The Devil’s Advocate, serving you a cocktail of humour, wit and sarcasm
The United Nations has projected that India will surpass China as the world’s most populous country on 1 July 2023, with a population of 1.429 billion, thereby giving a new meaning to the Bollywood movie title, Cheeni Kum. An envious China has hit back saying, “Size isn’t everything; it’s what you do with it that counts”.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the total world population crossed the threshold of one billion people. Since then, growth rates have been increasing exponentially, reaching high peaks in the 20th century and slowing down a bit thereafter. Total world population reached 7 billion just after 2010 and is expected to count 9 billion by 2045, currently at 8 billion people.
While population is declining in a quite a few countries around the world such as China, Japan, South Korea, Portugal, etc, why is the population exploding in India?.
I think the Covid pandemic and WFH (working from home) business model have created the fertile grounds for the population expansion. During Covid, couples were forced to stay indoors, and binge watch romantic Bollywood movies and raunchy OTT movies on Netflix. With both husband and wife ending up working from home, there were many opportunities for “afternoon delight” encounters and for exploring the Kamasutra in a bit more leisurely fashion!.
But the blame for not stopping the baby boom should be squarely laid at the feet of Sunny Leone.
Every man and his & dog in India knows who Sunny Leone is. A Canadian of Indian descent, she is an ex-porn actor who is now firmly established in Bollywood’s movie genre of eroticism and soft porn. Sunny is also the brand ambassador for the male condom brand, Manforce and has a massive fan following. Her saucy Manforce condom advertisement viral videos have attracted thousands of eyeballs, but they have failed in encouraging Indian men to use condoms because, according to statistics, condom usage is a mere 5% of the population. If Sunny, as the influencer & brand ambassador, has failed to raise condom awareness, no other person is up to the task. The male gaze is focussed on her and not on the product, it seems. Back to the drawing board, Manforce!.
Xena, my fourth-wave feminist acquaintance, is not pleased with the news. She fumed, “This is patriarchy at its best. Men are making women pregnant, inflicting on them the labour pains, burdening them with childcare, thereby destroying their professional careers and increasing the gender wage gap. This is a conspiracy to keep women indoors in the kitchen and be slaves to men. A few years ago, a section of the society objected to Sunny Leone’s social service advertisement for Manforce condoms on the occasion of “Navratri” festival. It was taken down after the protests. Pathetic!”
But Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, on the other hand, is stoked with the news and is over the Mars!. Musk had warned that “population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming”, putting himself at odds with the climate change warrior, Greta Thunberg. “Demographics is destiny,” Elon Musk has tweeted. Elon has plans to settle humans on Mars but there is one tiny issue. On April 21st, his rocket exploded spectacularly when launched. Bon voyage to Mars is now on temporary hold!.
Greta Thunberg has not yet reacted to on how the increased Indian population will lead to climate change acceleration and destruction of the world. India already has 1.2 billion mobile phone users. This number will only increase, with increasing population, contributing to global warming.
Businesses in Indian are rubbing their hands in glee and gearing up for the demand in products. Products related to babies such as nappies, clothes, milk powder, gifts etc will be flying off the shelf. The already lucrative education & tutorial businesses will be on steroids to accommodate thousands of kids in schools and colleges.
India’s population is young. More than half the population is under the age of 30 and less than one-fourth is age 45 or older. India is now at its most sexually active and productive phase ever. The population can increase even higher if not managed appropriately.
In India, life expectancy is about 68 for men and 70 for women. India could have a large labour pool, thanks to the population increase, which is a positive for the country’s future economic growth, but large population can be a double-edge sword, both a blessing and a curse. The success or failure depends on investments in education, health, and social infrastructure that would enable the population to participate in the modern economy and not be a burden on it.
The next time you are in India, and you are not able to swing a dead cat in a room, you know why. LMAO!
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
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