Population bomb

25 September 2011, 18:00 PM

Md. Mohsin Ali, Nutan Courtpara, Kushtia

Photo: S Sarwar/driknews

Bangladesh is now sitting on a population bomb! It is a time bomb which may explode anytime! Signs are conspicuous. A gigantic population of 160 million is jam-packed in a very small area with a population density of nearly 1200 per sq km. The consequence is disastrous. Half of the population is starving. Cultivable land is dwindling. Prices of essentials are soaring up. Supply is always falling short of demand. Ever-growing hungry population has been eating up all our development efforts! Nearly a quarter of the population is living in the slums. An endless flow of rural people is overcrowding the towns and cities for food. Law and order is breaking down. Population growth rate has to be brought down to zero within the shortest possible time. It is now 1.4% while it is 0.9% in Sri Lanka and 0.5% in the Maldives. God knows why our governments have failed to give topmost priority to Family Planning. Time is running out, the bomb is ticking! We must stop it before we perish!