This is a revision of the article published quite sometime back. Much water has flown down the river Padma since then. Meantime, Bangladesh has emerged from a 'bottomless basket' of Henry Kissinger to a cognisable economic power in South Asia. Many of its development indicators are cited as examples to other developing countries. It does no longer have to depend on donors for annual budget or development programmes and can now undertake mega projects like the Padma bridge on its own funding, disregarding aid agencies like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank etc. It has now a sound foreign exchange reserve, thanks to inward workers' remittances and export earnings from garments and other key export products.
The writer has been quietly campaigning for doing away with many colonial Pakistani legacies including the present July-June fiscal year since long. Unfortunately, many of the policy makers and beneficiaries of the creation of Bangladesh still have the Pakistani hang-over and cannot overcome the nostalgia of their good old days! They are the biggest stumbling block on the way of changing the old system. None of them has had the common sense or courage to amend the fiscal year to a sensible time frame. Different countries have different fiscal/budget years according to their convenience.
Has Bangladesh one fiscal year? In practice, two fiscal years are followed here. While July-June is followed by the government budget, shopkeepers all over the country follow the Bangla year by opening books of accounts or Hal Khata in Baishakh and closing it in Chaitra. In the same country two fiscal years, one official and the other unofficial, are being followed. This is contradictory and complicated. Complex laws, rules and regulations slow down the progress of a country. The more transparent and simple they are, the more dynamic the administration and faster the progress. In Bangladesh, it is pragmatic to follow one fiscal year instead of two for all purposes.
Different countries’ fiscal year:
India 1st April to 31st March
China 1stJanuary to 31stDecember
Japan 1st April to 31st March
UK 1st Monday of April to last Sunday of March or 1st Sunday of April
USA 1st October to 30th September
Sri Lanka 1st January to 31st December
Pakistan 1st July to 30th June
Bangladesh 1st July to 30th June
It appears more reasonable to adopt Baishakh-Chaitra (April 14 to April 13) as the fiscal/budget year and do away with the Pakistani July-June tradition. Some countries mentioned above have fiscal/budget year from April. Baishakh, too, begins in mid-April which is only two months and a half before July. This difference is not likely to cause much inconvenience in switching over.
Originally, the Bangla calendar was introduced for tax collection and loan repayment, i.e., for revenue purposes. It was purely a revenue/fiscal year. Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great started it in 1549 A.D., i.e., 969 Hizri. The idea was to remove the anomaly of lunar Hizri year of 354 days and replace it by solar year of 365 days. The Bangla year was born as a solar year. Hizri year is going up continuously by 11 days compared to the Bangla year. About 466 years ago this reform was made to benefit the masses and the government both.
Although the Roman calendar is followed by our urbanised educated people, villagers still follow the Bangla year for all purposes-birth, death, festival and religion. So, instead of confining the Bangla New Year to only the cultural arena, it should be officially practised.
At present, after approval of the annual budget, procedural formalities take quite a bit of time. Consequently, when funds are placed to the executing agencies, they are hardly left with enough time for development activities that normally take place in dry season. The next fiscal year, therefore, gets saddled with backlogs of many incomplete projects limiting options for new undertakings. If the fiscal year is advanced by a couple of months, as recommended, the time constraint on development works imposed by nature can significantly be minimised. This will result in optimum utilisation of the dry season and reduce waste of public fund due to rush spending at the last quarter when monsoon starts knocking at the door.
Many historians believe that the noted Mughal astrologer, Pundit Amir Fatehullah Shiraji advised Emperor Akbar to introduce Bangla calendar with a view to immortalising the regime of his great master. Akbar's finance minister Todarmal also played a vital role in it. Is there no Fatehullah Shiraji who can advise the prime minister to adopt the Bangla year as the fiscal year?
The writer is a freedom fighter and a former Additional Secretary to the government. mahmudulmasud@gmail.com
