The India story: Population explosion or declining fertility rate?

India has become most populous nation. But with fertility rate slowing, there are concerns that it may grow old before getting rich. The second part of the series explores demographic challenges

Prominent voices from political, business, social, and cultural fields have highlighted various aspects of India's population in recent months. While one leading figure from India Inc expressed concern over the burgeoning population, others were worried about the declining fertility rate. Their views reflected the different dimensions of population dynamics in India that have emerged and will shape the remaining years of this century. 

If we look at the first decade of this century, population growth declined to 17.70 per cent during 2001-2011 from 21.54 per cent in the preceding decade, according to the Census. This is to say that marginally