Report on Population Problem of Bangladesh

Bangladesh, in full, People’s Republic of Bangladesh, republic of southern Asia, in the northeastern portion of the Indian subcontinent, bordered on the west, north, and east by India, on the southeast by Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), and on the south by the Bay of Bengal. The area of the country is 147,570 sq km (56,977 sq mi).

Population, term referring to the total human inhabitants of a specified area, such as a city, country, or continent, at a given time. Population study as a discipline is known as demography. It is concerned with the size, composition, and distribution of populations; their patterns of change over time through births, deaths, and migration; and the determinants and consequences of such changes. Population studies yield knowledge important for planning, particularly by governments, in fields such as health, education, housing, social security, employment, and environmental preservation. Such studies also provide information needed to formulate government population policies, which seek to modify demographic trends in order to achieve economic and social objectives.

Population problem is one of the most talked about topics of the world now-a-days. In Bangladesh, it has been declared as number one national problem. Hence Bangladesh is called an over populated country. In fact, her present population has come to a stage of explosion.

Past and Present Situation:

In the 1980s, Bangladesh faced no greater problem than population growth. Census data compiled in 1901 indicated 29 million in East Bengal, the region that became East Pakistan and eventually Bangladesh. By 1951, four years after partition from India, East Pakistan had 44 million people, a number that grew rapidly up to the first post independence census, taken in 1974, which reported the national population at 71 million. The 1981 census reported a population of 87 million and a 2.3 percent annual growth rate. Thus, in just 80 years, the population had tripled.

In July 1988, the population, by then the eighth largest in the world, stood at 109,963,551, and the average annual growth rate was 2.6 percent. According to official estimates, Bangladesh was expected to reach a population of more than 140 million by the year 2000.

Bangladesh’s population density provided further evidence of the problems the nation faced.

In 1901, an average of 216 persons inhabited one square kilometer. By 1951, that number had increased to 312 per square kilometer and, in 1988, reached 821. By the year 2000, population density was projected to exceed 1,000 persons per square kilometer.

The crude birth rate per 1,000 populations was 34.6 in 1981. This rate remained unchanged in 1985, following a 20-year trend of decline since 1961, when it had stood at 47 per 1,000. The rural birth rate was higher than birth rates in urban areas; in 1985, there were 36.3 births per 1,000 in the countryside versus 28 per 1,000 in urban areas. The crude death rate per 1,000 populations decreased from 40.7 in 1951 to 12 per 1,000 in 1985; the urban crude death rate was 8.3, and the rural crude death rate was 12.9. The infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births was 111.9 in1985, a distinct improvement from as recently as 1982, when the rate was 121.9. Life expectancy at birth estimated at 55.1 years in 1986. Men and women have very similar life expectancies at 55.4 and 55, respectively. With an average life expectancy of 58.8 years, urban dwellers in 1986 were likely to live longer than their rural counterparts (average life expectancy 54.8 years). The sex ratio of the population in 1981 was 106 males to 100 females.

In the late 1980s, about 82 percent of the population of Bangladesh (15.1 million households) resided in rural areas. With the exception of parts of Sylhet and Rangamati regions, where settlements occurred in nucleated or clustered patterns, the villages were scattered collections of homesteads surrounded by trees. Continuous strings of settlements along the roadside were also common in the southeastern part of the country.

Until the 1980s, Bangladesh was the most rural nation in South Asia. In 1931, only 27 out of every 1,000 persons were urban dwellers in what is now Bangladesh. In 1931, Bangladesh had fifty towns; by 1951, the country had eighty-nine towns, cities, and municipalities. During the 1980s, industrial development began to have a small effect on urbanization. The 1974 census had put the urban population of Bangladesh at 8.8 percent of the total; by 1988, that proportion had reached 18 percent and was projected to rise to 30 percent by the year 2000.

In 1981, only two cities, Dhaka and Chittagong, had more than 1 million residents. Seven other cities–Narayanganj, Khulna, Barisal, Saidpur, Rajshahi, Mymensingh, and Comilla–each had more than 100,000 people. Of all the expanding cities, Dhaka, the national capital and the principal seat of culture, had made the most gains in population, growing from 335,928 in 1951 to 3.4 million in 1981. In the same period, Chittagong had grown from 289,981 to 1.4 million. A majority of the other urban areas each had between 20,000 and 50,000 people. These relatively small towns had grown up in most cases as administrative centers and geographically suitable localities for inland transportation and commercial facilities. There was no particular concentration of towns in any part of the country. In fact, the only large cities close to each other were Dhaka and Narayanganj.

The populations of Bangladesh become a great problem. The present growth rate of population is 2.36 percent. This rate is very alarming and disturbing. If this growth rate continues, her population will be double by the end of the 25^th century.

About 14 cross people live in Bangladesh, a country of 55.598 square miles. Our population is increasing by geometrical progression while agricultural production is increasing by arithmetical progression. The estimated population of Bangladesh (2003) is 138,448,210, making Bangladesh one of the ten most populous countries in the world. The overall density, 938 persons per sq km (2,430 persons per sq mi) in 2003, is much higher than that of other countries except for microstates such as Singapore. The distribution of the population is relatively even, except in the sparsely populated Chittagong Hill Tracts District and the almost much-uninhabited Sundarbans. Bangladesh supports a large rural population, with only 26 percent of the Bangladeshi people classified as urban in 2001. Most of the people are relatively young, nearly 60 percent being under the age of 25 and only 3 percent being 65 or older. Life expectancy at birth is 61 years.

If we think about it in deeper level, we can find many causes of over population. My next discussion will attempt to clear about the causes of Population Problem.

At the beginning of the population increase, many factors caused it to grow:

      Industrial Revolution: With the industrial revolution came advances in agriculture and industry that gave way to individual families being able to afford more children. In addition, increases in our knowledge about nutrition and medicine helped us to have more healthy babies. When women take care of their bodies better, they are more fertile and therefore can have more children. With cures for fatal diseases including antibiotics and vaccines, these children are also able to live longer. These types of changes seem good for society, and they are in a sense that more people mean more development for the world’s societies. Until the middle of the 20th century, the population was not a major problem. People could move to other continents and later out of the cities to rural areas and space did not appear finite.

      Technological Advancements: In addition, these technological advancements allowed us to care for all of these people as well. In essence, the population took care of itself. It was around 1950 when the population began to skyrocket.

      Aging: Coming population declines in many developed countries will accompany very low proportions of youth and high proportions of older people in these societies. The resulting policy challenges of how to support increasing numbers of retirees while maintaining productive economies have already arrived in the Bangladesh as well as in many developing countries. For example, 23 percent of the population is less than 15 years old—a proportion much closer.

      Difference between Growth& Death rate: The two elements that regulate population growth are birth and death rates. The question then is whether a slow down in population growth will be a result of a decrease in births or an increase in deaths. If the population continues to grow without bound, nature will take over and the death rate will rise to solve the problem. Unfortunately, this is not the most attractive solution for us. Instead, we would rather control the number of births in order to attack the source of this world problem and save the Earth from being over-capacitated.

      Geographical Condition: Bangladesh has a limited geographical area. Therefore, she cannot provide the ever-growing population in such a small area. Besides this large population has become a burden on the available natural resources of the country.

      Illiteracy: Illiteracy is the most important cause of population problem in Bangladesh. About 85% people live in villages. They are illiterate. They are not aware of their responsibilities. They cannot realize the importance of family planning. Therefore, they become parents of so many poor children. At this national progress is greatly hampered.

      Gender: Improving literacy for women in developing countries has been a proven factor in lowering fertility and improving reproductive health. Improving the status of women at home, in the workplace, and in social and political life (as well as involving women and men equally in their reproductive decisions) also foreshadows improved health outcomes as well as overall economic growth. The gap between current realities and progress yet to be made is arguably larger here than in any other of PRB’s (Population Reference Bureau.) theme areas. The changes required are legal, economic, and cultural, but the resulting benefits cut broadly across most of our theme areas.

      Religious influence: Some orthodox people opine that to adopt family planning measure is a sinful act. They think,

”God will feed everyone whom he has created.”

Being influenced by them, many people do not adopt family planning measures. As a result, population goes on increasing day by day.

      Polygamy: The system of polygamy has worsened the         population problem in our country. Sometimes a man takes two, three, or even more wives at the same tome. As a result, population increases and it creates serious consequences on the economy of the country.

      Custom of Early Marriage: The custom of early marriage is still prevalent in the rural areas of Bangladesh. In early age’s marriage people unable to realize the value of birth controlling. Because they has the lack of knowledge. This custom has also a serious consequence and thus the population is in increasing at an alarming rate.

      Female Education: As 50% of the total population of our country are of the female sex. However, in our country, women are not properly get chance to be educated. Without being an educated person, they cannot understand many important things in life as like population problem. In our country, women does not conscious for their conceive. They are not aware of this big problem.   

Over population creates a lot of hazards and a number of problems. In addition, these problems act as a   national problem of the country. All the major problems that we are facing recently in our country are the result of this population problem.  Only one problem is giving birth to the other grievous problems. It is something like a gigantic fish in the sea, eating all the small and mini small creatures in the sea, and destroying the   balance in numbers in keep harmony and discipline. Just like this gigantic fish, the population problem is the fish, which is destroying the normal balance and making different types of uncomfortable situation in the country among the people. Therefore, at first we have to observe that what types of problems this population problem is creating and bringing disorder to the    society   and normal life. We also have to find out that what impacts are there of this problem on our social life. There are several impacts on the society we can see it, we can feel it and we suffer for that:

      The Food Problem : The Bengali poet  Shukanto says,

“In the world of hunger the earth is prosaic,

The full moon is, as it were a loaf of baked bread.”

Really, no living being can survive without food in this universe. The food problem is a great problem in our country. There is shortest of food in Bangladesh and we have to procure food –stuffs from the foreign countries. At first, the population boom is the main cause. For the rapid  growth of the  population  there are the increased number of  people .That  means, the  main problem is    food  problem   because,  the more  people the more food supply is needed .  Our country has now population near four cores. In addition, this is really a huge population in a country like Bangladesh. Day by day, the demand of food is increasing because the people are increasing. And  we have  the increased  number  of  children  who  only eat  but  cannot  produce  or go  into  economic  activities . Therefore, we have the increased numbers of hungry little mouths to feed. Moreover ,on  average  we have  only  0.1 hectare  of cultivable  land  per head, which is not enough  for  us to provide the bare  necessary quantity of food for  our  existence. The extra people cannot get extra food. Alternatively, we cannot provide extra food for them. For that reason, there is great food deficiency in the country. For providing food for extra people, we frequently take food from foreign countries. For that reason, our country needs to take financial help from the foreign country. Therefore, we can understand that over population creates a great problem like food crisis.

      The placement problem:  Over population means extra people in a certain area? Bangladesh is a very small land .The total   area is about 56, 0000 square miles. Recently she has more than three crors of population .Bangladesh has more population that she can give accommodation to the people.  Day by day, the number of people increasing but the land is not increasing.  We have to give place to this huge population in this limited place. Therefore, this is a great problem, we are facing recently. Bangladesh is a fertile land.  She needs to provide the cultivable lands also to feed a huge population .But the country has a limited land. So, now days we can see that many space for are selected for the construction of the buildings. A great number of cultivated lands are no more spheres and are not productive. The developed countries have now taken a trend to live in the big storied buildings. They are now make the sky scrappers and living in one of the flats, as there is no space in land so, now they are using the vertical spaces.  For the huge population Bangladesh is planning to do like the developed countries.  Recently it is being seen that most of the rural people is leaving village and they are more interested to stay in Dhaka city. For that reason, the population of Dhaka city has become a huge populated city. Because of that, many high rising building is being constructed now days to give placement to these extra people. The land of our Bangladesh is decreasing by over population, because of mismanagement, deforestation, overgrazing, and others. It can be shown by a pie chart-

The Dhaka city has become a city of high rising buildings. We cannot find any space for play, or we rarely get any space to   walk in an open place.  In addition, it has become impossible to get a spacious   flat in the Dhaka city. The rooms are small. It is also seen that many people have to live in a small room together, which is really pathetic and uncomfortable.  Not only in private flats but also in official rooms are also like suffocated rooms. In addition, those have no ability to provide any space for living; they spend their days on streets. And  those have the ability to afford  a spacious  house , they  stay in the  luxurious and spacious flats which are extremely costly . Therefore, this is the picture of the capital city of Bangladesh. In addition, if we consider the condition of the villages, we will see that there are open places. However, not like before. The village is also getting   compact and congested day by day. The people are increasing in number in the family. Therefore, they   also need places to live. Therefore, day by day they are spoiling the cultivated lands by making the houses for them. They are also cutting down the forests to build the houses for the extra people. So, the land is just being engaged day by day. In addition, if the population rate increases like this then there will be no space for even stand .We can now easily understand that over population is creating so bad impact.

      Migration and urbanization: Brain drain, globalization, coastal crowding, xenophobia and discrimination, dying rural towns: One or several of these manifestations of migration and urbanization permeate life in every country on earth and connect them one with the others as never before. Economic globalization is driving massive international movements of labor, jobs, and income, raising living standards of many in the developing world but threatening the livelihood of others. Developing countries are losing skilled personnel—notably in the health professions—to Europe and North America. The migrants and receiving countries benefit, but the home countries are left with labor shortages. These and other pressures will soon arise between developing countries as neighboring societies such as Chad and the CentralAfricaRepublic experience diverging fertility and population trends. Meanwhile, the proportion of the world’s people living in urban areas will exceed 50 percent in 2005.

      Educational problem:  Over Population    causes a great problem    in education. The country is having a huge population and a huge responsibility to make them educated. For these extra people the country needs more educational institutions to provide proper education. However, in our country there are not enough educational institutions according to the number of people. If the number student is increased in a classroom then class will not be so effective and educative. In the schools of our country are now packed with a huge number of student. There is not enough number of efficient teachers. It is seen   recently in the country that in good schools there is hard competition for admission. For example, only for 50 sits, 50 thousands of students are competing.   In the higher education level,   the   competition increases.  In the government universities, we can also see the same picture.   Here many brilliant students fail to get in the well-known universities.  That means, the country is not able to provide the best education for all students because of the lacking of enough government universities. Again, in most of the classes there are a huge number of students. Therefore,   student cannot get full the utility of the class. The students cannot do enough communication with the   class. Because of that, the students rarely get    proper environment to study and to be enlightened. As the competition is too high, the students get puzzled and frustrated. Then they decide to depend on unfair things in the exam hall. Gradually the huge portion of students of this country passes and gets degree by copying. Finally, a huge portion of people remains empty intellectually. Therefore, this is a great loss for the country. Again, another point is the half of the population of the country is women. In addition,    there is no proper facility for female education. Because of that, the half of the population is   uneducated. It is seen that, if there is several children in a family, the parents send only their   boys to schools for education but not girls. Even now, at this moment, a major portion of females is not getting any education because of shortage of educational institutions. The population rate is so high that the country is simply unable to provide proper education for all people of the country. Where as education is one of the basic elements of   human right. Therefore, this has become a major problem of the country only because of over population.

      Economical problem: Over population is one of the reasons for which the country goes through a big financial crisis. The more people the more money is needed to run the country.  There is a great need for providing every important thing   for   the people. The country must have the financial solvency to   maintain the   all expenses. For example, in a family, as much as the family members are there, the maintenance cost also differs according to the number of the members. There is a minimum   financial    matter for each member of the family. Just like that, a country needs that financial solvency.  It is seen that the earning rate per head of this country is day-by-day decreasing.  The earning rate per head was like just about 210 us dollar. Now it has been low because   the people are increasing but the earning is not increasing .The   most people do not do any work. They are destroying the capitals in the different places. The major portion of the population is not engaged in any work. So, as  a   result  of   that  they are not  producing or earning  any thing  rather they  remain idle . However, they are dependent on their parents earning. Therefore, we can see that over population means extra money. However, there is no source of extra income. Therefore, the country is facing a tremendous pressure of financial need. That is why Bangladesh cannot run without the financial help of foreign countries. The country takes financial help only because she has not that ability to maintain the country as she has a huge population now. Therefore, we can understand that over population only creates problems after problems.

      Proper medication problem: A poor country like Bangladesh, having a huge population, cannot provide the proper Medicare. This is impossible to give the best medication to this huge population. The every people of the country have a right to get proper medication in sufferings different types of diseases. In our country, we can see that there are medical centers but not according to the number of people. In the rural areas, there are very few medical centers and the quality of medication is too low. There are no efficient doctors because; the students who study medical science and become doctors with a good degree, most of them do not continue practice in Bangladesh. Finally, the rest medium quality doctors stay in the country for the over population. Even this is also seen that many people suffer a lot because of lack of medicine and care. The medicine is not sufficient comparing to this huge population .Even in many remote areas there is no hospitals, doctors and medical centers. Therefore, they have to suffer a lot in diseases. The population is so high in Bangladesh that it is hardly possible to provide proper medical service to every people. If the population were range able then it would be possible to give every one of this country the proper medical services.

      The Unemployment problem:  The one of the most important effect of over population is unemployment problem. Every year a huge amount of students, pass from the educational institutions. They start to find out jobs according to their academic qualifications. However, as the population is high, the competition is very hard. Sometimes it is seen that for only one sit, thousands of people are applying. The job fields are few. The scopes of a job are getting narrower day by day. The students finish education with the hope of getting a job But unfortunately this is never happened. The hope becomes frustrations. A huge number of population is now just unemployed. They are just having a terrible time. They have education, they have competency but they have no earnings. They have to depend on their parents or they do not have anything to do. Therefore, huge portions of this over population remain useless and unproductive. The competent people are many but job fields are limited. For that reason, we can see that the major portion of people is disengaged with any sort of works. Because of that, the people become weaker in mentality or they become very much crazy for money. Finally, they engage themselves in the crimes. They try to become rich within very short time.  In addition, some of them want to at least lead their life hand to mouth, but they feel that they do not have any jobs to do in fair way. Therefore, they choose the unfair way to earn money. We can see that over population is a great curse for one nation. It cripples the nation.

      The moral degradation: The over population has an impact on human mind. As the total atmosphere is very uncomfortable, the mind of the people also feels unrest at times. They feel frustrated, dejected and hopeless. They think that they will loose the game of life as the life becomes competitive. It is a hard thing to maintain life in an expensive society. Gradually we see that, people loose faith in morality. They become self-centered, selfish, and liar. People commit crimes. Therefore, we easily understand that the mind or mentality of the people has been changed because of over population. Therefore, we n say that over population encourages false spirit of an individual, which finally, damages the morality in human being. This can be called one of the major problems of society caused by over population.

      Reproductive health and fertility: More than one-half million women still die every year from pregnancy-related causes. Almost one-half the world’s women—including 85 percent in sub-Saharan Africa and 28 percent in the United States—still do not use modern contraception. The news on HIV is equally gloomy: Nearly 20 million women worldwide now have HIV, and rates of HIV infection among African women ages 15-19 are five to six times higher than infection rates for their male counterparts. AIDS is also the leading cause of death among African American women ages 25-34. Investments in family planning and reproductive health must continue—reaching the women and couples that are often the hardest to reach—if progress on these issues is to continue.

      Children and families: Falling infant and child mortality rates nearly worldwide were a triumph of 20th century science, public health, and economic development. However, adequate investment and policy attention to these crucial populations in both the United States and internationally is still lacking. For instance, American children experience teen death rates as high as 236 per 100,000 in the District of Columbia. In sub-Saharan Africa, HIV/AIDS has left 14 million children orphaned. And while falling fertility in developing countries now presents a window of opportunity to invest more in the health, nutrition, and schooling of each child—what demographers call the “demographic dividend”—few national governments are poised to take advantage of this opportunity.

      The Environment Problem:  Nearly everyone agreed that population growth has a negative effect on the environment. The basic elements of environment are air, water, soil etc. Everything that is included in the nature is a great part of environment. Over population damaging the natural processes of all natural elements. In addition, day-by-day people are getting a polluted environment. The more people are born, the more cars, buses, trucks, factories, miles, machines, and other things are invented day by day. The buses, trucks and other vehicles are creating smokes and ashes. The mills and factories are creating the poisonous smoke. As the population has been increased, the need of communication and industrialization also has been increased at a great scale. Because of that, these extra mills and factories, buses and trucks are spoiling the air. These smoke providing poisons to the air. As a result, the people are becoming sick day by day. The people are in hailing the poisonous air. On the other hand, water is one of the most important and essential matter for human being. Man cannot live without water. This water is also polluted. To provide more there are more garments are buildup, many factories, many industries and many more things are building up. In addition, they leave waste materials to the ponds, rivers. In addition, the chemical wastes are poisoning the water. For growing more foods to feed the extra people, people are using chemicals, medicines and other artificial product in the cultivated lands. To kill the insects people use many types of poisons. Because of that the soil are loosing its utility and fertility. The sugar level of the soil is increasing. That means the spoil is also polluted. If the basic elements are damaged and polluted then the nature is also damaged and polluted .The natural process is being disturbed. The weather is also becoming hotter day by day because of the disturbance of the natural process.  At the end the green house effect occurs. So, we can see, how the over population creates the environmental damages and making the country an unable and unfit place to live in. Over population is creating an environment of poisons only.

       Agricultural Problem: Around 70 percent of the world’s poor rely on the land for income and subsistence. However, increasingly, poor rural families worldwide are likely to live in ecologically fragile zones; support themselves with subsistence slash-and-burn agriculture; and use products from increasingly stressed forests as fuel, fodder, and building materials. Abject poverty can push rural residents to destroy the very resources they rely on for their livelihoods, and can leave them unable to meet basic human needs when the prices of environmental goods such as water, land, or marine life increase. Meanwhile, improving incomes and living standards are driving increasing global demand for consumer goods—but this development is also fueling deforestation and environmental degradation. In addition, demographic factors increasingly contribute to environmental problems in the developed world as well, from densely populated coasts that are vulnerable to storms to low water tables in the American Southwest. In all these settings, evidence-based public policy can make a marked difference.

      Poverty and inequality: Poverty and inequality are at the heart of poor health, high mortality, and lack of access to education—and these factors themselves perpetuate and deepen individual poverty and national and global inequality. In the least developed countries, health spending is about $11 per person a year—well short of the World Health Organization’s recommended $30 per person needed to cover essential health care. People in poverty also tend to have reduced access to modern contraception, to live in areas of environmental degradation, and to migrate because of the “push” of survival rather than the “pull” of opportunity. In the United States, child poverty rates that vary from 7 percent to 26 percent across the states demonstrate that even some highly industrialized societies have not solved this issue.

We know that if there is a problem there is a solution too. Population problem is the effect of long process. The population is a great problem of our country. Therefore, we need find out the solutions to solve these problems. All classes of people should come forward with a view to uprooting this problem. There can be certain solutions that are given below:

      Providing Education: One of the main solutions is education. It is said that education is the light of life. Only education can solve the half of this problem. If a person is educated, he/she will understand the curse and dangerous effect of the population growth. Everyone of the country must go to schools. Every women of the country should be educated up to at least class 5. By educating the people, this problem can be solved .If, the people are educated; they will understand the importance of having small family. By education, they will know the world, science technology, and many more things. The superstition regarding child will be no more in their mind. Education will enlighten them for the better life. Female education should be a mandatory for all girls of the country. The government should give much more emphasis on education sectors. In addition, government should include the sex topics in the text. So that the student can have a view to know the real matter of over population. In addition, the students will be brought up with the proper knowledge of sexual matters. In addition, gradually they will be careful of the problem.

      Raising awareness: One of the most important solutions can be the raising of awareness among people. The people should know the exact situation of the present situation in Bangladesh. In addition, they should know about their duties and responsibilities towards the nation to solve the problem. The people should get aware of the fact that the country has al ready a huge problem .So, the people has a great part to do.  In addition, for that reason, they must be raise awareness in their mind for protecting the country from the over population.

       Family planning:  The most important solution is the family planning of population problem in Bangladesh. The increase of population must be controlled through family planning department. Family planning workers should visit every nook and corner of the village and convey the illiterate people of the importance of family planning. The rural people do not know about the family planning. Even they do not know how to control the birth of child. They do not know the proper use of condom and other things. There will be a few problems with this. One is the cost of making the contraceptives available. This could be taken care of, again, by working together. If richer countries with less of a population problem could donate to the poor countries with more of a problem, then the costs would be covered. Therefore, it is very important to make them knowledgeable about the sex and family planning.

       Stopping polygamy: Polygamy should be stopped in the society. There must be a need to setup a rule by government. The rule must be like this that one person cannot marry more than once. The traditions of some aristocratic families should be stopped. In addition, if any one marries twice in life, the person should get punishment for that. Legal action should be taken against polygamy. It can be controlled through Muslim marriage act of 1861.

      Stopping Early Marriage:  The custom of early marriage should be banded. Legal action should be taken against the early marriages. There should be a system that a man shall not allow to marry before his affairs the age of twenty-five.

      Changing of Religious Concepts: There are many orthodox people in the country. They have many superstitions according to religion about birth controlling. The opinion of these orthodox people should be changed. They have to think practically. They should realize their condition of the family. In addition, should look on the actual situation of Bangladesh.

      Media and Advertisements: Media and advertisement has a great role of preventing over population.Differnt types of dramas, cinemas, Short films can show the real picture of over population in the country. In addition, there can be important message regarding child taking and family planning. By this, the national awareness can be raised among people and people can be more benefited .The people will be gradually more interested in making a small family rather than making a huge family. Therefore, we can see that media has a great role to control over population and save the country. Again, there must be some advertisements regarding short family and other important topics on the problem of population. The government should take measure to stop over population by providing  posters, leaflets and  notices on the walls of the streets ,so that the mass people can read it carefully and can concentrate on the topic.

      Government Rules: The government should look on the matter more carefully. The government should take some important and mandatory steps to stop over population. The law of the country should be re organized according to the present situation of the country. The strict rules should be taken and mandatory principles should be practiced in order to protect the country from the curse of over population. Government should maintain strict rules on taking only two children (girl and boy).  If the rules are set up and laws are active, the people will not be that much crazy that they will not follow the government rules. Therefore, we can see that the government is the only authority to give the command the people. Only government can solve the total problem and handle the present situation of the country. Therefore, we can easily understand that government should be more careful regarding solving the over population.

      Female Education: Female education should be one of the moat important preconditions of controlling over population. Without proper education of women, a family can never get the necessary light of education. The childhood of every human being depends on his or her mother. In addition, educated and responsible one in manhood can only be possible if she is nourished under the dream of a truly educated mother. An educated mother can lend her hand to expand the income of a family also. If a mother is educated properly then she can take care of herself and can understand the value of birth controlling.

In any event, non-coercive approaches to population reduction emphasizing improving standards of living, economic security, education, rights of women, and health care generally, not only promise reductions of growth rate to the 2.0 fertility level that marks no growth, but promise this in a time period comparable to or better than what can be accomplished with coercion, assuming the latter would in fact work at all without parallel social progress. And, finally, whereas the developmental approach to stabilizing population dovetails nicely with concerns for justice, equity, an end to patriarchy, etc., the coercive approach in practice leads almost inexorably to misogynist, racist, and colonialist formulations and practices, even against the protests of its more humane and thoughtful advocates.

So, is there any doubt about what the position of leftists ought to be, however many nuances might still be open to reasonable debate? The notion that we ought to set aside development for family planning of any type, especially coercive policies, is, objectively, whatever the motives of its proponents, reactionary. For where this type of thinking leads, and by way of conclusion, we can do no better than to follow Alex Cockburn’s lead (from the Nation, July 25) and quote the new star of the population-crisis school of thought, Garrett Hardin, from his 1949 textbook, Biology: Its Human Implications. While not all ecologically and demographically schooled people urging drastic population policies are as venal as Hardin, I do think that his views represent a kind of natural destination of this type of advocacy. He writes, as just one of many quotes that make the point: “Studies indicate that as long as our present social organization [democracy] continues, there will be a slow but continuous downward trend in the average intelligence–[while] there seems to be little danger of society’s being deprived of something valuable by the sterilization of all feeble-minded individuals–more spectacular results could be obtained by preventing the breeding of numerous members of the sub-normal classes higher than the feeble-minded.”

The population of Bangladesh is alarming. The impact of over population is so grievous and pathetic that there is no way other than solving the problem instantly. The standard of living, political stability, and cultural values are degrading day by day. The state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue. On the other hand, we should find out the ways and means to utilize the existing population and on the other hand, we should change the rapid growth of population.

Article written by : Asad Saimon