Population density seems to be the latest concern for leaders in mountain regions.

Days after Sikkim chief minister P.S. Tamang (Golay) announced a slew of incentives aimed at improving the fertility rate of the Himalayan state, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) chief executive Anit Thapa flagged a similar concern.

“Our population is declining. In any case, we Gorkhas are in a minority. This is a very important issue that we need to keep in mind and work at or else, this will be a slow poison,” Thapa told journalists in Darjeeling on Monday.

According to the 2011 Census, the total population of Darjeeling district stands at 18.43 lakh. The population of the hill areas of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong is 8.75 lakh, according to the 2011 census.

The plains of the district would basically mean a single subdivision of Siliguri. The hills comprise Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik subdivisions and the Kalimpong district.

Researchers have pointed out that the population in the hills of Darjeeling district was higher before Independence. “Since then, the population and the population growth of the plains of the district have always remained higher,” said a researcher.

Thapa has hinted that couples in the hill need to have more children. “People might laugh at my comment but I am trying to educate,” he said.

The National Family Health Survey (2019-21) suggests that the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime — is low in low-populated areas.

For example, Sikkim, the least populated state in the country, has a TFR of 1.1, Goa (1.3), Ladakh (1.3) and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1.3) compared to densely-populated states like Uttar Pradesh, which has a TFR of 2.4, Bihar 2.4 and Madhya Pradesh 2.0.

The national TFR also went down from 2.6 in 2009 to to 2.0 in 2021 but the fall in places like Sikkim from 2.01 to 1.1 during the same period is alarming Thapa did not announce any incentives from the GTA, unlike Sikkim chief minister Golay.

The Sikkim government has started a scheme to provide financial assistance of Rs 3 lakh to women for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment to help increase the fertility rate, apart from raising the maternity leave for government employees from six months to one year.

Even though the government has not come up with a clear explanation for the decline in the fertility rate, some medical professionals have attributed it to lifestyle trends.

“With more nuclear family setups coming, people do not want to bear more children but instead concentrate on providing the best to the less. Late marriages are also not uncommon and women are also increasingly career-oriented now,” said a medical professional.