Read the passage and answer the following question:
Overpopulation causes a number of family problems. Strategies like birth control methods help to control population explosion. Natural methods of birth control do not involve medications or devices to prevent pregnancy but rather rely on behavioural practices and/or making observations about menstrual cycle. Natural methods work on the principle of avoiding chances of ovum and sperms meeting.
According to NCERT, an alarming population growth rate in India could lead to:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → an absolute scarcity of even basic requirements like food, shelter and clothing
A high population growth rate means more mouths to feed every year. NCERT warns that such an alarming growth rate could lead to an absolute scarcity of even the basic requirements (food, shelter and clothing) in spite of significant progress in those areas. That is why the government took serious measures to check it.
Option (1) a rise in the maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR) — Incorrect. A fall in MMR and IMR is one of the causes of the population rise. A high growth rate is not said to raise these rates.
Option (2) an absolute scarcity of even basic requirements like food, shelter and clothing — Correct. This is the result NCERT gives for an alarming growth rate.
Option (3) a fall in the number of people in the reproducible age — Incorrect. NCERT gives an increase in the number of people in the reproducible age as a cause of the rapid growth, not a result of it.
Option (4) a rapid decline in the death rate — Incorrect. A rapid decline in the death rate is again a cause of the rapid population growth, not its result.
NCERT Extract:
Population Stabilisation and Birth Control – “… A rapid decline in death rate, maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR) as well as an increase in number of people in reproducible age are probable reasons for this. … Such an alarming growth rate could lead to an absolute scarcity of even the basic requirements, i.e., food, shelter and clothing, in spite of significant progress made in those areas. Therefore, the government was forced to take up serious measures to check this population growth rate.”