Digital Bangladesh and its future
Saturday, 5 September 2009
Mahbubul Haque Chowdhury
Bangladesh has made some progress in the field of technology. But the country is still now too underdeveloped in matters of computer and ICT. In order to catch up with the developed countries, the ruling Awami League in its election manifesto pledged to make Bangladesh a Digital country by 2021. This sounds very ambitious for a poor country like Bangladesh. The literacy rate in Bangladesh is not high enough to create an enabling situation for digital progress. But we should not give up the hope.
Apart from the low literacy rate, poverty, which is linked to over-population, stands on the way to achieving the goal of Digital Bangladesh. The first priority should, therefore, be curbing the population growth. Everyday thousands of babies are born but new sources of income are not generated keeping pace with the population growth. The pressure on our limited resources increases and the rate of economic growth is stemmed. In all the cities and big towns, transport problem is perennial and traffic jam a regular feature. Passengers travelling in any mode of transport get stuck in traffic snares for hours together and cannot reach to their destinations on time. The man-hour thus lost is a great national wastage. How can you start digital if you fail even to reach to your destination right in time?
There is now a surfeit of talk-shows and seminars for improving the situation. It's all farce, most of the people who are now talking had graced power in the past but could not do anything. Even after 38 years of independence, we cannot take a bold decision. The officers never think of development, they think of their promotion and salaries. The bureaucracy is a stumbling block to our development. The bureaucrats are not interested to act promptly. Many of them prefer to pass their time and retire.
Whenever there is a change in government, the incumbent government gets busy in finding out the mistakes of the past governments. At present the parliamentary committees are holding meetings to find out the mistakes of the past governments. The parliamentary committees should, instead, find out ways and means as to how the working of the ministries could be improved.
The government should focus on development. The energy crisis will completely cripple the country if no serious action is taken right now. The problem of price spiral can be tackled but instead of doing that, the ministers are talking big. High-sounding speeches will not improve the situation. Instead of wasting time on ordinary political matters, the government should prioritise family planning, agricultural and education sectors. The time is running out.
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The writer is a former general manager of Agrani Bank and Sonali Bank
Bangladesh has made some progress in the field of technology. But the country is still now too underdeveloped in matters of computer and ICT. In order to catch up with the developed countries, the ruling Awami League in its election manifesto pledged to make Bangladesh a Digital country by 2021. This sounds very ambitious for a poor country like Bangladesh. The literacy rate in Bangladesh is not high enough to create an enabling situation for digital progress. But we should not give up the hope.
Apart from the low literacy rate, poverty, which is linked to over-population, stands on the way to achieving the goal of Digital Bangladesh. The first priority should, therefore, be curbing the population growth. Everyday thousands of babies are born but new sources of income are not generated keeping pace with the population growth. The pressure on our limited resources increases and the rate of economic growth is stemmed. In all the cities and big towns, transport problem is perennial and traffic jam a regular feature. Passengers travelling in any mode of transport get stuck in traffic snares for hours together and cannot reach to their destinations on time. The man-hour thus lost is a great national wastage. How can you start digital if you fail even to reach to your destination right in time?
There is now a surfeit of talk-shows and seminars for improving the situation. It's all farce, most of the people who are now talking had graced power in the past but could not do anything. Even after 38 years of independence, we cannot take a bold decision. The officers never think of development, they think of their promotion and salaries. The bureaucracy is a stumbling block to our development. The bureaucrats are not interested to act promptly. Many of them prefer to pass their time and retire.
Whenever there is a change in government, the incumbent government gets busy in finding out the mistakes of the past governments. At present the parliamentary committees are holding meetings to find out the mistakes of the past governments. The parliamentary committees should, instead, find out ways and means as to how the working of the ministries could be improved.
The government should focus on development. The energy crisis will completely cripple the country if no serious action is taken right now. The problem of price spiral can be tackled but instead of doing that, the ministers are talking big. High-sounding speeches will not improve the situation. Instead of wasting time on ordinary political matters, the government should prioritise family planning, agricultural and education sectors. The time is running out.
....................................
The writer is a former general manager of Agrani Bank and Sonali Bank