This document discusses Malthusian theories of population. It states that Thomas Malthus recognized that population grows geometrically while food production grows arithmetically, leading to scarcity. Malthus proposed two checks on population growth - positive checks like famine, war that directly increase mortality, and preventive checks like moral restraint and artificial birth control that decrease fertility rates. The document also summarizes India's population characteristics, the impact of population explosion on development, and government programs to control population like the National Family Welfare Programme and National Population Policy.