Inside India’s explosive population growth | 101 East Documentary

with more than 1.4 billion people India is now the world's most populous country But Rising unemployment is pushing young people to the brink s the state of Bihar has the highest birth rate in the country and women here typically have three children authorities are struggling to persuade couples to use contraceptives foreign with being the most populated country in history [Music] Bihar is home to over 120 million people and it's still growing over the next decade one third of India's population increase will be driven by just two states Bihar and neighboring uttar Pradesh [Music] I'm in a neighborhood in bihar's capital Patna which is home to tens of thousands of students they come here from far and wide hoping to crack exams which could land them a government job but with each passing year the pool of applicants is getting larger and the competition is getting harder than ever [Music] 25 year old ravish Kumar is starting to qualify for a low ranking job as a train driver in India's vast state-run Railway Network s [Music] [Applause] but getting a job seems like a distant dream [Music] getting into the classroom is a struggle foreign [Music] these students will take any job they can find but what they covet the most are lifelong contracts with the government which could help lift their families out of poverty driven by their aspirations the city's coaching industry is now worth millions of dollars but despite the tall promises these dream factories make Landing a job is easier said than done ravish has been trying for eight years [Music] foreign had another opportunity but he failed yet again to make the cut to improve his chances he's now studying with a renowned jobs coach SK cha foreign so dire is the jobs crisis in Patna that even the tea vendors here rap about unemployment s is funded by his brothers who had to leave the state to find employment they are now laborers at a steel plant in South India doing back-breaking work to support his dream s foreign [Music] hostels sharing a small room with others in these tight quarters they dream of a better future foreign [Music] in 2022 more than 10 million Indians applied for just 35 000 Railway jobs when they fail to make the cut disgruntled students took to the streets alleging irregularities in the hiring process students felted storms on moving trails and one passenger train bogey was put on fire protesters quarter on the railway tracks at several places and finding a job is likely to become tougher as the state's population continues to rise he traveled more than 300 kilometers from Patna to kishanganj a district with one of the highest birth rates in the country [Music] sorry [Music] one two three four foreign have 10 daughters and one son raising so many children isn't easy none of the children have been educated Beyond fifth grade because they had to start working to supplement the family income 17 year old cushy believes she knows why her family is in this predicamenta um while it's true that contraceptive methods were not as prevalent in Bihar 20 years ago there's another reason why the couple had so many children foreign [Music] foreign S have a rare day off and are celebrating Eid and the end of Ramadan with their children together they only make about ten dollars a day working on construction sites raising a large family is always a struggle and festive occasions are particularly stressful is jaldi India's fertility rate or the number of children of women will have in her lifetime is declining and now stands at an average of two but here in kishanganj experts estimate it's almost five for authorities reducing this High rate is a priority [Music] somewhere between a nurse and a counselor healthcare workers like Rani Devi lead the government's ambitious Family Planning program there are about 90 000 women like her across Bihar plan um foreign [Music] [Music] experience what can happen when women lack knowledge about family planning foreign foreign who at 28 is already a mother of five minutes foreign form of birth control in India in the past many people were forced to undertake the surgery by government authorities thousands of women tied to botched operations in Mass sterilization camps before the camps were banned in 2016. Rani tries to ensure those who opt for other methods know how to use them correctly is injectable hormones and condoms are even harder to promote than birth control pills [Music] Channel efforts made by healthcare workers like Rani are starting to show results in the last five years contraceptive use has doubled in Bihar although it remains Low by national standards [Music] back in Patna ravish still doesn't know when the government will announce job vacancies and now he has to make an emergency trip back to his village it's been three months since he last went home and he's nervous about seeing his mother Mommy [Music] two hours later pravish arrives home but there's no warm welcome his mother can't hide her disappointment [Music] ravish's mother Anita Devi raised her three boys all by herself after her husband died with two of her sons now working as laborers in another state she helps look after their children she expects ravish will make good on the Family's investment in his education and soon foreign Anita Devi struggles to understand that her son can only apply for a job when the government announces vacancies is under an enormous amount of pressure from his family I ask Anita Devi why it's so important for her son to get a government job [Music] um [Music] [Music] has had his sights set on a government job since he was a boy foreign [Music] District he's also India's Minister for Rural Development we meet him on the sidelines of a campaign event s [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] after the event we managed to speak with the minister Khan is the minister is calling for a controversial new law that would penalize those who have more than two children foreign foreign Muslims for driving India's population increase Acclaim experts say is unfounded Bihar state government has so far resisted calls for a population control law with local authorities banking on other efforts to reduce the birth rate find out more about the Alternatives we meet with Dr Ansari a specialist in sterilization surgeries um every Monday he travels to a different hospital in the state to perform these surgeries today he's in sharper District he and his patients have agreed to let us film the procedures [Music] foreign population but Dr Ansari says many women only opt for sterilization after having large families sterilization operations on men are less invasive yet in the last decade only 0.1 percent of bihar's male population has had these surgeries foreign Ty to Target Muslims he says the claim that Muslims are driving the population growth is incorrect a year candidate foreign government data clearly shows that states with lower education levels have higher fertility rates [Music] but as ravishna's only too well education alone isn't enough to solve bihar's other demographic challenges [Music] foreign and his friends are looking for some respite [Music] foreign but even during that down time they can't leave their studies behind us good morning [Music] is not alone today millions of young people across the country are unemployed and unable to imagine a meaningful future um India is trying to rein in its rapidly Rising population from education to sterilization and birth control the races on to avert a demographic disaster how the country fares will determine the lives of future Generations foreign

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 1,152,774

Keywords: 101 east, Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera English, India, Inside India’s explosive population growth, al Jazeera, al jazeera, al jazeera 101 east, al jazeera English, al jazeera documentary, al jazeera live, al jazeera video, aljazeera English, aljazeera latest, aljazeera live, aljazeera live news, china, documentaries, documentary, india''s population explosion, latest news, news headlines, population, unemployment, women

Id: uY5SX8c8kWI

Length: 25min 15sec (1515 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 29 2023