As World Population Day 2011 is celebrated on July 11, this year’s theme - “Calling Attention to Urgent Global Issues” - is meant to be a clarion call to governments, organizations, communities and individuals to understand population issues worldwide and to galvanise them into action.

In the case of the burgeoning population of Tamil Nadu, Chennai has attracted most of the migrant population from both rural and urban areas.

Being ranked the fifth most populated city in India, the process of overcrowding and unsustainable mass of population has already done much harm to the city.

According to a planning commission report, Chennai will become one of the few cities in the world with more than 10 million population in about 10 years.

“The challenge of Chennai would be to sustain progress in development of physical infrastructure and social development in tandem with economic growth”, says the report.

The need of the hour is to educate people on the consequences of a constantly increasing population, say experts.

“People should be co-operative during census as population data helps policy-makers in making informed decisions about policies and programmes to reduce poverty, hunger and advance education, health and gender equality”, points out community health advisor Kishan Rathore.

In terms of creating awareness about family planning, many women and men still do not have access to modern contraceptive methods despite advancement in technology. A growing population would undoubtedly spark a host of problems related to hunger and malnutrition, said Dr. Elango, former director of public health.

”For thousands of women, access to quality reproductive health and family planning services is a huge challenge. Empowering women with knowledge helps them in making informed decisions about spacing their pregnancies and planning the size of their families which marks the significance of World Population Day,” he added.