Population problem
Photo: STAR
These days many people are found talking on TV on various subjects. There is no dearth of subjects. They talk on dialogue with the parties, jute, price hike of rice and other commodities, increase in oil and gas prices, Nargis and Sidr and so on, but nobody talks about a major problem of the country and perhaps of the world. What is that? Well, that's the 'population problem of Bangladesh'. What is the population of Bangladesh? Believe me, none can say with authority. I tell you the population of the country is 170 million. You want to have a bet? The department of Health & Family Planning is very much there, having offices, staffs, salary, recruitment (on May 14, 2008 there was an ad in The Daily Star for employment of Tk 8000.00 worth staff) and what not but not any family planning activities. You may agree with me that the root of all problems of the country, like crime, unemployment, land grabbing, forest grabbing, scarcity of rice, rise of temperature, loss of forests, loss of natural creatures is over population. I remember back in the late 1950s, there was a billboard near the western side of the GPO saying 'Every day the population of the country is increasing by 14000'. Now? It is horrifying. On an average, the poor families are having 5+ children. Nobody bothers. Nobody talks on this serious issue. Why? I really do not know. If someone can get an opportunity to visit any slum or any island in the southern part of the country, he/she may be horrified to see the number of children in every family! The food production is three times what the country used to produce in the 70s. Still we have shortage of food. The only reason is over population. Please do something to stop the population growth. Use crude languages for the people who really need to understand the terrible and dangerous side of the issue. Our country is as big as Iowa of the USA but Iowa has only 3 million people! Well we can surpass that figure by the population of Mirpur (Dhaka) only! Give contraceptives, injections for birth control etc free of cost. Fund? Well, close down some offices like Tula Unnayan Adhidaptar, Paat Gabeshana Adhidaptar, BJMC, embassies in many countries which really do not have any job. Use that money for birth control. We will leave this world but let us leave a liveable country for our next generation.
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