Mysore/Mysuru: Retired IAS Officer M. Madan Gopal observed that the rise in population of one religion and dwindling of another will lead to erosion of local civilisation.

He was speaking at an interaction on the topic ‘ Population imbalance and its impact on National Security’, organised by Manthana Mysuru in association with Janajagarana Trust at the Institution of Engineers on JLB road here on Saturday.

Maintaining that the decrease in habitation of aborigines which were in existence earlier had resulted in the erosion of ancient civilisation, Madan Gopal, who had served as the Additional Chief Secretary of Karnataka,  cited the examples of countries such as Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran.

Quoting the 1951 population census of India, Gopal said that while Muslim population at that time was 9.8 percent, it has risen to 16 percent as per the 2011 census and at the same time, the Hindu population has come down to 78 percent from 84 percent. Expressing concern over rising population of the country, the former IAS officer said said such a trend poses a threat to national security as ethnic violence may rise. Noting that population increase will also have an adverse impact on key sectors like education, employment and health, he said that infiltration from Bangladesh to India is continuing. “All the infiltrators are allowed to stay in the country by issuing them all types of ID cards. The effect of this can be seen in our arts, literature, culture etc., It will be no surprising if they even demand a separate country for them in a few decades. As such, the NRC (National Register of Citizens) should be implemented at all cost”, he observed.

Manipur violence is not politically motivated

Asserting that the Manipur violence is not a politically motivated one, Gopal opined that the violence is due to population imbalance. Pointing out that the dominant Meitei Hindu population of Manipur has come down to 46 percent from 61 percent in a few decades, he said at the same time the population of tribal Kuki community ( which practices Christianity) has risen to 32 percent from 17 percent. Though the Manipur violence, which is ethnic in nature,  has been in existence for several years due to population imbalance of communities, the violence has scaled to new heights  now, which has attracted national attention  for the past three months, he maintained. Reiterating that the Manipur violence is not politically driven, he said it is ridiculous to blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi or the Manipur State Government for the ongoing violence, which is raging because of population imbalance and other local factors.

Former Kerala DGP M.N. Krishnamurthy in his address, said it is alarming to note that most of the infiltrators to the country are youths. Asserting that the infiltrators are the main cause of violence in the country, he said such continued violence also poses a serious threat to the nation’s safety and security.

He further said that migrants from neighbouring countries who come here in search of jobs, are getting engaged in terror activities for the sake of money. Terrorism and other subversive activities pose a real danger to National security, he added.

Manthana, Mysuru convenor Padmavathi S. Bhat and others were present.