2011 gone, 2012 is on
Sunday, 1 January 2012
The New Year 2012 is on, leaving behind 2011 which was eventful from the beginning. To be frank, most part of 2011 was simply nightmarish. Thousands of people suffered due to nasty share market debacles and they registered angry protests many times.
Most part of the year was full of thorny issues such as price hike of power and energy, erratic price situation of essentials, devastating road accidents, hartals, power sector dilemma, inflammatory pressure, eve teasing, sorry state of mega projects, Aminbazar tragedy, wide gap between hope and reality and so and so forth. However, there are some positives, like holding some matches of cricket World Cup 2011, development in some of the MDGs etcetera, as well.
The bullish share market collapsed in the later part of 2010 and this trend continued in 2011 and lasted almost round the year making thousands of small investors penniless. The bullish mood of the market attracted an increasing number of small investors to the market as an alternative to the traditional dependence on the banking system. Although it bounced back a little in December 2011, thousands of people were still the hardest hit.
Death of two media personalities and 43 school students in different road accidents created a storm of protest in the country. Some members of the civil society congregated at the Shahid Minar on Eid day to press their seven-point demand including stopping issuance of illegal driving license, ensuring discipline in mass transport system, enacting tougher laws to curb road accidents, ensuring proper training for drivers and ensuring accountability in the administration. Ironically, nothing has changed. On the night of Shab-e-Barat, six students, who were suspected to be robbers, were beaten to death at Aminbazar by a mob. Later on, the enquiry committee, in its report, said that the six students were innocent. Such incidents of mob beating saw an upward trend in 2011.
Anti social activities, like stalking and harassment, saw an alarming increase too. At times, it seemed we were passing through a severe moral crisis, considering incidents like the sexual assault of a female student by a male teacher of the Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, or the torture of Rumana by her educated husband.
In November, 2011, the government with a view to delivering better and quicker services to the city dwellers split DCC into North and South, ignoring widespread protests and criticism. Over the years, DCC has been facing severe resource constraints, so, how two city corporations are going to perform better remains to be seen.
The Tipaimukh dam project raised much debate because of the likely serious environmental consequences on lower-riparian Bangladesh. The Indian government, as reported in the media, signed a contract to build the controversial dam without even informing Bangladesh. The opposition party, BNP, sent a letter to the Indian government to conduct a joint study on the Tipaimukh dam and hydroelectric power plant issue. The opposition party also expressed its desire to work with the government in this regard. The Indian government only gave verbal assurances that they would not do anything harmful to Bangladesh.
The government has at least three to four mega projects in its pipeline but none of them is ready yet. What hurt the people even more is the suspension of the World Bank fund due to suspected irregularity in selecting consultant for Padma bridge project. Other mega projects are also facing fund crunch. So uncertainty over the projects looms large.
In 2011, the ordinary people were the worst sufferers. The incumbent government increased fuel prices four times, including the latest one on December 30, 2011, to cut subsidy in the energy sector while it adjusted power tariff rate twice as well. The present government's intention was to increase power production quickly by implementing quick rental power plants. And as soon as these plants became operational, pressure on fuel import increased substantially. As fuel oil was already subsidized, total amount of subsidy increased, forcing the government to adjust the fuel price. It affected the general people severely, given that they were already the hardest hit by the soaring prices of commodities.
The rate of inflation reached double digit and is still going up. For the country's 40 per cent population, who are considered to be poor, it is undoubtedly a huge burden, ravaging their life and living standard. Though inflation erodes the real income of all, it is the people in the low-income bracket that are the worst sufferers.
What is worse, taking public opinion, whether on fuel price adjustment or splitting DCC, was grossly missing in decision making. The opposition party noticed it quite well and as such, they called numerous hartals to register their protest but all attempts ended in smoke.
What have been stated thus far are the disappointing sides. As for the 'positives', for the first time in the history of cricket, the ICC cricket world cup 2011 was inaugurated at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on February 17. Bangladesh successfully arranged eight matches of the prestigious event which certainly branded the country positively though the performance of the Bangladesh cricket team was below par.
Despite inflation and unstable commodity market, the percentage of poor people decreased and that of school going children increased. As a result, Bangladesh received the MDG award.
Let's hope for more positives and not the recurrence of the negatives of 2011. Let's hope for the best.
Most part of the year was full of thorny issues such as price hike of power and energy, erratic price situation of essentials, devastating road accidents, hartals, power sector dilemma, inflammatory pressure, eve teasing, sorry state of mega projects, Aminbazar tragedy, wide gap between hope and reality and so and so forth. However, there are some positives, like holding some matches of cricket World Cup 2011, development in some of the MDGs etcetera, as well.
The bullish share market collapsed in the later part of 2010 and this trend continued in 2011 and lasted almost round the year making thousands of small investors penniless. The bullish mood of the market attracted an increasing number of small investors to the market as an alternative to the traditional dependence on the banking system. Although it bounced back a little in December 2011, thousands of people were still the hardest hit.
Death of two media personalities and 43 school students in different road accidents created a storm of protest in the country. Some members of the civil society congregated at the Shahid Minar on Eid day to press their seven-point demand including stopping issuance of illegal driving license, ensuring discipline in mass transport system, enacting tougher laws to curb road accidents, ensuring proper training for drivers and ensuring accountability in the administration. Ironically, nothing has changed. On the night of Shab-e-Barat, six students, who were suspected to be robbers, were beaten to death at Aminbazar by a mob. Later on, the enquiry committee, in its report, said that the six students were innocent. Such incidents of mob beating saw an upward trend in 2011.
Anti social activities, like stalking and harassment, saw an alarming increase too. At times, it seemed we were passing through a severe moral crisis, considering incidents like the sexual assault of a female student by a male teacher of the Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, or the torture of Rumana by her educated husband.
In November, 2011, the government with a view to delivering better and quicker services to the city dwellers split DCC into North and South, ignoring widespread protests and criticism. Over the years, DCC has been facing severe resource constraints, so, how two city corporations are going to perform better remains to be seen.
The Tipaimukh dam project raised much debate because of the likely serious environmental consequences on lower-riparian Bangladesh. The Indian government, as reported in the media, signed a contract to build the controversial dam without even informing Bangladesh. The opposition party, BNP, sent a letter to the Indian government to conduct a joint study on the Tipaimukh dam and hydroelectric power plant issue. The opposition party also expressed its desire to work with the government in this regard. The Indian government only gave verbal assurances that they would not do anything harmful to Bangladesh.
The government has at least three to four mega projects in its pipeline but none of them is ready yet. What hurt the people even more is the suspension of the World Bank fund due to suspected irregularity in selecting consultant for Padma bridge project. Other mega projects are also facing fund crunch. So uncertainty over the projects looms large.
In 2011, the ordinary people were the worst sufferers. The incumbent government increased fuel prices four times, including the latest one on December 30, 2011, to cut subsidy in the energy sector while it adjusted power tariff rate twice as well. The present government's intention was to increase power production quickly by implementing quick rental power plants. And as soon as these plants became operational, pressure on fuel import increased substantially. As fuel oil was already subsidized, total amount of subsidy increased, forcing the government to adjust the fuel price. It affected the general people severely, given that they were already the hardest hit by the soaring prices of commodities.
The rate of inflation reached double digit and is still going up. For the country's 40 per cent population, who are considered to be poor, it is undoubtedly a huge burden, ravaging their life and living standard. Though inflation erodes the real income of all, it is the people in the low-income bracket that are the worst sufferers.
What is worse, taking public opinion, whether on fuel price adjustment or splitting DCC, was grossly missing in decision making. The opposition party noticed it quite well and as such, they called numerous hartals to register their protest but all attempts ended in smoke.
What have been stated thus far are the disappointing sides. As for the 'positives', for the first time in the history of cricket, the ICC cricket world cup 2011 was inaugurated at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on February 17. Bangladesh successfully arranged eight matches of the prestigious event which certainly branded the country positively though the performance of the Bangladesh cricket team was below par.
Despite inflation and unstable commodity market, the percentage of poor people decreased and that of school going children increased. As a result, Bangladesh received the MDG award.
Let's hope for more positives and not the recurrence of the negatives of 2011. Let's hope for the best.