Editorial
Good, but huge work remains
Low fertility rate disguises bigger problem
THE UNFPA has commended Bangladesh for reducing population growth. The acknowledgement may be a good cheer for the government, but the fundamental problem remains. The population control issue has effectively gone out of national thought process over the years. The size of the national population is too large, so that even a lower growth rate adds critically to the numbers.
The logistical supplies, population counselling and follow-up service providers' networks have all been allowed to be wrapped up in the delusional belief that the population problem has been overcome. We allowed ourselves to be caught up in a mental trap there.
A significant weakness remains in terms of child marriage which works wholly for early child birth and offsets the steps taken half-heartedly to promote controlled parenthood. The time has most certainly arrived to reinvigorate the door-to-door family planning programme—one that was initiated in the '70s. It had its share of successes in that the programme went beyond mere distribution of contraceptives at village level. Such tested and proven programmes need to be re-introduced with the aim of capping growth at the lowest possible digit.
Though the UNFPA has sounded upbeat about the fact that couples in Bangladesh will most certainly have not more than two children per family, there is little reason to be complacent over it. A fundamental rethinking at policy level is required to bring family planning back into the centre of national discourse as an undimmed priority agenda if we are not to aggravate already adverse land-man ratio and meet the basic needs of the people.
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