Lucknow, July 11 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday expressed concern over the rising population imbalance and said that along with population control, efforts should be made to maintain the demographic balance in all communities.

Launching the population stabilization fortnight in the state on the occasion of the World Population Day, Adityanath said, "Vast differences in growth rates of different religious groups (religious demographic imbalance) may cause chaos and anarchy in the country. It should not happen that the speed or percentage of population growth of any one class is more, whereas the natives should be made conscious to control the population through efforts of stabilization."
He said that in countries with higher populations, the demographic imbalance becomes a matter of concern. "Therefore, all religions, classes, and sectors should be equally added to the efforts of population stabilization. The challenge of demographic imbalance should not arise anywhere," he said.
He presented 'shagun kits' to the newlyweds on the occasion and also formally launched family planning services through teleconsultation at health and wellness centers in the state.
He said, "We face another challenge when we often talk of controlling maternal-child mortality, preventing maternal anemia. That is, both maternal and infant mortality rates are high in a particular category. If the time interval between the birth of two children is less, it will also affect the maternal and infant mortality rate and society will also have to pay its price."
Maintaining the mass awareness programs of population stabilization that are going on for the last five decades, has yielded good results, Adityanath said a huge population is also a resource. "But this achievement is only when people are healthy.
"Where there is a lack of medical resources, and diseases prevailing, population growth is a big challenge. World Population Day exemplifies this challenge," he said.
He said that it took lakhs of years for humans to reach 100 crores but only 183-185 years to reach 100 to 500 crores. "If the growth rate remains this way, by the end of this year the world population is expected to be 800 crores," he said.
The chief minister said, "India has a population of 135-140 crore and UP is the most populous state with over 24 crore people, which is going to cross the mark of 25 crore in no time. This speed is a challenge. We have to make efforts for its control or stabilization."
He said that awareness is of utmost importance in achieving population stabilization. "Awareness is not just the responsibility of the health department. Rather, the departments of urban development, rural development, and education among others should be associated with it," he said.
"In controlling meningitis, we have seen the importance of interdepartmental coordination. Today, up to 95 per cent of child deaths from this disease have been controlled. Similar inter-departmental coordination should be made in this regard too. ASHA, Anganwadi workers, teachers, representatives of gram panchayats, and religious leaders can play an important role in population stabilization," he said.
Highlighting the achievements of Uttar Pradesh in the last five years, Adityanath said that maternal anemia has come down from 51.1 per cent to 45.9 per cent today.
"While full immunization has gone up from 51.1 per cent to about 70 per cent in the last five years. The rate of institutional deliveries which was 67-68 per cent earlier is going up to 84 per cent now. Efforts to control maternal-child mortality have yielded good results," he said.
In order to encourage the newly married couples toward family planning, the CM provided 'Shagun Kit' to the newlyweds. The 'shagun kit' made of jute bags included essential items like a towel, two sets of handkerchiefs, comb, specs, perfume, information card, mobile numbers of ASHA and ANM, marriage registration form, contraceptive pills, pregnancy test kit, emergency contraceptive pills along with a letter mentioning the benefits of family planning.
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