A student argues: “India entered the second stage of demographic transition after 1921, so during this stage both India’s total population and its rate of population growth must have been very high.” Which of the following is the correct assessment of this argument?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The argument is wrong, as neither the total population nor the rate of growth was very high in this stage.
India did enter the second stage of demographic transition after 1921. But at this stage neither the total population nor the rate of population growth was very high, so the student’s conclusion does not follow.
Option (1) The argument is correct, as death rates fell sharply in this stage while birth rates stayed high. — Incorrect. The argument is wrong. Population and its growth rate were not very high at this stage.
Option (2) The argument is wrong, as India entered the second stage of transition only after independence. — Incorrect. The second stage began after 1921, well before independence.
Option (3) The argument is wrong, as neither the total population nor the rate of growth was very high in this stage. — Correct. This is the reason the argument fails.
Option (4) The argument is wrong, as only the total population, and not the rate of growth, was very high in this stage. — Incorrect. The total population was not very high either.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.6 Demographic Condition Various details about the population of British India were first collected through a census in 1881. Though suffering from certain limitations, it revealed the unevenness in India’s population growth. Subsequently, every ten years such census operations were carried out. Before 1921, India was in the first stage of demographic transition. The second stage of transition began after 1921. However, neither the total population of India nor the rate of population growth at this stage was very high. …” |