Volume 1, Issue 1 (2025)

India is undergoing a significant demographic transition in which declining fertility, improving survival and increasing longevity are progressively altering the age structure of the population. Although India remains relatively young, population ageing is accelerating and is likely to become a major social-policy concern over the coming decades. This paper examines the demographic trajectory of ageing in India and analyses its principal socio-economic implications, with particular attention to regional inequality, gender, health, employment, income security, family support and institutional responses. The study adopts a descriptive, analytical and comparative secondary-data design. It synthesises evidence from the Census of India, population projections of the Government of India, the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), Sample Registration System life tables, the India Ageing Report 2023, United Nations population estimates, government programme documents and peer-reviewed research. Evidence indicates that the population aged 60 years and above increased from 8.6% of India’s population in Census 2011 to a projected 10.1% in 2021 and is projected to reach 13.1% by 2031. Longer-term estimates indicate that older persons may constitute nearly one-fifth of the population by 2050. Ageing is, however, highly uneven across states, gender and socio-economic groups. Multimorbidity, informal employment, limited pension protection, widowhood, changing living arrangements and unequal access to care intensify vulnerability. The paper argues that population ageing should not be interpreted simply as a rising dependency burden. India’s policy challenge is to convert greater longevity into healthy, secure and socially productive later life through integrated health care, stronger social protection, long-term care, gender-responsive policies and age-friendly communities

India is undergoing a decisive demographic transition in which continued population increase coexists with below-replacement fertility, a large working-age population, rapid urbanisation and the beginnings of population ageing. This paper examines how these changes condition India’s prospects for sustainable development. It uses a descriptive-analytical, secondary-data research design drawing on the Sample Registration System (SRS) 2024, National Family Health Survey-5, Periodic Labour Force Survey 2025, United Nations World Population Prospects 2024, NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index 2023–24, UNDP and UNFPA reports, World Bank indicators and official water-resource assessments. The evidence shows a clear demographic transition: India’s total fertility rate was 1.9 in SRS 2024, the crude birth rate was 18.3 per thousand, and infant mortality fell to 24 per thousand live births, while UNFPA reported a 2025 population of about 1.464 billion. At the same time, the working-age population remains large, but labour-market absorption, especially for women, is incomplete, and the share of older persons is projected to rise rapidly. Urbanisation, water stress, regional demographic divergence and unequal human-capital outcomes further complicate the relationship between demography and sustainability. The paper argues that population dynamics are neither an automatic dividend nor an inevitable environmental burden. Their developmental effect depends on investments in health, education, productive employment, gender equality, resilient cities, social protection and resource efficiency. A sustainable demographic strategy for India therefore requires differentiated, life-course and region-sensitive policies rather than a uniform population-control approach.

India is undergoing one of the most consequential demographic transformations in its modern history. Sustained fertility decline, accompanied by improvements in survival and changes in family formation, has shifted the country from a predominantly youthful population towards a more mature age structure. This paper examines the trajectory, determinants and structural consequences of fertility decline in India, with particular attention to regional disparities, demographic momentum, the changing balance between children, working-age adults and older persons, and the implications for development policy. The study adopts a descriptive, analytical and comparative secondary-data design. It draws primarily on the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), Sample Registration System (SRS), official population projections for 2011–2036, United Nations World Population Prospects 2024, the India Ageing Report 2023 and relevant peer-reviewed demographic literature. India’s total fertility rate declined to 2.0 children per woman in NFHS-5 (2019–21), while the SRS Statistical Report 2022 also records a national TFR of 2.0. However, substantial inter-state differences remain. Fertility decline is progressively narrowing the base of the population pyramid, expanding the relative weight of the working-age population and accelerating population ageing. Official projections indicate that the proportion aged 0–14 may fall from 30.9% in 2011 to 20.1% in 2036, while the population aged 60 and above may rise from 8.4% to 14.9%. The paper argues that India’s demographic challenge is no longer adequately described as population growth alone; it increasingly concerns the management of demographic diversity, labour-force absorption, reproductive choice and ageing.

Heatwaves have emerged as a major climate-related hazard in India because rising background temperatures interact with high population density, rapid urbanisation, outdoor labour, unequal access to cooling and uneven public-health capacity. This paper examines the changing spatial pattern of heatwaves in India, identifies the principal dimensions of vulnerability, and evaluates adaptation strategies using secondary evidence from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Department of Science and Technology (DST), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and peer-reviewed research published up to 2025. The analysis combines long-term temperature and heatwave climatology with recent evidence on heat-stress exposure, mortality, urban risk and Heat Action Plans. IMD evidence shows that heatwave frequency and duration have increased over many stations during 1961–2020, with persistent hotspots in north-western, central and northern India and parts of Odisha and coastal Andhra Pradesh. India’s annual mean land-surface air temperature in 2024 was 0.65°C above the 1991–2020 average, making 2024 the warmest year in the national record since 1901. Vulnerability, however, is geographically differentiated: climatic exposure overlaps with poverty, outdoor employment, water stress, dense built-up environments, age, health conditions and limited adaptive capacity. The paper argues that India needs to move from episodic heatwave response towards year-round, risk-based heat governance integrating impact-based warnings, occupational protection, heat-resilient urban design, public-health surveillance, cool roofs, green-blue infrastructure and locally calibrated Heat Action Plans.

Groundwater is central to India’s agricultural production, domestic water security and resilience to rainfall variability, yet intensive abstraction has created severe and spatially uneven sustainability pressures. This paper examines the scale, causes and consequences of groundwater depletion in India and evaluates pathways towards sustainable water-resource management. The study adopts a descriptive, analytical and comparative secondary-data design using the Central Ground Water Board’s Dynamic Ground Water Resources Assessment 2025, groundwater-quality monitoring, Central Water Commission assessments, government programme documents and peer-reviewed research. The analysis is framed through the water–energy–food nexus and common-pool resource perspectives. The 2025 national assessment estimated annual groundwater recharge at 448.52 billion cubic metres (BCM), annual extractable resources at 407.75 BCM and annual extraction at 247.22 BCM, giving a national stage of groundwater extraction of 60.63%. However, this national average conceals acute regional stress: Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana recorded extraction stages of 156.36%, 147.11% and 136.75%, respectively. Irrigation accounted for approximately 87% of total groundwater extraction, demonstrating the central role of agricultural demand. The paper finds that groundwater stress results from the interaction of water-intensive cropping systems, procurement and electricity incentives, hydrogeological constraints, climatic variability and fragmented governance. Although recent assessments show a declining proportion of over-exploited assessment units, long-term storage losses persist in major agricultural regions. Sustainable management therefore requires aquifer-specific water budgeting, crop diversification, incentive reform, efficient irrigation, managed recharge, conjunctive water use, community participation and strengthened monitoring. Groundwater policy must move beyond increasing supply towards managing demand within locally defined hydrogeological limits.