World population hits seven-bn mark today; experts zero in on UP

The world's seventh billionth person is expected to be born today, according to the United Nations Population Fund. And experts seem to have zeroed in on Sunedha village of Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh, where Sachin and Pinky Pawar are expecting a child.

The focus on India and Uttar Pradesh is mainly because 51 babies are born every day in the country; and 11 of these are born in the country's most populous state. Hence, the statistics favour that state and perhaps that particular child.

The expecting couple were agog with joy at the media attention. ''I was very happy when I heard the news ... officials from London even asked me what I would name the child,'' Pinky Pawar is reported to have said.

Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad however took a more sober view, saying on Saturday that it was not a matter to rejoice over, seeing that India is sitting on a population time bomb.

The UN Population Fund predicts that India's population will be more than China's by 2025. And the benefits of development have hardly percolated to the remote areas, particularly in economically backward states like UP, where the tendency is to marry in teenage years and start producing babies almost immediately.

Hospital deliveries are uncommon, and immunisation of the newborn is also far from usual.