India's population is an asset and not a problem.

It's high time we bury the Malthusian (See his book ) idea that World is running out of resources because of overpopulation. See this Times's article. Here's a site dedicated to puncturing the overpopulation myth. Detailed World population statistics can be found at US Govt.'s World Population Information site.

Overpopulation claim stands on three "legs":

Absolute population figure (World and individual country-wise)
In last 30 years human population has increased from 3.7 billion to 6 billion.

Population Growth Rate
However, population is growing at progressing slower rate. The growth rate has declined from 22% to 15% today. Estimates put World's population at 9 billion by 2050.

Population Density
India has almost the same population density (330 people per sq. km) as Japan (336). Hong Kong and Singapore, two properous city states, have population densities of 6500 and 5500 respectively. Netherland (464) and Belgium (336) are very close to India in population densities. All these countries are far richer and developed than India.

All the above countries have a very high degree of urbanization (more than 80%) compared to India's figure of 27%.

This shows that absolution population and growth is not a problem for India. Even population density is okay. What we need is more urbanization.