Editorial
Population growth projection scary
Pragmatic policy needed to check explosion
AS far as population growth is concerned, Bangladesh is not on the right track. The country with a land area of only about 55 thousand square miles is home to nearly 15 crore people. And to refresh our memory, Bangladesh's population was 7.5 crore in 1971. According to standards set by the developed countries, especially those in the west, we are one of the most populous countries in the world. If we take into account the availability of agriculture land, sweet water sources, cattle-head, forests and other natural resources, it will be extremely difficult to accommodate and feed the population if it continues to grow at such a pace, that is doubling in 30 plus years.
On the occasion of the World Population Day 2008 some facts and figures have been disseminated by the relevant government departments. These might make one feel optimistic about the ongoing population control programme but, to be candid, ground reality suggests otherwise. Officially it is claimed that the percentage of users of family planning methods has increased from 7.7 in 1975 to present 55.8, that total fertility rate (TFR) has come down to 2.7 and the population growth rate stands at 1.41 at the moment. But it has not been elaborated what percentage of the rural and illiterate population use contraceptives and practise family planning such as birth spacing. As far as we know there is a considerable gap between the family planning practices observed by the literate urban, suburban and illiterate rural population. When the urban couples are reluctant to take more than two children, rural couples still go for four or even five. This is a stark reality that is contributing to many facets of social disequilibrium as well.
The family planning drive that began in the late sixties and continued through the seventies and eighties and produced encouraging results began to flag since the mid-nineties when focus on family planning was diluted through some administrative decisions. It created frustration amongst the officials and general staff members of the family planning directorate. They almost became inactive in their field level motivational work and door-to-door approach with service. As a result, today a government circular says population of the country would stand at 25 crore in 2085. But private researchers estimate the figure to reach 28 crore in 2050. To us both the figures look scary and we urge the government do much more to halt the growth rate to save the country.
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