Current Issue

India's demographic transition is increasingly defined not by a single national growth trajectory but by marked spatial differences in the timing and consequences of fertility decline, population momentum, migration and ageing. This paper examines population growth and regional disparities in India from a geographical perspective. It uses a descriptive, analytical and comparative secondary-data design, drawing principally on Census of India 2011, the Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report 2024, National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21), and the Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011-2036. The analysis distinguishes observed census change from later survey estimates and official projections. Census 2011 recorded national decadal growth of 17.64 per cent during 2001-11, but the rate ranged from 25.42 per cent in Bihar to 4.91 per cent in Kerala. By 2024, the national TFR had fallen to 1.9, while Bihar (2.9), Uttar Pradesh (2.6), Madhya Pradesh (2.4) and Rajasthan (2.3) remained substantially above low-fertility states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal (1.3 each). Official projections further indicate a simultaneous expansion of the working-age population and rapid ageing: the share aged 60 years and above is projected to rise from 8.4 per cent in 2011 to 14.9 per cent in 2036. The paper argues that India is best understood as a set of asynchronous demographic regions. Region-specific policies are therefore required for human-capital formation, reproductive health, employment, migration management, urban infrastructure and population ageing.

Floods constitute one of the most persistent hydro-meteorological hazards in India, yet their human consequences vary sharply across regions and social groups. This paper examines the spatial geography of flood hazard and the differentiated production of human vulnerability in India. It adopts a descriptive, analytical and comparative design based exclusively on secondary data, drawing on the Central Water Commission (CWC), India Meteorological Department (IMD), National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), NITI Aayog, Ministry of Home Affairs, World Bank, IPCC and peer-reviewed research. The analysis combines the hazard-exposure-vulnerability framework with social-vulnerability and Pressure-and-Release perspectives. It finds that recurrent riverine flooding remains concentrated in the Ganga-Brahmaputra plains; Himalayan regions face rapid-onset flash and compound hazards; coastal and deltaic districts experience interacting river, rainfall and cyclone processes; and urbanisation is generating new pluvial-flood risk through impervious surfaces, drainage constraints and occupation of natural storage areas. Recent research also indicates changing rainfall extremes and projected increases in widespread riverine flooding under warming, although observed rainfall-flood relationships remain spatially uneven. Human vulnerability is shaped by poverty, livelihood dependence, settlement location, housing quality, mobility, access to services and institutional capacity rather than by hazard magnitude alone. The paper concludes that flood policy should move beyond a predominantly protective engineering paradigm towards integrated floodplain governance, risk-sensitive urbanisation, resilient infrastructure, ecosystem-based measures, locally actionable early warning and social protection targeted to vulnerable groups.

Considering that human mobility plays a major role in the spread of infectious illnesses, mobility does not cause transmission on its own. The geographical spread of infectious diseases at the international, national, regional, and local levels is examined in this study in relation to migration and transportation networks. It uses a qualitative, analytical, and secondary data-based approach, combining official data from the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and the Government of India with peer-reviewed studies on transport modelling, mobility networks, and spatial epidemiology. Three interrelated mechanisms are identified by the analysis: local amplification upon arrival, redistribution via mobility corridors, and disease importation. Network connectivity can shorten the epidemiological distance between settlements, according to evidence from COVID-19, dengue, and malaria. However, the effects of movement vary depending on pathogen biology, route timing, population sensitivity, environmental receptivity, and public health capability. Rapid long-distance importation is particularly important for aviation; national and regional redistribution is supported by rail and road systems; and origin and destination populations are frequently reunited through migration and commuting. India offers a particularly illuminating example due to the extent of internal movement and transportation usage. The paper contends that for densely connected groups, surveillance based just on administrative residence and physical distance is inadequate. While avoiding the stigmatisation of migrants or arbitrary movement restrictions, a network-sensitive approach that integrates epidemiological surveillance with origin-destination flows, transit hubs, and mobility corridors might enhance risk assessment. The study comes to the conclusion that mobility data are best utilised as contextual evidence in surveillance systems that are pathogen-specific, temporally explicit, and ethically regulated.