Narrative change is not about consensus on every policy details, but rather agreement on the broader themes and directions that the public discourse and public policy should take.

Pakistan can hardly afford to add 17,000 newborns each day as it is already cumbersome Population on the fragile state of the land of the pure. Pakistan has been confronting sheer finical hardships and some of the poorest socioeconomic and health indicators that can ill-afford to adjust nearly 17000 newborns each day, making the existing burden worse. Our population is projected to touch a staggering figure of 274 million by 2030. In 2018 a national population plan was developed at the behest of the chief justice of Pakistan, planning the call for Pakistan to stabilize its fertility rate.

National narratives have shaped the identity of individuals and body politic as a whole, creating identities and bodies compatible to the narratives the state pervade. Past narratives of population growth were instrument of preservation of identity. Bulging population explosion is seen as a modern crisis. Contemporary world is driven by innovations instead of the legion of human that is fully equipped with modern world criterion to compete with world. It is the quality that pave the ways towards development and progress in today’s world. The contemporary relevance of new narrative on population growth is to cope with the challenges of burgeoning growth.

Narrative as imperative has been observed to be central to the policy process – constituting public instrument persuading decisions makers and vital tool in influencing the public and government to pay attention to the country top most problem of burgeoning population. There is plenty of science, philosophies and literature pointing to the importance of narratives in human affairs. One way to understand the findings and arguments presented is that people by nature are inclined to impose meaning on the world and that when they do rely on information shorts cuts (heuristic) to develop quick and easy emotional rendering of the world that fit with who they think they are and what they know. People preferred way of meaning –making through stories. The national narrative on population growth clearly encapsulated  that to establish the balance between population growth and resources. Population narrative in the past was not that appealing and tailored in isolation without keeping socio-culture context. The existing narrative is judiciously knotted/manufactured having the socio-culture context to mitigate the socio-religious backlash.

Narrative enlightens the mind in terms of inculcating new values and civic sense into the mental horizons of the citizens, endorsing the state in turn on bettering Childs rights, fixing the responsibilities on parents to ensure standard life for the offspring. It allows parents to responsibly   fulfil their children’s fundamental rights such as education, heath, shelter, and balance nutrition. The foundation of the new population narrative- which has received support from politicians, academics, media experts and religious leader-rest on the concept of balance or tazawan.

The narrative must be broadly disseminated for individuals to internalize and act on it.  Nations that expeditiously stabilize their fertility rate invested in multiple communication channels to change public perception and attitudes about family planning services are widely accessible.   The power of Narrative shapes people beliefs, values and attitudes which in turn shape their behavior which are influenced by education, culture, societal norms and exposure to information. We need a broad-based social movement employing print, electronic and social media drivers to inform and create the environment for wider propagation of family planning through narrative. Our intellectuals, author, bloggers, columnists researchers must convinced, sensitized and encouraged to write on the many themes that emerged from the new narrative

In nineteen century Britain for instance the print media, through the influential writings of authors like Dickens, Ben Johnson, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy and others significantly improved the living conditions of the poor. The writing of Essayist Edwin Chadwick helped launch the sanitary movement which resulted in several public health initiative that vastly improved health outcomes.

Population growth is existential threat to the existing resource bank and a glaring governance issue to growing population demand far more than headline figure can capture: safe drinking water per capita, more doctors and hospital beds per capita, more police per capita and more school, teacher electricity, gas and essential services across broad. Narrative must be utilize to realize the serious diminishing of resources where the quality of life depend on sources availability at macro level, meso and micro level/family level.

The writer is Ph.D. in Sociology with Specialization in Family planning.

 He is working as District Population Welfare Officer Lower Dir. Kinanpashauom@gmail.com