> India's fundamental problem is that it is overpopulated

In the early millennium, while traveling for several months in India and being shocked at the situation in states like Uttar Pradesh, I would occasionally ask Indians I met if overpopulation was not seen as a problem. The response was often that India’s mighty population is what will let it throw its weight around globally in the 21st century, and claims that India is overpopulated are a Chinese or Pakistani (or both) plot.

I wonder if this belief has only strengthened with the more nationalist government in recent years, and the even greater tension with China.