Madam, - Reports on the election result in Uttar Pradesh (UP) have tended to zero in on the issue of caste. Population growth might be a better focus.
The state is approximately four times the size of the Republic of Ireland and currently has a population of 170 million. Imagine Leinster with a population of 70 million. Imagine 70 per cent of those people belonging to farming families living on holdings of less than two hectares. Throw in 50 per cent illiteracy. UP is being left behind in the India growth story.
In 15 years' time the population of UP is estimated to grow to 242 million, which would be the equivalent of 100 million people in Leinster with average farm size reduced closer to 1.5 hectares per family. It reminds me of the situation above Michael Viney's duach back in the 1830s. India's population is now three times what it was in 1947. The story is the same across much of the Third World.
What has the developed world spent the last five years doing? A couple of billions from the $2 trillion frittered away on the Iraq war might have helped in slowing down the great population juggernaut in South Asia. Population growth in the absence of employment opportunities to lift people out of poverty is the scourge of the modern world. It is no recipe for global stability in the long run. Meanwhile, Tony Blair talks about his legacy. - Yours, etc,
CATHAL RABBITTE,
Bombay,
India