UN body rejigs Bangladesh head count

Nurul Islam Hasib
bdnews24.com senior correspondent

Dhaka, July 16 (bdnews24.com) ? The United Nations Population Division has revised its head count figure for Bangladesh that drew flak from several quarters in 2010.

To one's surprise, the UN has also revised drastically the mid-century (2050) population projection for Bangladesh, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The UNFPA on October 21, 2010 in its 'State of the World Population 2010' said that 'the population of Bangladesh is now 164.4 million, with an annual growth rate of 1.4 percent'.

The government, however, rejected the numbers outright, as it was 15 million more than the count of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) that conducts census every 10 years.

Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith binned the report saying it was 'unauthoised meddling'. "They (UNFPA) have no such right," he said after the report was released.

Finally, on May 3, 2011, the UN Population Division revised Bangladesh's population close to 149 million.

Prior to 2004, the UN Population Division estimated that Bangladesh's population would reach 218 million in 2050, and in 2004, they said it would be 243 million.

In 2006, they jumped up to 256 million and then dropped the figure in 2008 when they said Bangladesh's population would be 222.5 million, close to other estimates like the one of US Population Reference Bureau.

Now they say in 2050, Bangladesh's population would be 194 million and 'that is the peak ? thereafter population declines'.

bdnews24.com tried drawing planning minister's attention to the issue at the release of the preliminary results of the 5th Population and Housing Census 2011, but he chose not to react.

Later prime minister's advisor Mashiur Rahman in his speech quipped, "In the world of knowledge, if we think we are the only wise people, then knowledge will not expand."

"We should also accept those, who cultivate knowledge," he added referring to a query bdnews24.com raised before the planning minister whether organisations other than the government's BBS had the mandate to generate population data.

"It's ridiculous," said Ahmed-al Sabir, a population researcher and consultant of USA-based Measure Evaluation.

"It only creates confusion," he said, adding that BBS should remove such confusions in a pro-active manner.

However, UNFPA assistant representative Noor Mohammad told bdnews24.com that they do not generate any population data.

"We bring out a world population report every year using data from population division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat."

"They generate the counts taking different countries' statistics," he said, adding that population projections can be different due to different methods of calculation.

"As census is conducted every 10 years, the UN Population Division generates those data during the interim periods," he said, adding all UN organisations use those data.

The preliminary results of the 5th Population and Housing Census 2011 showed Bangladesh's population hitting 142.319 million on March 15.

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Bangladesh, India launch enclave census

Dhaka: Opposition chief whip Joynal Abdin Farroque, severely beaten by police during hartal hours on Wednesday, being taken for medical treatment by his party colleagues. -Photo: Zahiduddin Ahmed Saimon See details

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'Abducted villagers kept in Bangladesh'

Agartala, July 9 (bdnews24.com) ? Police chief of the India's northeastern state of Tripura has said six tribal men kidnapped by the banned NLFT militants from a bordering village in South Tripura district have been kept across the border in Bangladesh.

"They are across the border; we know that they are very close to the BDR camp. We have given all the details where they are kept and requested the BSF to hold a flag meeting the Bangladesh Border Guards, so that this point could be raised and necessary action taken," said Director General of Tripura police K Salim Ali.

He was speaking to media persons during a press conference in the police headquarters here.

On July 1, some NLFT militants had kidnapped six tribals ? five Reangs and one Chakma ? from a remote South Tripura village. The militants sneaked into India from Bangladesh to carry out the abduction.

Ali added, "Taking advantage of the absence of border fencing over an eight-kilometre stretch on the India-Bangladesh border in the Raishyabari area under Nutanbazar police station, the militants kidnapped and took the tribal people across the border."

However, the DGP assured that very soon the entire border that Tripura shares whith Bangladesh would be fenced. Initiative had also been taken to illuminate it, so that BSF men could manage it better, he added.

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Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club clinch Bangladesh League title

New comer Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club made history by clinching the prestigious title of the GrameenPhone Bangladesh League with a 2-2 goals draw with Brothers Union Club at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in the city Wednesday, reports UNB.

The star-studded Sheikh Jamal as first team to clinch the major title of the country in their first appearance in the top flight football.

The Sheikh Jamal supporters, wearing club jersey and flags in hand at the west gallery, burst into a joy when referee Abdul Hannan Miron blew the final whistle of the play.

The club players and officials embraced each others with joy on the ground while club supporters chanting slogan from the big bowl saying "Sheikh Jamal, Sheikh Jamal".

With the day's outcome, Sheikh Jamal finished top of the points table with 51 points from 22 matches while Brothers Union remained in the 5th position with 30 points with the last match against Dhaka Abahani Limited.

In the day's match, defender Mohammad Sujan and Cameroonian forward Sergio Chico scored one goal each for Sheikh Jamal while Nigerian forward Kingsley Chigozie and Brazilian striker Everton Souzaa Santos netted one goal apiece for Brothers Union Club.

Nigerian forward Kingsley put Brothers ahead in the 12th minute with a spectacular fashion. Taking control of a Faisal Mahmood chip he took an angular short at the middle of the D-box beating experienced Sheikh Jamal goalie cum custodian Aminul Haque (1-0).

Defender Shujon equalized the margin from a penalty in the 62nd minute. His fierce spot kick gave no chance to Brothers Union custodian Utaam to react (1-1).

Three minutes later Sheikh Jamal celebrated the lead as Cameroonian forward Sergio Chico headed the ball into the empty net after receiving a right flank cross from Nigerian winger Femi Orunimi (2-1).

However Brothers came back into the game with another penalty in the 74th minute. Waly Faisal brought Brothers Brazilian midfielder Everton in the middle of the box and Everton made no mistake to covert thew spot kick.

After the match, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club coach Packer Ali said he found the booters mentally down when he took charge of the team in the middle of the league.

He said he greatly motivated the players after taking team's charge to improve performance of the booters in the league.

Packer Ali said "It was a great experience for me as a coaching career to clinch the prestigious title and this credit will help my future career.

Asked if he stay with Sheikh Jamal Club after the Super Cup, Paker "I have yet to decide about it but now I need long rest."

Brothers Union coach Wasim Iqbal, who was unhappy with the day's team outcome said the result could have been different if referee would not give the controversial penalty against them.

Sheikh Jamal- Aminul, Waly Faisal, Reza, Sujan, Mamunul, Meshu (Enamul), Shakil, Nasir, Sergio (Mintu), Femi and Loga Bouga.

Brothers Union: Uttam, Yusuf, Danilo, Ashraful (Russel), Nahidul, Toru (Monowar), Kabir (Nadim), Everton, Faisal, Tara and Kingley.

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Bangladesh to play some longer version matches

Bangladesh will play Test match after 14-month gap, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is trying to arrange some longer version matches against provincial teams of South Africa before touring in Zimbabwe.

Bangladesh will land in South Africa en-route to Zimbabwe. Therefore the team management is trying heart and soul to arrange some three dayer or four dayer matches in order to cope with the longer version cricket.

Moreover, the cricket apex body will organise some more practice matches against Bangladesh A team after ending the ongoing fitness training session.

In a meeting of the special committee, the cricket affluent body took this decision.
Bangladesh will play one-off Test and three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe. With the Test match, the East African nation will return to the Test cricket after six years self-exile.

For Bangladesh, it would be a crucial Test to determine the course of country's cricket in longer version game. Bangladesh played their last Test match against England in June last year.

“We've decided to arrange some practice matches before Bangladesh take on Zimbabwe. Definitely we'll emphasise on longer version matches because we've to play a Test match against Zimbabwe after a quite long gap,” BCB director Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu said.

“We've been trying to arrange some more matches against South African provincial team as we'll go to South Africa en-route to Zimbabwe. These matches will give us a perfect preparation,” he added.

“Moreover the national team will play some practice matches against Bangladesh A team teams after ending the ongoing fitness training.”

The committee however sought a fixture for their Pakistan counterparts regarding Bangladesh-19 team's tour there in July. As the Under-19 World Cup will be held in August, Bangladesh will take decision after getting the full schedule, said Lipu.

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