Population boom
Zabed Wali, Pahartali, Chittagong
The other morning, as I was travelling by a local bus, I came across a shabby, young woman dressed in a dark veil. She had an infant on her lap in addition to two malnourished kids, apparently of the same age. One of the kids was clutching a hen; the woman, the kids, baggage --all was crammed in one seat. Such a seat is usually meant for a single passenger. The husband, who was standing nearby, clung to the iron-rod attached to the ceiling of the bus. Beside him stood another child, a boy. This is how they travelled.No doubt, this picture is symbolic of the burgeoning population of our country. Sardine-packed buses, overcrowded classrooms, city thoroughfares clogged with stagnant traffic--all this substantiates the fact that the situation is getting out of control. In other words, our population is increasing at a steady rate: 1.42% a year. Needless to say, there is a direct connection between the rapid growth of population and poverty that is very often dubbed as our major problem. Although the growth rate of population is less than what it was a couple of decades ago, more efforts are required to stem this trend. Unless and until we can turn the populace into human resource, we will remain stuck in the quagmire of poverty. In this regard, the government, among other steps, may reward the single-child families.
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