Thirty eight years of independence
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Enayet Rasul Bhuiyan
Bangladesh is no more a young nation or a new nation. It is observing today its thirty-eighth independence day which should remind all of its coming of age. But this maturity leaves a lot to be desired. Bangladesh at thirty eight does not exude so much confidence about a happy and prosperous future. It is a country that produces more a picture of uncertainty notwithstanding some optimism that it is making progress and all is not gloom. The optimists point to food self sufficiency attained in these nearly four decades despite nearly a doubling of the population in that period, a ready-made export-oriented garment industry of worldwide renown, an emerging entrepreneurial class, expansion of utilities and infrastructure, etc.
However, the big question is whether the progress made so far is adequate to build a reassuring view of the country's future. Any well educated assessment would show up that this is not the case and whatever have been achieved may not be sustainable because problems are multiplying and mounting to extraordinary high levels and could overwhelm whatever successes have been attained. But very devoted activities which should have been underway -- as befitting responses to these challenges -- are not seen. This is the real reason for worry about the future of Bangladesh.
The biggest disquiet centres round the country's politics. The politics of a country can be the single most important vehicle for its rapid socio-economic progress. Bangladesh was born out of a great democratic struggle. The same democratic quest continued after its establishment but it (democratise quest) could not be attained in the real sense. Democracy in Bangladesh is limited to trappings and not secure in the ideals, behaviour, temperament, character and conduct of its political leaders even after thirty eight years of strivings for democracy. People of this land are yet to benefit fully from the functioning of a democratic system. The political culture is mainly aimless and non-visionary and full of corruption, spite, mutual intolerance and self centredness. Thus, there is not seen that leadership of high calibre and vision that this country -- as one of the poorest and undeveloped in the world -- needs to really take-off in the socio-economic sense.
The singular thought that fills the mind on the occasion of Bangladesh's thirty-eighth Independence Day is whether this nation that created history in 1971 through a heroic war of independence could utilise its enthusiasm and energy better to achieve faster progress in national development in all spheres. The goals for which independence was won prominently included a better life for the people in every sense or basically aspirations for higher standard of living, wealth and economic opportunities. Other nations in our Asian neighbourhood could travel far in the same period of time to a remarkably elevated state economically. South Korea, for example, is now regarded as a developed nation though its overall conditions resembled ours 40 years ago.
Why then we did not make so much material and social progress which we were capable of and when other nations have showed that it is possible to take a short cut route to economic and social development ? The answer must be explored mainly in our political sphere, in the lack of dedication and vision of our political leaders because these are the areas where the failings have been the greatest. Blessed with able, committed, dedicated and somewhat selfless leaderships, Bangladesh could perform no less than the Asian success stories of today.
The rate of advancements in different spheres could be substantially greater if the country's political leaders were truly motivated to serve the nation and not themselves. Bangladesh remains handicapped by a political environment the manifestations of which are lack of integrity of political leaders, their incompetence, their intolerance, their unbridled chauvinism at the cost of the country and their lack of vision.
Therefore, it would seem that the greatest need for this country is to have the sort of leadership it needs to really take it forward. This would be the strongest aspiration of those who take time out to ponder the state of the nation on occasions such as the Independence Day. Our polity or civil society shall have to create the clamour or ferment in favour of a new stream of positive, enlightened and dedicated leadership to steer the country with much greater success in the future.
Bangladesh's negative politics is the biggest detriment to its economy. The main drawback of its politics is that it cannot be contained in the parliament. It always spills over outside and harms the economy. The political environment breeds not only constant apprehensions of instability but also creates real instability for long periods that in turn works as powerful disincentives to investment operations in the economy causing its poor growth or much less than the desired or needed level of growth. Therefore, Bangladesh has to find a way out of its negative political culture as one of its highest priorities in the years ahead.
In the other vital spheres, the tasks should be obvious. The country's hopelessly inadequate and outdated education system must be readied to make it the main instrument of economic growth. One of the greatest ironies in the context of Bangladesh is that the government here and others concerned say that they are doing all they can to realise the country's economic or developmental aspirations by mobilising and spending greater resources on the pivotal education sector. But the sordid reality is that the education sector is one of the most unpromising sectors. Transparency International (TI) in its last report on corruption in Bangladesh identified education as the second most corruption-ridden sector in this country.
Experts see the increased spending on education as a fruitless drain of precious resources. They say that the standard of education is frightfully on the decline and so are the morals of both teachers and students. The education system as a whole remains hopelessly behind even other developing countries which could make rapid advances in recent decades to update their education systems through recasting syllabi, teachers' training and the taking of other measures. Compared to them, the education system of Bangladesh, on the whole, is much out of tune with the demands of the time.
The country's education system is still preponderantly generalist, archaic and non life-oriented or unproductive in nature. Science, technology, the industrial arts, etc., which ought to be at the core of a country's education system for it to cope with the needs and challenges of the twenty-first century, are rather neglected areas of education in Bangladesh. In contrast, theocratic or madrasha education with no relevance to nation building or economic growth devours a major share of the education budget. The outdated education system and its massive corruption have turned the quest for quality education a meaningless one. Therefore, sweeping modernisation and upgradation of the education system, putting of highest emphasis on need oriented and productive education and reduction of corruption in the education sector to the lowest level, ought to be very high objectives in the agenda of the leadership of Bangladesh.
Similarly, the economy will have to be uplifted and modernised in all spheres. The economy will have to be expertly guided to diversify to the greatest extent to create much more wealth, income, employment and economic opportunities. At the same time, economic growth must take place with equity or distributive justice and the nearly 40 per cent of the poor and the very poor in the country must be pulled up above the poverty line at the earliest. Economic growth and environmental safety must be in tandem so that the quality of life and living can be preserved and promoted.
Bangladesh is no more a young nation or a new nation. It is observing today its thirty-eighth independence day which should remind all of its coming of age. But this maturity leaves a lot to be desired. Bangladesh at thirty eight does not exude so much confidence about a happy and prosperous future. It is a country that produces more a picture of uncertainty notwithstanding some optimism that it is making progress and all is not gloom. The optimists point to food self sufficiency attained in these nearly four decades despite nearly a doubling of the population in that period, a ready-made export-oriented garment industry of worldwide renown, an emerging entrepreneurial class, expansion of utilities and infrastructure, etc.
However, the big question is whether the progress made so far is adequate to build a reassuring view of the country's future. Any well educated assessment would show up that this is not the case and whatever have been achieved may not be sustainable because problems are multiplying and mounting to extraordinary high levels and could overwhelm whatever successes have been attained. But very devoted activities which should have been underway -- as befitting responses to these challenges -- are not seen. This is the real reason for worry about the future of Bangladesh.
The biggest disquiet centres round the country's politics. The politics of a country can be the single most important vehicle for its rapid socio-economic progress. Bangladesh was born out of a great democratic struggle. The same democratic quest continued after its establishment but it (democratise quest) could not be attained in the real sense. Democracy in Bangladesh is limited to trappings and not secure in the ideals, behaviour, temperament, character and conduct of its political leaders even after thirty eight years of strivings for democracy. People of this land are yet to benefit fully from the functioning of a democratic system. The political culture is mainly aimless and non-visionary and full of corruption, spite, mutual intolerance and self centredness. Thus, there is not seen that leadership of high calibre and vision that this country -- as one of the poorest and undeveloped in the world -- needs to really take-off in the socio-economic sense.
The singular thought that fills the mind on the occasion of Bangladesh's thirty-eighth Independence Day is whether this nation that created history in 1971 through a heroic war of independence could utilise its enthusiasm and energy better to achieve faster progress in national development in all spheres. The goals for which independence was won prominently included a better life for the people in every sense or basically aspirations for higher standard of living, wealth and economic opportunities. Other nations in our Asian neighbourhood could travel far in the same period of time to a remarkably elevated state economically. South Korea, for example, is now regarded as a developed nation though its overall conditions resembled ours 40 years ago.
Why then we did not make so much material and social progress which we were capable of and when other nations have showed that it is possible to take a short cut route to economic and social development ? The answer must be explored mainly in our political sphere, in the lack of dedication and vision of our political leaders because these are the areas where the failings have been the greatest. Blessed with able, committed, dedicated and somewhat selfless leaderships, Bangladesh could perform no less than the Asian success stories of today.
The rate of advancements in different spheres could be substantially greater if the country's political leaders were truly motivated to serve the nation and not themselves. Bangladesh remains handicapped by a political environment the manifestations of which are lack of integrity of political leaders, their incompetence, their intolerance, their unbridled chauvinism at the cost of the country and their lack of vision.
Therefore, it would seem that the greatest need for this country is to have the sort of leadership it needs to really take it forward. This would be the strongest aspiration of those who take time out to ponder the state of the nation on occasions such as the Independence Day. Our polity or civil society shall have to create the clamour or ferment in favour of a new stream of positive, enlightened and dedicated leadership to steer the country with much greater success in the future.
Bangladesh's negative politics is the biggest detriment to its economy. The main drawback of its politics is that it cannot be contained in the parliament. It always spills over outside and harms the economy. The political environment breeds not only constant apprehensions of instability but also creates real instability for long periods that in turn works as powerful disincentives to investment operations in the economy causing its poor growth or much less than the desired or needed level of growth. Therefore, Bangladesh has to find a way out of its negative political culture as one of its highest priorities in the years ahead.
In the other vital spheres, the tasks should be obvious. The country's hopelessly inadequate and outdated education system must be readied to make it the main instrument of economic growth. One of the greatest ironies in the context of Bangladesh is that the government here and others concerned say that they are doing all they can to realise the country's economic or developmental aspirations by mobilising and spending greater resources on the pivotal education sector. But the sordid reality is that the education sector is one of the most unpromising sectors. Transparency International (TI) in its last report on corruption in Bangladesh identified education as the second most corruption-ridden sector in this country.
Experts see the increased spending on education as a fruitless drain of precious resources. They say that the standard of education is frightfully on the decline and so are the morals of both teachers and students. The education system as a whole remains hopelessly behind even other developing countries which could make rapid advances in recent decades to update their education systems through recasting syllabi, teachers' training and the taking of other measures. Compared to them, the education system of Bangladesh, on the whole, is much out of tune with the demands of the time.
The country's education system is still preponderantly generalist, archaic and non life-oriented or unproductive in nature. Science, technology, the industrial arts, etc., which ought to be at the core of a country's education system for it to cope with the needs and challenges of the twenty-first century, are rather neglected areas of education in Bangladesh. In contrast, theocratic or madrasha education with no relevance to nation building or economic growth devours a major share of the education budget. The outdated education system and its massive corruption have turned the quest for quality education a meaningless one. Therefore, sweeping modernisation and upgradation of the education system, putting of highest emphasis on need oriented and productive education and reduction of corruption in the education sector to the lowest level, ought to be very high objectives in the agenda of the leadership of Bangladesh.
Similarly, the economy will have to be uplifted and modernised in all spheres. The economy will have to be expertly guided to diversify to the greatest extent to create much more wealth, income, employment and economic opportunities. At the same time, economic growth must take place with equity or distributive justice and the nearly 40 per cent of the poor and the very poor in the country must be pulled up above the poverty line at the earliest. Economic growth and environmental safety must be in tandem so that the quality of life and living can be preserved and promoted.