As We Plan

A plan is a list of activities for the future. Success of a plan depends much on ability to gaze the future as it changes over time. These days the future has become very murky due too much volatility in the environment. Unless this volatility is understood, a plan is affected, the reason many plans fail to deliver results.
Within our lifetime, first quarter of this century, there have been enormous changes in how we live. Old practices have been discarded in favour of new ones. We do not post mails or withdraw cash from bank as often. I recall a recent experience while boarding an aircraft on a domestic flight. The little girl in front of me was busy taking pictures of her parents as they were boarding. It was not long ago when my daughter was stopped from doing so as it was considered a security risk. Internet and satellite imagery are reasons for the change. At the close of last century, I was a team member in a donor-funded project preparing the master plan for Dhaka city. Satellite imagery was used. When one such map was presented to the office of Surveyor General, the office was shocked as there were security areas shown in details. We were advised caution. In a similar manner we have now lost control over personal life. Much of the daily habits are known to the external world from our browsing habits. The Net reads my mind before I finish typing a query. So do the scammers as they monitor our financial transactions. How we hate the Net and yet love it so much!
We are still an aid-dependent economy. We receive aids in two forms in the main, besides the budgetary support. One, for building infrastructure. Two, for developing plans targeting areas of weakness. The Master Plan for Dhaka City mainly focussed on land use in the city. One proposal was to develop satellite towns to relieve population pressure on the city. These towns would be linked by rail lines. This did not happen. To the contrary many earlier restrictions on land use were relaxed making the situation even worse. This was before the days of AI and the new underground transport. These additions to the city do not negate the plan suggestions.This is an unfortunate part of many development plans that remain unimplemented for no fault of the plans.
Another such plan was a Master Plan for transport services in Dhaka city. Among many suggestions, one was to pool different operators under one umbrella. An immediate benefit would be prevention of jockeying on the roads by buses, for example, as they board and disembark passengers. Again, it did not happen.
It is known that many abuses in our life are manmade, to the extent of begging on streets being run by organized business. We have similar situations in many more areas such as the rising prices of food items in spite of abundant supplies in some of them. In a recent visit to Nepal, I did not see any beggar on the street or people seeking help. This is in spite of staying in a busy part of the city. Yet Nepal is a poor country having a lower per capita income. Could begging be an organized business that capitalizes on poverty as people are posted at strategic points such traffic signals or shopping centres to seek help? This is besides monopolizing public places such as footpaths for the same purpose.
To say the least, as a country we are in a difficult situation. Dhaka city suffocates from the weight of almost fifteen percent of population in a land area of less than two per cent of the country. This needs correction. Among many suggestions to improve life in the city one was to relocate some services out of this city. This did not happen. It has now become an imperative. It can be done in a sequential process with prioritized areas, one at a time. The sooner the better, or else we continue sinking into the morass approaching a point of no return.
The world outside is not in any better situation either with much violence and economic uncertainty. I was talking to a friend who works at the NASA. Oblivious of problems at home he was euphoric about plans to conquer the outer space. The space is infinite for all practical purposes and thus has many options to explore. There is so much to do and yet so little has been done. In spite of all tall talks, we have not yet been able to make any significant dent on it. The signs are not promising either as per our experience in probing the nearer celestial bodies. The number of days it takes to reach the Moon is much less than what Columbus took in reaching America. But the scenario is different as there is no one to welcome the visitors. Neither are there resources to refuel the journey back home. It is frustrating as the resources of this planet are dwindling fast while the number of people is on the rise. This is a kind of worry not different from what we now have at home.
chowdhury.igc@gmail.com