Digital Bangladesh to make life hassle-free

On the 1st day of each month I sit with the computer to pay all monthly bills through online. Here in Canada, every bank has set up their internet banking. Internet banking is convenient, easy and 100 per cent secure. Again, at the end of each month, I sit with the computer to pay all credit cards bills through online. This saves me the transport cost and time.
Initially, I was hesitant to pay all bills through online. My concern was whether this money would go to the right department or not. After paying the bill online, I used to call hydro office (electricity department) to find out whether they had received it or not. After looking through my account, they would confirm. Then, I called the municipality office to find out whether they had got the payment for tax or not. They too confirmed me.
Slowly, I gave up telephoning every office to find out my payment.  Then the bank advised me that instead of paying every month through online, I can authorise the bank to pay on my behalf. This is called PAP (pre-authorise payment)  plan and it does not cost any fee. In this way, it makes our life simple and easier. What a relief! Like in Bangladesh I do not have to line up in queue to pay my utility bills in any office or  go to bank. I am saving time and money.
My son, who is studying at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada, has a few online subjects. He does not need to attend the classes physically. He completes that subject from home and thus saves time and money. I am sure that it can be introduced in any Bangladesh university.
Here in Canada, most of the offices have turned into a paperless office. A paperless office uses less physical space when bulky filing cabinets are eliminated or reduced. In a paperless office, electronic storage and E-mail replace the need to print and mail documents to clients; this reduces expenses as does lowering the investment in reams of paper. The chances of losing important documents are virtually eliminated when scanned and filed electronically and documents are quick to find in an electronic system. The chances of misfiling documents in a paper-based system is high.
If the Bangladesh government starts using paperless filing, this will save much money and time. The efficiency of the employees will also increase.
Another important development of technology is MPOS (Mobile Point of Sale) system. MPOS banking solution means any transfer of funds which is initiated by a person to a bank to debit or credit on account maintained with that bank through electronic means and includes a mobile point of sale device. It can be used to deposit or draw cash from MPOS, pay utility bills and other delivery channels. This helps to reduce cash transaction or carrying cash. MPOS  helps the small traders. All we need to have a debit or credit card.
Information Technology (IT) is a gift to mankind. Every day, new technology is coming in the market and it is being offered cheaper than the previous one. So we should use innovative technologies in our daily life to save time and money.
Let us see how things have been developed in our country, Bangladesh, over the years. I believe that many computers and smart phones are in the market and a number of Apps have been introduced, but how much have we done to reduce the suffering of the people from  lining  up in the bank, utility offices and government offices? Most of the offices in Canada are web-based. So for any query or form or complain, the customer service is available to answer your query. They, including the Income Tax office, are very helpful. They say that if there is a problem, they are working for you to solve the problem. Because of their good attitude, Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) collects yearly $300 billion dollar .
'Digital Bangladesh' can help us to reduce the hassle and suffering and can save a large sum of money if it is properly introduced and coordinated.
I can place here a few suggestions:
1)     The Bangladesh Bank can easily introduce online banking (internet banking) immediately. Not only that, it can introduce authentication in all documents and bank notes to avoid fraud.
Authentication (AI) is a new chip technology. This AI technology can replace Chip card, RFID tags, Encoder, Decoder, Biometric hardware, etc. By introducing advanced technology AI code has integrated in one system all these functions.
By introducing AI technology, Bangladesh can secure the authentication of all ID cards, passports, valuable documents, bank notes and exported products or manufactured products.
This AI technology helps to find out whether the ID card is genuine plus that the information content is correct and not false plus the holder is right one. By checking this ID card by a smart phone can generate revenue for the authority. This new technology is a money-making machine. The ICT Ministry can start introducing it by beginning with ID cards, all product going for export and all important documents.
The writer is a retired DC10 Flight Engineer of Biman-Bangladesh Airlines and former President of Flight Engineers & Navigators Association (FEN).                              [email protected]