Population control to be the new agenda of Naveen Jindal

After freeing the national flag from bureaucratic clutches, steel tycoon Naveen Jindal has now decided to campaign for family planning, a veritable necessity the second most populous nation in the world.

Jindal, the executive vice-chairman and managing director of Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL), intends to check the 'disproportionate' population growth in the country.

“I feel that (an) increasing population is the gravest issue that the country is facing at present, and my next mission will be to launch a campaign on the lines of national flag crusade to check population growth,” he said recently at a function in Raigarh.

Incidentally, JSPL is the largest private investor in Chattisgarh, with a major steel-making facility at Raigarh. The firm is also in the process of setting up a power plant in the district.

Looking back at the national flag campaign, which successfully fought for allowing the tricolour to be hoisted at building other than those owned by government, he said that the result was achieved due to the support of all those who backed the cause.

“We will fight this campaign (for family planning) with the support of the people,” said Jindal, who is now also a member of parliament from Kurukshetra in Haryana. Under the campaign, public awareness programme will be taken up to inform people about the drawbacks of increasing population, since India is slated to become world's most populous country, beating China, in next the two decades if the population growth rate is not checked.

Earlier this year, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad strongly pushed for population stabilization to be brought back into focus reasoning that fast population growth to negate the vision of ensuring inclusive growth for the masses.

“We have to bear in mind the carrying capacity of the land mass and the resources available at our disposal,” he had said.

Although he had clarified that he wasn't in favour of controlling population, Azad emphasised on generating awareness and persuading people to have small families size for the betterment of the health of the mother and child.