(Wl-3492)-Demography, Democracy and Delimitation

The recent debates over the possibilities of lifting the half-a-century-old constitutional freeze on the state representation in Lok Sabha has elicited widespread indignation from the southern states. Since these states are the forerunners in demographic transition, it was feared that any attempt to delimit the constituencies would result in their loss of representation. Before proceeding with the delimitation, a number of several methodological issues need to be resolved, and the assumption that achieving population stabilisation will solve every representational conundrum faced by the states essentially seems to be a flawed idea.