Following Malthusian theory, which among these is a preventive check to control population growth?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Celibacy
Option (1) Famines — Incorrect. Famine kills people when food runs short; it is a positive check: Malthus saw famines and diseases as nature’s way of restoring the balance between food and population, by raising deaths.
Option (2) Epidemics — Incorrect. Diseases also cut population by raising deaths, so they too are a positive check.
Option (3) Marriage — Incorrect. The preventive check is postponing marriage. Marriage itself leads to births, so it adds to population growth rather than checking it.
Option (4) Celibacy — Correct. Malthus called the steps people take on their own to limit births preventive checks: postponing marriage, sexual abstinence or celibacy. Celibacy prevents births, so it is a preventive check.
NCERT (2025-26): “The Malthusian Theory of Population Growth … Because population growth always outstrips growth in production of subsistence resources, the only way to increase prosperity is by controlling the growth of population. Unfortunately, humanity has only a limited ability to voluntarily reduce the growth of its population (through ‘preventive checks’ such as postponing marriage or practicing sexual abstinence or celibacy). Malthus believed therefore that ‘positive checks’ to population growth – in the form of famines and diseases – were inevitable because they were nature’s way of dealing with the imbalance between food supply…” |