9.30 AM
at
Silver Oak I
India Habitat Centre, New Delhi 110 003.

Programme | Discussants | Objectve | Population as Resource | Background | Issues | Participants | RSVP

Book News
Population: The Ultimate Resource

Programme

9.30 AM:  Registration

10.00 AM:  Session I: Ideas of Julian L. Simon.

  • Rita Simon, American University, Washington DC, and wife of late Julian Simon will release the book, Population: The Ultimate Resource.
  • Barun Mitra, Liberty Institute
  • Anil Patel, Action Research in Community Health

    • 10.45 AM: Tea

    11.00 AM:  Session II: Population and Environment: Positive impact on resources

    1.00 PM:  Lunch

    2.00 PM:  Session III: Population and Development: People as resource and the framework of freedom

    3.45 PM:  Tea

    4.00 PM:  Conclusion

    Objective

    Julian L. Simon's vision has inspired Liberty Institute. To introduce his ideas on population to audiences in India, and discuss their relevance, the Institute is organising this workshop. This is an appropriate time, since July 11 is the World Population Day. And in the past year the world witnessed two significant landmarks. The world population crossed 6 billion in October 1999, and then in May 2000, India’s billionth baby was born.

    The objective of this workshop is to look at India population policy in the context of economic development, and to evaluate the possible impact of population growth on the environment and the quality of life. The workshop will be participatory in nature.

    The book - Population: The Ultimate Resource - is a collection of essays by scholars, including Julian L. Simon, Peter T. Bauer, Deepak Lal, Nicholas Eberstadt, and Sauvik Chakraverti. All of them argue that the problem lies not with the growing numbers, but with poor economic policies that have condemned so many to perpetual poverty, and led to wastage of the most precious of all resources - the people.

    Julian L. Simon's Home Page | Liberty Articles on Population

    Population as a Resource

    Simon viewed people to be the ultimate resource. He held that for their talents to flower and come to fruition, people require conducive economic and political frameworks that provides the incentives for working hard and taking risks. "The key elements of such a framework are respect for property, fair and sensible rules of the market that are enforced equally for all, and the personal liberty that accompanies economic freedom. In the absence of such a framework, the short-run costs of population growth are greater, and the long-run benefits fewer, than in free societies."

    People don’t come with just a mouth, but also a mind. They are not just consumers, but also producers. Simon showed that while our number have multiplied, far from depleting the resources these have become more abundant as measured by the falling prices of almost every resources. The only resource whose price has been increasing consistently is that of human labour. This is the only resource which has become progressively scarce even as their numbers have grown.

    Population Policy in India

    Attitude towards population has undergone a radical change in India in the past fifty years. Traditionally, in Indian culture women were commonly blessed to become mothers of one hundred children. Concerns over population growth were first heard soon after Independence. One of the early proponents of the need to restrain population growth was the Late J. R. D. Tata. On the other hand, Nehru on one occasion is believed to have told Tata, that for a poor country like India population was her only asset. Nevertheless, by the 1952, India had become the first country in the world to set up a Family Planning Programme. In the early years, much of the effort was on pursuading the people to adopt voluntarily some of the birth control measures. Then in the 1970s, all that changed, and the government sought to set physical targets, and there were wide spread reports of coercion, and corruption as overzealous officials sought meet their targets. This population policy was one of the principal factors that contributed to the defeat of the Congress Party in the elections of 1977. Since then no political party has dared to talk of population control. Even the Family Planning Department was renamed to Family Welfare Department.

    Yet, if there is one issue on which there is a broad consensus among political and intellectual leaders, it is on the need for a population policy to stabilise the growing population. The special session of Parliament called in 1997 to mark the 50th year of Independence reflected this consensus in its unanimous resolution. While many earlier reports are gathering dust, there is periodic demand to set yet another committee (now a new hundred member committee has been formed) to look in to yet another population policy announced by the present government in February 2000. The underlying assumption, however, has remained the same. That the developmental efforts undertaken by the government would have had a greater success if our burgeoning did not overwhelm these numbers.

    Issues to ponder

    Do we need a population policy? What is the relationship between population and resources? What is the impact of economic policies on these resources? By focussing on population growth, instead of misguided economic policies, are we blaming the victims for the apparent sense of crisis? In a democracy with universal adult franchise, is it consistent to hold that the people are competent to choose their representatives, but not competent to decide on the size of their own families? Population growth or poor policies have perpetuated poverty? What are the impacts of politicising fertility, locally and internationally? These and other issues may be discussed at the workshop.

    Participants

    We hope to have a cross-section people, including policy makers, opinion leaders, scholars, and students.

    All participants will receive a copy of the book Population: The Ultimate Resource. Contributors to this volume includes Julian L. Simon, Peter T. Bauer, Deepak Lal, Nicholas Eberstadt, Sauvik Chakraverti. The vomue is edited by Barun S. Mitra.

    Space is limited to about 50 participants. So please confirm early.
    We hope you will join us in this challenging intellectual odyssey.

    Please write or call

    Liberty Institute

    J-259 Saket (2nd floor), New Delhi 110 017.
    Tel: 91-11-6512441 / 6528244, Fax: 91-11-6856992,
    E-mail: liberty@nda.vsnl.net.in