Alternative to illegal foreign manpower

The proposal incorporated in the national budget for the next fiscal year (FY), 2015-16, to levy penal tax, withdraw of tax holiday facility, if there is any, and mete out punishment to firms that have been employing illegal foreign workers is a welcome action on the part of the government. The presence of hundreds of such nationals in a country where the rate of unemployment among the locals is very high cannot be appreciated. The estimate that the foreign workers, legal or illegal, from neighbouring India alone are remitting back home more than $3.5 billion a year, for obvious reasons, has not gone well with people here.
The resentment in a way is justified if seen in the context of the hard-earned funds worth $12 to 13 billion that is remitted by the Bangladesh nationals annually. The country can hardly afford the outflow of a substantial part of that fund on account of illegal foreign workers. However, one cannot put a blind eye to the reasons that are forcing the local companies and firms to employ such workers, mostly from neighbouring India and Sri Lanka. There is serious dearth of skilled manpower in mid- and higher-levels in various sectors of the economy. Many local firms, however, have developed a habit of employing foreign workers in those positions bypassing the approval from appropriate government agencies. Such appointments given beyond the knowledge of the relevant government agencies create opportunities for tax avoidance by the foreign workers concerned.
Though belated, the government has initiated a number of steps to improve the skill level of the workforce, including the creation of the National Skills Development Authority (NSDA) to coordinate the skill development activities of various agencies. The government, according to Finance Minister AMA Muhith, plans to establish the National Human Resources Development Fund to finance these activities without interruption. The NSDA, according to government plan, would use the fund to formulate, implement and monitor training programmes on a priority basis keeping in view the needs of the domestic industries and international manpower markets. All the proposed measures do indicate to the growing awareness among the policymakers about creating enough skilled manpower.
 Notwithstanding the widespread scepticism about the government's sincerity and seriousness in the execution of its plans, it is expected that it would do its best to narrow the existing gap in the skill level of manpower. However, the skill development programmes that the government is planning to patronise and support are unlikely to meet the demand for manpower in mid- and upper-segments of the domestic industries and business entities. In order to cater to such needs, an effective interaction between the institutions of higher learning and the relevant industries or business houses is necessary. The trade bodies should make available their manpower needs in the long-term to the University Grants Commission so that the latter could advise the universities, private and public, to design their curricula accordingly. In fact, there should be a concerted move to create manpower for low-, mid- and high-end jobs at all levels to stop influx of foreign workers, legal or illegal.