Bangladesh-A Developing Country

A Man Who Dared To Dream : Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

2010-06-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

An Analysis By Dr.Touhid Muhammad Faisal Kamal
President :Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Research Center Executive Committee
Some of the biographers of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman have said that he was the most astonishing and much talked about leader in South East Asia. In an age of military coup d'etat he attained power through elections and mass upsurge; in an age of decline of democracy he firmly established democracy in one of the countries of Asia and in an age of "Strong Men" he spurned the opportunity of becoming a dictator and instead chose to become the elected Prime Minister. The way he turned a nonviolent non-cooperation movement of unarmed masses into an armed struggle that successfully brought into reality the liberation of a new nation and the creation of a new state in barely ten months will remain a wonder of history.
In the year of 1971,March 7th was a day of supreme test in his life. The leaders of the military junta of Pakistan were on that day eagerly waiting to trap him. A contingent of heavily armed Pakistani troops was poised near the Suhrawardy Uddyan to wait for an order to start massacre the people on the plea of suppressing a revolt that Bangabandhu was about to declare against Pakistan at the meeting he was going to address there.
In fact, the entire Bangladesh was then in a state of revolt. The sudden postponement of the scheduled session of the newly elected National Assembly and the reluctance of the military leaders to transfer power to the elected representatives of the people had driven the people to desperation and they were seeking the opportunity to break away from the Pakistani colonial rule. Nearly two million freedom-loving people who assembled at the Suhrawardy Uddyan that day had but one wish, only one demand : "Bangabandhu, declare independence; give us the command for the battle for national liberation."
The Father of the Nation spoke in a calm and restrained language. It was more like a sacred hymn than a speech spellbinding two million people. His historic declaration in the meeting on that day was : "Our struggle this time is for freedom. Our struggle this time is for independence". This was the declaration of independence for Bangladeshis, for their liberation struggle. But he did not give the Pakistani military rulers the opportunity to use their arms. He foiled their carefully laid scheme. In the same speech he took care to put forward four proposals for the solution of the problem in a constitutional way and kept the door open for negotiations.
He was taller than the average Bangalee, had the same dark complexion and spoke in a vibrant voice. But what special power gave him the magnetic qualities of drawing a mass of seventy-five million people to him? This question stirred the minds of many people at home and abroad. He was not educated abroad nor was he born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Yet he was as dear to the educated Bangladeshi compatriots as to the illiterate and half-educated masses. He inspired the intelligentsia and the working classes alike. He did not climb to leadership overnight. It has been a slow and steady process. He attained his enviable eminence the hard way. He began as an humble worker at the bottom rung. He arduously climbed to the position of a national leader and rose to the very pinnacle as the Father of the Nation.
He was born in a middle class Bangalee family and his political leadership arose out of the aims and aspirations of the ordinary Bangalee. He was inseparably linked with the hopes and aspirations, the joys and sorrows, the travails and triumphs of these ordinary people. He spoke their language. He gave voice to their hopes and aspirations. Year after year he spent the best days of his youth behind the prison bars. That is why his power was the power of the people.
Whoever has once come in contact with him has admitted that his personality, a mingling of gentle and stern qualities, had an uncanny magical attraction. He is as simple as a child yet unbending in courage; as strong as steel when necessary. Coupled with this was his incomparable strength of mind and steadfast devotion to his own ideals. He was a nationalist in character, a democrat in behavior, a socialist in belief and a secularist by conviction.
Bangabandbu had to move forward step by step in his struggle. He had to change the tactics and the slogans of the movement several times. It can thus be said that though the period of direct struggle for freedom was only nine months, the indirect period of this struggle spread over 25 years. This 25-year period can be divided into several stages. These are : (a) organizational stage of the democratic movement; (b) movement against BPC or Basic Principles Committee's report; (c) language movement; (d) forging of electoral unity and the victory of the democratic United Front; (e) military rule; (f) movement against the military rule; (g) movement for autonomy; (h) the historic Six-Point movement; (i) electoral victory and the non-cooperation movement; and j) armed liberation struggle.
Bangabandhu has been closely associated with every phase of this 25-year long struggle for freedom and independence. Bangladesh and Bangabandhu have, therefore, become inseparable. We cannot speak of one without the other.
While still adolescent, he took his first political lesson from Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, a leading political personality of the then Bangladesh . It was in Faridpur that Young Suhrawardy and adolescent Sheikh Mujib came to know each other. Both of them were attracted to each other from that first acquaintance. Adolescent Mujib grew up under the gathering gloom of the storm-tossed politics of the sub-continent and the Second World War. He witnessed the ravages of war and the stark realities of the 1943 famine and the epidemics in which about five million people lost their lives. The miserable plight of the people under colonial rule turned him into a rebel.
He passed his matriculation examination in 1942. His studies had been interrupted for about four years due to an attack of beriberi. He got acquainted with the revolutionary activities of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose during the Hallwell Monument movement in Calcutta . Suhrawardy's staunchly logical approach and Subhash Bose's spirit of dedication influenced him immensely. He was influenced by another great leader, "Sher-e-Bangla" A.K. Fazlul Huq and his political philosophy of the plain fare ("dal-bhat") for all. At that very early stage he realised that in a poor exploited country political programmes must be complimentary to economic programmes.
He completed his college education in Calcutta . His sojourn to the prisons began in his teens. He first spent six days in a prison for participating in a political movement. While he was a student in Calcutta , he moved the natural eddies of the political movements of the subcontinent and got himself associated with the Muslim League and the Pakistan movement. But soon after the creation of Pakistan and the partition of Bengal in 1947, he realised that his people had not attained real independence. What had happened was a change of masters. Bangladesh would have to make preparations for independence movement a second time.
He graduated in the same year and came to develop a deep acquaintance with the works of Bernard Shaw. Karl Marx and Rabindranath Tagore. The horizon of his thought process began to expand from that time. He realised that Bangladesh was a geographical unit and its geographical nationalism was separate; its economic, political and cultural characters were also completely different from those of the western part of Pakistan . Over and above, linguistic differences and a physical distance of about 1,500 miles between them made the two parts of Pakistan totally separate from each other.
He could, therefore, realize that by keeping the two areas under the forced bonds of one state structure in the name of religious nationalism, rigid political control and economic exploitation would be perpetrated on the eastern part. This would come as a matter of course because the central capital and the economic and military headquarters of Pakistan had all been set up in the western part.
The new realization and political thinking took roots in his mind as early as 1948. He was then a student in the Law faculty of Dhaka University . A movement was launched that very year on the demand to make Bengali one of the state languages of Pakistan . In fact, this movement can be termed as the first stirrings of the movement of an independent Bangladesh . This demand for cultural freedom gradually led to the demand for national independence. During that language movement, Bangabandhu was arrested on March 11, 1948. During the blood-drenched language movement of 1952 also he was pushed behind the bars and took up leadership of the movement from inside the jail.
Bangabandhu was also in the forefront of the movement against the killing of policemen by the army in Dhaka in 1948. He was imprisoned for lending his support to the strike movement of the lower grade employees of Dhaka University . He was expelled from the University even before he came out of the prison.
In 1950, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan of Pakistan announced the Basic Principles Committee's report for framing a constitution. This report manipulated to turn the majority of Bangladesh into a minority through subterfuges, and to make Urdu the state language. There was a spontaneous countrywide upsurge in Bangladesh against this report and the Bangabandhu was at its forefront.
Bangabandhu was elected Joint Secretary of the newly formed political organization, the Awami League. Previously he had been the leader of the progressive students' organization, the Chhatra League. In 1953 he was elected General Secretary of the Awami League.
Elections to the then Provincial Assembly of Bangladesh was held in 1954. A democratic electoral alliance-the United Front-against the ruling Muslim League was forged during that election. The 21 -point demand of the United Front included full regional autonomy for Bangladesh and making of Bengali one of the state languages.
The United Front won the elections on the basis of the 21 -point programme and Bangabandhu was elected member of the Provincial Assembly. He joined the Huq Cabinet of the United Front as its youngest Minister. The anti-people ruling clique of Pakistan dissolved this Cabinet soon and the Bangabandhu was thrown into prison.
In 1955 he was elected member of the second Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. He was again appointed a Minister when the Awami League formed the Provincial Cabinet in 1956. But he voluntarily left the Cabinet in July 1957 in order to devote himself fully to the task of reorganizing the party.
General Ayub Khan staged a military coup in Pakistan in 1958 and the Bangabandhu was arrested on various charges and innumerable cases were framed against him. He got back his freedom after 14 months of solitary confinement but was re-arrested in February 1962.
THE AWAMI LEAGUEThe Bangabandhu revived the Awami League after the death of Mr. H.S. Suhrawardy in 1963. By that time the military Junta had lifted the ban on political parties. Thus the Awami League began its constitutional struggle under the leadership of the Bangabandhu to realize the demand for self-determination of the Bangalees.
The Bangabandhu placed his historic Six-Point programme at a political conference in Lahore in 1966. This programme called for a federal state structure for Pakistan and full autonomy for Bangladesh with a parliamentary democratic system. The Six- Point programme became so popular in a short while that it was turned into the Charter of Freedom for the Bangladeshis or their Magna Carta. The Army Junta of Pakistan threatened to use the language of weapons against the Six-Point movement and the Bangabandhu was arrested under the Defence Rules on May 8, 1966. The powerful mass upsurge that burst forth throughout Bangladesh in protest against this arrest of the Bangabandhu came to be known as June Movement.
On June 17, 1968 he was removed from Dhaka Central Jail to Kurmitola Cantonment and was charged with conspiring to make Bangladesh independent with the help of India . This case is known as the Agartala Conspiracy case. He was the No. 1 accused in the case. While the trial was in progress in the court of a military tribunal the administration of the military junta collapsed as a consequence of a great mass upsurge in Bangladesh at the beginning of 1969.
As a result, he was released together with all the other co-accused. The case was withdrawn and the Bangabandhu was invited to a Round Table Conference at the capital of Pakistan . At this conference President Ayub Khan requested Bangabandhu to accept the Prime Ministership of Pakistan. Bangabandhu rejected the offer and remained firm in his demand for the acceptance of his Six-Point programme.
President Ayub Khan stepped down from power on March 25, 1969 and General Yahya Khan took over the leadership of the army junta, Apprehending a new movement in Bangladesh he promised to re-establish democratic rule in Pakistan and made arrangements for holding the first general elections in December, 1970. Under the leadership of the Bangabandhu. the Awami League won an absolute majority in the elections. The military junta was unnerved by the results of the elections. The conspiracy then started to prevent the transfer of power. The session of the newly elected National Assembly was scheduled for March 3, 1971. By an order on March 1, General Yahya postponed this session.
It acted like a spark to the powder keg; entire Bangladesh burst into flames of political upheaval. The historic non-cooperation movement began. For all practical purposes Bangabandhu took over the civil -administration of Bangladesh . The military junta however began to increase the strength of its armed forces in Bangladesh secretly and to kill innocent Bangalees at different places.
Yahya Khan came to Dhaka by the middle of March to have talks with Bangabandhu. Mr. Zulflqar Ali Bhutto and other leaders also came a few days later. When everybody was feeling that the talks were going to be successful Yahya Khan stealthily left Dhaka in the evening of March 25. The barbarous genocide throughout Bangladesh began from that midnight.
Bangabandhu was arrested at midnight of March 25 and was flown to the western wing. But before he was arrested, he formally declared independence of Bangladesh and issued instructions to all Bangladeshis, including those in the armed forces and in the police to take up arms to drive out the Pakistani occupation forces.
For ten long months from March 1971 to January 1972 Bangabandhu was confined in a death-cell in the Pakistani prison. His countrymen did not even know if he was dead or alive. Still, stirred by his inspiration, the nation threw itself heart and soul into the hick of the liberation war and by the middle of December the whole of Bangladesh was cleared of the occupation forces.
Freed from the Pakistani prison, the Bangabandhu came back home on January 10, 1972 and stepped down from the Presidentship and took up the responsibility as the Prime Minister of independent Bangladesh on 12 January 1972. Immediately he took steps for the formulation of the Constitution of the country and to place it before the Constituent Assembly. After the passage of the Constitution on 4 November 1972, his party won an overwhelming majority in the elections held on 7 March 1973 and took up the responsibility of running the administration of the country for another five-year term. After the fourth amendment of the constitution on 25 January 1975 (changing the form of Government from the Parliamentary to the Presidential system), the Bangabandhu entered upon the office of the President of Bangladesh. Within three years of independence he put the war-ravaged country along the path of political stability and economic reconstruction. On 15 August 1975, he along with all the members (excluding two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana who were abroad) of his family were brutally assassinated by a splinter group of armed forces.
The Bangabandhu is the Father of the Nation. His state philosophy has four pillars: Nationalism, Democracy, Socialism and Secularism. His foreign policy opened up new horizons of peace, cooperation and non-alignment throughout Asia . He visited many countries of Asia and Europe including China and the Soviet Union . Statesmen of many countries of Asia countries were his personal friends. He was awarded Julio Curie Peace Prize for his being a symbol of world peace and cooperation. In the eyes of the people in the third world, he is the harbinger of peace and development in Asia .
He was the man who dared to dream of the Independence of our mother land, our country Bangladesh.

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The Author is a Free lance writer,ICT Expert & Governance analyst.He has numerous writeup on ICT,Digitalization,Governance issues,he also studies on the Political philosophy of Our National Great Leader BangaBondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.Presently he is the President of Father of The Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Research Center(EC Committee).His academic expertise concentrates on Information and Communication Technology & Management Information System. He has completed his Under graduation on Computer Science, he further completed his MBA on Management.He is the youngest Doctorate of Science on ICT of this Sub Continent with Distinction. He may be reached at 01199704595(SMS Preferable) ,email: tmfaisalkamal@gmail.com.

The Author is an ICT Specialist and Governance Analyst; presently he is the President of “Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Research Center”, Editor of Good Governance Journal and News Editor of the Monthly ABASHON.
He can be reached at 01199704595.

Bangladesh's Digital Journey: Online service delivery through ICT

2010-05-12T04:24:00.000-07:00

By - Professor Syed Ahsanul Alam Parvez

Prelude:
Globalization and rapid progress in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are bringing about fundamental changes in all aspects of our society. Remarkable changes have taken place in service sectors like
a) banking, b) hotels, c) hospitals, d) airlines, e) trains, f) buses, g) stock exchanges, h) news paper, i) tourism sector j) online job site k) e-education, l) e-library and other service sectors.
Changes in Government:
Similar changes are taking place in governments. Very recently our government introduced the district web portal so that citizens can remain more informed. Very slowly more and more government agencies are publishing their websites with limited information. Automations of our custom house is a good example of uses of ICT in e-service delivery through ICT.
Our response to these worldwide changes is to transform Bangladesh to a digital Bangladesh , which means delivering services to citizens more effectively online and by ICT. It means not asking the citizen for more information than necessary, or not asking the citizen to go to more than one agency for a specific service. It means service delivery organizations linking their back-ends to citizen rather than expecting the citizen to do so.
Definitely Digital governance will call for increased IT uses and enhance better connectivity in public and private sector.
Using ICT to Better Serve Citizens:
E-Government is not simply adding an "e" to government. It requires that we fundamentally re-think all aspects of government services to see how we can take advantage of technology to deliver services online to citizens. It also means that we leverage on ICT to change the nature and quality of governance to ensure that citizens can enjoy the online services sitting at home and office. It is about achieving, what we like to call, making online as much e-services possible and simplify service delivery procedure.

The Digital Journey:
Our honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has declared her political commitment to transform Bangladesh into a Digital Bangladesh. Her political commitment has a clear direction of transforming Bangladesh government to an e-government. The first phase of Digitalizing Bangladesh is directed at improving public administration through the effective use of IT by automation of works functions and reducing paperwork.
I refer here that we should gradually move towards a paperless office in the government sector. But we have to remember that after bathing the baby, we cannot throw the baby with the bathing water. We have to maintain hard copy of documents as back up till that time when data storage and data retrieval system in our country becomes dependable and full proof. In the second phase the emphasis subsequently should be shifted to inter-agency communication and co-ordination so as to provide integrated services to the public or citizens. I am referring here to transform our citizens to e-citizens, enjoying more and more services online both from the public and the private sector in the near future. In one of my report to the government, I have emphasized to create a number of Data Hubs to reduce redundancy in data capturing and promote data sharing within the Government. Very recently in Bangladesh , we saw the beginning of an adaptive civil service-wide network more known as the district portal.
Delivering e-services Online:
In the area of e-service delivery, we may identify four (4) levels of e-service based on the depth of interaction between the citizens and Government to assist our public sector agencies in developing their e-services capability. The 4 levels can be denoted as
a) "Publish"- At the lowest level of "Publish", the interaction is one-way with the user receiving information online. b) "Interact", c) "Transact" and d) "Integrate"- At the "Integrate" level, the organizational complexity is hidden from the customer.
To implement Digital Bangladesh, service delivery organizations must strive to deliver online every service that can be delivered electronically. E-service delivery organizations should also aim to deliver every e-service at the Transact level online, unless impossible, in which case it shall be offered at the Interact level. The transaction can be carried out by ATM cards, debit cards, credit cards or any other type of bank cards available in our country.
To-date, less than 1% of all feasible public services are online only. To mention a few are:

a) Online banking, b) Online hotel reservations, c) online hospital reservations, d) online train ticketing,
e) online air ticketing, f)) online bus ticketing, g) online library, etc.
But the number of these services is less than 20 to the best of my knowledge. It is interesting to know that Singapore already made more than 1650 online services available for their citizens out of about 2000 services identified by their government to be delivered online to the citizens of Singapore . I expect in Bangladesh , we will be able to put more and more services year by year for our citizens.
Hundreds of services required by the citizens may be made available online that are organized around customers' needs. For this we need agencies to work to integrate information processes so as to provide a continuous online experience.
Pivotal to the quick and efficient development and deployment of e-services is developing a highly scalable and secure infrastructure layer, a rapid application development environment and a set of basic services such as payment, authentication and data exchange with legacy systems.
Delivering business services online:
In the business arena, services essential to the starting and the running of a business maybe also delivered online. This will helps promote greater productivity, efficiency, and convenience with simplified procedures and faster turnaround times. Issuance of
a) Trade license (TL),
b) TIN certificate,
c) Export license,
d) Import license,
e) Registrations of private company,
f) Membership certificate from Chambers of Commerce, and many others are examples of services that maybe given online. The application approval process involving different agencies maybe reduced to one third to that of the present.
Building a Digital Society:
Our Prime Ministers dream of a Digital Bangladesh is aimed to help citizens gain basic access to basic IT technologies. As such the government has to keep sharp eye to see if citizens are on the wrong side of the digital divide. Bangladesh government is committed to ensure that technology is made accessible and affordable to all, regardless of wealth, education, language, social background or ability.
To build this "Digital Bangladesh", a term coined by our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina indicating towards a digital society, the government will have put in place various initiatives to ensure that there is sufficient public access and helping those who are away from the cities and with less financial means to have access to information highway.
The National ICT Policy 2009 is one such initiative to increase the ICT literacy of the nation as a whole. We have to run different programme to help the bureaucrats, academics, professionals, students, workers, home makers to learn the basic as how to get e-services or online services from the service providers. Initially they may have to be dependent on those who have IT literacy. Gradually, our IT literacy is increasing and use of ATMs, other online banking services, use of e-ticketing of air lines, buying train tickets online are the proofs of the slow diffusion of technology in our society. Very soon we will be able to buy bus tickets also online sitting at our home or office. Community service shall be increased by students and other IT literate segments to gradually literate the less privileged sections of the society.
From basic computer literacy to a IT trained workforce and gradually increasing the number of e-citizens is a process which might take time. But our progress has to be expedited to achieve our target to transform Bangladesh to a digital Bangladesh .
Till today we could not develop a robust nationwide broadband infrastructure. To ensure that all our citizens including the under privileged section to enjoy the benefits of online service delivery, we have to establish extensive IT network throughout the nation.
Many eCitizen Help Centres have to be developed nationwide and each eCitizen Help Centre should be equipped with computers offering free Internet access to e-services. Interested volunteers should be motivated to become eCitizen Helpers to guide citizens, such as the elderly and IT-illiterate, who may need assistance to access to online services.
Connecting Citizens:
In building Digital Bangladesh, we inevitably will have to shape the expectations of our citizens.
Moving forward, there are two areas that has to be focused on to delight our citizens and to connect citizens.
Firstly, in the area of service delivery, service delivery organizations will have to deliver accessible quality online services. Government has to ensure that technology is affordable and everyone who wants to be online is able to do so.
Secondly, I believe that ICT can be leveraged on as a powerful tool to engage the citizens as stakeholders to bring citizens closer together. As with online services, the emergence of new technologies significantly widens the scope for consulting with citizens and to facilitate citizen participation. I suggest to explore forming new channels using ICT to build the infrastructure essential to nurture national bonding and facilitate the building of a stronger sense of belonging to the country. This will appeal to a populace that is becoming more comfortable in making use of electronic channels for work and play.
Moving forward, we shall focus on establishing basic levels online delivery of services to citizens and in doing so we need greater consultation and participation of citizen.
Conclusion:
ICT has been a key enabler to offer online services to our citizens and businesses.
Our government has to be committed to continue to leverage on ICT through constantly reviewing the processes, improving the quality and accessibility of our online services and to connect citizens to bring them closer together. Besides the availability of services online, it is equally important to consider their acceptance and usage by the public. The benefits of online service can only be reaped if the public regard online service as the norm in transacting with public and private sector enterprise.
____________________________
Author
Prof. Syed Ahsanul Alam is an internationally reputed policy strategist on e-Governance & Chairman, Department of Marketing, University of Chittagong and Chairman Center for Good Governance. Former Vice-Rector, Premier University and Vice-Dean, University of Science and Technology, Director, Sadharon Bima Corporation.
He lectured widely at various Universities at home and abroad and has numerous International publication (See Internet) in his credit.
The Author may be reached at Fax :880-31-2550872,
E-mail:professorparvez@gmail.com
Web: http://www.goodgovernancebd.org/

Digital Bangladesh: A Prime ministers dream Vs Understanding the Present

2009-12-30T23:50:00.000-08:00

Prof. Syed Ahsanul Alam,Chairman-Center for good governance
University of Chittagong

Ironical to note that the term "Digital Bangladesh" still remains as a misunderstood concept to many. Due to the strong desire of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the vision has been accepted with interest in the Government, private sector and as well as the politician. If I have not misunderstood Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, by using the term Digital Bangladesh ------- she emphasized on using ICT in Governance and service delivery organs both in the public and private sector.

1. Digital Bangladesh for Coping with globalization

The forces of globalization and technology are continuously reshaping our economy. The impact of information and communication technology (ICT) are giving rise to a new type of economy ---- the knowledge based economy. Technology has had a crucial role in defining today's globalized market structure. In this context, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given the first step by declaring her vision towards "Digital Bangladesh". Despite the fact that, many still consider this to be the dream of a Prime Minister, while others think the concept is yet vague for consumption of our mass people, yet I believe Bangladesh can make steady stride towards digitalization if guided by strategist capable to formulate short time, midterm & long term planning for the digitalization process. In the light of our previous lesson learnt the concept of "Digital Bangladesh" must be understood clearly, practically and pragmatically in the context of a economy like Bangladesh. It is necessary to mention that in the short run "Digital Bangladesh" aims at E-Governance and service delivery through utilizing ICT. But the vision "Digital Bangladesh" encompasses the whole arena of a knowledge based Digital Economy. Bangladesh can't afford to achieve that goal in the short and medium run. I invite thinkers, technocrats and IT experts to focus on the short run issues and measures the present Government should undertake to digitalize Bangladesh. It is important to start digitalizing service delivery organs like Police, City corporation, Land Department, Tax Department, PDB, Water supply, Gas and other authorities also including sectors like Banking, Insurance, Customs, Tax Collection. Urgent steps should be taken to digitalize institutions like Bangladesh Bank, NBR, PSC, UGC, EC, ACC and other vital institution to go a step ahead towards Good Governance.

2. Phasing out the Digitalization Process

What is important for the planner is the ability to explore all the possibilities of phasing out a digitalization process for Bangladesh. We can share the experience of developing & neighboring countries. India has made giant steps towards acquiring competence in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The success story of the Indian IT industry bears testimony to this. However, technical competence is a pre requisite for digitalization of Bangladesh economy. Everybody knows Information technology reduces costs, saves time, improves efficiency, raises comfort levels and increases the confidence of citizens. Hence, developing countries such as Bangladesh should leverage the power of IT to leapfrog poverty barriers, and promote economic and social development. But we have to keep in mind that technology (ICT) alone won't fix or alleviate economy, nor guarantee dynamic service delivery to citizens. It is important to understand that ICT facilities Good Governance but ICT itself don't guarantee Good Governance.

3. Slow Paced IT revolution and the Digital Divide

Even with the slow paced IT revolution in Bangladesh, around 50% or more of our villages are still without telephones. 75% or more of our population resides in the rural areas and do not have adequate exposure to technology. A vast majority lives below the poverty line and 35% or more are illiterate. Like any other developing country a vast majority of Bangladesh population will be vulnerable to the risk of getting marginalized in the IT revolution. Logically citizens will be getting divided into people who do and people who don't have access to ICT and the capability to use - modern information technology.This divide exists and shall remain to exists between the cities and rural areas, between the rich and the poor, and between the educated and uneducated.

4. Digital Bangladesh - the misconception

Digital Bangladesh does not necessarily mean one man one computer. For the near future neither does it means Internet literacy for 100% population. But it indicates towards networking with all administrative units like, Upazila, Districts and Division. It definitely means bringing more citizens to the Information Highway- giving a bigger mass of the population access to information. Digital Bangladesh should be the first step towards the death of distance particularly for the rural people with the secretariat or any other powerhouse with whom the citizens are involved for Governance.

However we have to keep in mind the following assumption :

i) Bringing 17 crore citizens (approx) on the information high way will not be easy.ii) Bringing whole public sector under a network will not be easy.iii) Bringing economic units of private sector under a common platform will not be easy.The aim of Digitalization in the first phase should be :i) Ensure easier access to government forms and documents by citizens.ii) Ensure submission of applications, forms, and complains electronically.iii) Ensure greater access to information by citizen charter and websites.iv) Ensure University admission process to be digitalized except the admission test.v) Ensure greater connectivity by wireless internet.

5. Digitalization Process - Pin Pointing Priority Sectors

Sustainable progress can be achieved, only if we bring this vast majority of Bangladesh rural people on the information highway, and thus, benefit from the increased productivity that Information and communication technology offers. The anytime-anywhere and death of- distance paradigms of technology will enable better leveraging of scarce resources such as healthcare and education, agriculture and other service delivery organizations.

To create ownership of digital Bangladesh by the general public it should focus in promoting the following broad areas:

i) Health ii) Education, , iii) Agriculture iv) Other Service Delivery Organization

To enhance citizens' participation and promoting accountability , transparency and efficiency in governance process.

i) HealthIn Bangladesh, 51% of the population does not have access to essential drugs. Further, there are only 26 physicians per 100,000 population compared to 279 for US and 162 for China. ICT can help bring medical expertise to Upazilla and District headquarters. Tele-medicine, for instance may link healthcare centers in remote locations, through satellites, with super specialty hospitals at major towns / cities. Thus it can bring connectivity between patients at remote end, with specialist doctors, for medical consultations and treatment. For example a few Health care center in Bangladesh uses tele-medicine to bring health-care facilities from super specialty center abroad.

ii) EducationDistance education has tremendous potential to spread learning in any country. Elearning is a cost-effective way of providing education at a distance. This is especially important considering that around 80% of our illiterate population are from the rural areas. In this context, it is essential that the government, the industry, NGOs and academia forms partnership to accelerate the Digitalization process. Together, they need to create an 'enabling environment' for the proliferation of ICT in Bangladesh. There are some basic steps that Bangladesh needs to foster online education to be offered by Open University and our National University.

iii) AgricultureSince more than half of our population is employed in agriculture, our planner should put ICT to good use in agriculture. For example, India has led the use of remote sensing satellite information for locating irrigation projects. The Internet has been effectively used in some of the villages to ensure effective dissemination of agricultural commodity price information. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in India has used IT effectively, to enhance competitiveness of the dairy industry and to provide benefits to the rural masses. Towards digital Bangladesh we can use the Indian experience of using ICT in different sectors of the agriculture.

iv) Other Service Delivery OrganizationIn the public sector, ICT can be used for more efficient governance. In a developing country like Bangladesh, there is a significant need for introducing transparency and efficiency in government operations. Through E-governance, the service delivery organization can effectively deliver their service to citizens. By separating the delivery of services from decision-making, the chances of corruption are reduced. Further, E-governance reduces the time in interactions with the government. For instance, The Internet can be used as a cheap communication channel that governments can use to reach out to their citizens and vice versa. For instance, citizens can monitor the progress of various government initiatives online. ICT also enables effective planning. Simulation can be used as a good tool for what-if analysis. It helps the citizens understand the parameters of public systems (over a period of time) like pollution levels, provision of basic infrastructure - schools, water, electricity, health care, commuting times, etc.

6. Increased Connectivity

An important step is to improve connectivity. With a PC density of 2.9 per 1,000 population and a tele-density of 32 fixed lines per 1,000 population, Bangladesh needs to increase penetration in terms of PCs and communication lines. Connectivity options to the rural areas can be improved, by using wireless access. In addition, Cyber cafes in the urban centers and village information kiosks in the rural areas will enhance the IT access throughout the country.
The high cost of IT equipment accessories which acts a barrier towards proliferation of IT access needs to be lowered. Due to high tariff levels, the cost of hardware and software in Bangladesh is significantly higher as compared to the rest of the world. For instance, A PC in Bangladesh costs around 12-15 months of average per-capita income as compared to China's 4 months and USA's 12 days. Hence, we need to reduce the tariff levels of ICT equipment and accessories to bring even a bigger population under Internet coverage.

7. Role of Private Sector

Private companies and NGOs can partner, in order to enhance awareness and utilization of ICT at the grass-roots level. For instance, NGO's can work to bring elementary computer literacy to the people of rural Bangladesh. They can make arrangements so that IT professionals and educators visit rural schools and help students get familiar with technology.In addition, Bangladesh needs an efficient innovation system of industry, science and research centers and universities to create new knowledge and technology. In this regard, we need an effective higher education system that provides specialized training, education and research. 8. The language Divide

We may consider to import simputer without tax from India. Importation of new inventions such as the Simputer can further reduce costs by providing affordable computing. The Simputer was developed by scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, and a software company called Encore. One can get computing facilities at a drastically lower cost as simputer only cost US$150 per piece compared to US$ 400 for a PC. Further, it has a local language interface. This is an instance of how the scientist, academia and industry can collaborate to develop technology to suit a particular economy.Bangladesh has a sizeable population without English literacy. Creating and maintaining locally relevant content in bangla is a challenge. Nevertheless, Bengali language content will make ICT more relevant and accessible to a broader cross-section of the population. Hence, we need to develop applications that support Bengali language. In addition, we need to develop voice applications that will let Bangladesh rural people to communicate with ICT tools using the spoken Bangla.
In Bangladesh IT literacy is critical to ensure that people can derive appropriate benefits from the technology revolution. However, at a more fundamental level, providing basic IT education is the first step towards enabling our people to use ICT. Today, only 55% of the Bangladesh population is literate. Huge subsidies, however, should be given to IT education and ICT literacy programs and not in higher education. In addition, higher education must also function in a free-market environment.

9. The Political Commitment

Our government must take proactive steps to take technology to rural citizens. However our dream towards digital Bangladesh has a long way to go. Digitalization of Bangladesh will depend how best the Government can leverage the power of ICT to increase the access to information of its population.

Author Syed Ahsanul Alam is a Governance analyst, Professor of Marketing at the University of Chittagong and Chairman, Center for Good Governance. He is an Internationally reputed Policy Strategist on Governance. His recent administrative post includes Vice Rector( IIBT) Premier University, Director, Sadharon Bima Corporation., Treasurer. USTC (SWC), Representative of the President,USTC. He lectured widely at variousUniversities at home and abroad and has numerous International publication(See Internet) in his credit.The Author may be reached at Fax : 880-31-2550872,E-mail:professorparvez@gmail.com,Web: www.goodgovernancebd.org

Bangla Phone dying in neglect of BTRC

2009-02-11T01:22:00.000-08:00

Monday, February 9, 2009; The Daily Star; Sharier Khan

The operations of Bangla Phone, a PSTN company that invested Tk 134 crore to set up its telecom network, has remained suspended for the last two years due to hostile stance of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) against the company and legal tangles. The BTRC's is choking the company with its inflexible and stubborn stance and restrictions and non-cooperation. This led Bangla Phone to lay off 57 staffs recently. When the company started commercial operations in 2006 it had 251 staffs including some PhD holders and Buet engineers."A hundred more will lose jobs soon if such stagnation continues," says Managing Director of Bangla Phone Amjad Khan who is waiting for the BTRC to change its stance and empathise with the woes of the investor. Bangla Phone, a public switch telephone network (PSTN) company and an investment of non-resident Bangladeshis, became the BTRC's eyesore in early 2007 as the company was found to be concentrating more on providing backend service to leading telecom operators with its 2000km optical fibre network rather than its subscription base. The phone company only has 26 subscribers. Again, the base became handicapped as the company can no longer provide the necessary equipment to customers since mid 2007 as the BTRC stopped issuing no objection certificates (NOC) to the company for release of any imported equipment from customs.
While Bangla Phone claimed itself to be perfectly lawful in providing backend services, the BTRC took a hard stance believing that the phone company was doing business out of its jurisdiction. Following a series of disputes, the BTRC on July 24, 2008, issued a letter to other telecom operators to stop using Bangla Phone's connections. This prompted Bangla Phone to obtain a three-month stay order on the letter. In October, the High Court upheld BTRC's authority in issuing such a letter and asked Bangla Phone to submit fresh application to the BTRC for connectivity with other phone operators outside its PSTN licensed area. The BTRC's hard stance discouraged Bangla Phone to seek any fresh permission, sources said. Since May 2007, the BTRC has issued two show cause notices asking the company why its licence should not be cancelled as it set up optical fibre network outside its licensed area. Bangla Phone believes building the network does not go against the terms and conditions of the PSTN licence issued to it in 2004. A High Court verdict, based on a writ petition against BTRC's show cause notices, last year substantiated Bangla Phone's claim. The High Court, in its verdict on July 13, said clause 10.01 and amended schedule 2 of the PSTN licence allowed Bangla Phone to establish optical fibre network outside its operational zone. The court said the BTRC must adhere to the terms and conditions of the PSTN licence.Since it began commercial operation in 2006-07, Bangla Phone earned Tk 14 crore in revenue and paid the government Tk 2.53 crore in VAT, tax and duties. The company was awarded PSTN licence for North East Zone of the country and a countrywide Domestic Data Communication Service Provider (DDCSP) licence. Interestingly, in June last year, the BTRC converted 26 DDCSP licences to national ISP (internet service provider) licences except for the one that belonged to Bangla Phone. Bangla Phone last year filed two more writ petitions, one against the its non-issuance of NOC against release of equipment and another for BTRC's intervention into and foiling the deal between Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board, now Bangladesh Telephone Company Ltd (BTCL), for swapping fibre-optic lines between Chittagong and Cox's Bazar.
Both the petitions are pending with the High Court. As of December 2008, a dozen PSTN operators serve only 13.44 lakh subscribers whereas six mobile phone operators deal with 4.47 crore. Of the total number of PSTN subscribers the BTCL alone has 8.72 lakh subscribers.Due to lack of incentives from the BTRC, the 11 other PSTN companies that have invested around Tk 2,000 crore are dealing with very slow growth and tight market. Leading PSTN companies are Ranks Telecom (1.52 lakh subscribers), Dhaka Telecom and Peoples Telecom (0.61 lakh each), Telebarta (0.56 lakh) and National Telecom (0.54 lakh).

Policy Innovation for National Budget

2009-01-14T00:22:00.000-08:00

Policy Innovation for National Budget - State money should always go directly to the citizens, as much as possible

The bureaucracy of Bangladesh has a long way to learn effective management. It is not only corruption, but inefficiency and lack of competence is even worse. To minimize the problems raising from these factors, Government should avoid financing in the middle. Instead of spending the money at the top of the tree, water the roots of trees. That will make the trees much more stronger. It is that simple.
We appended the dictionary definition of bureaucracy at the bottom. The problem with an inefficient bureaucratic machine is not unique to Bangladesh, although it has probably achieved distinction in that regard compared to others. This has happened as our recent previous political leaders (Ershad, Khaleda and Hasina) has shown their aptitude to achieve distinction in corruption!
So, what can the current government do in the short term to reduce the effect of the problem? We all know that the CG is planning a budget at the moment - so it offers a great opportunity to initiate some structural change in the system. Here we propose three specific things that the CG should consider doing to minimize the problem raising from inefficiency. We think, by virtue of the built-in propagating effects, these three policy innovation will have measurable qualitative change in the service delivery of the institutions. Here are the short descriptions of the three specific proposals:
1. Stop paying cash incentives to the local exporters: This is a horrendous idea from policy perspective to give cash incentives to the local exporters. This type of policy can only be bourne out of the brain of immensely corrupt policy-makers who are also incompetent. There are allegations of big time misuse of these policy. These type of policies would not stand the test of globalization, too. What our local entrepreneurs need is improvement in the infrastructure. For this budget, a short term effective approach would be to use the same amount of money to provide health-care and human resource development support to the workers of every export-oriented industry. The money would be better utilized and it would also be helpful for the CG in delivering a measurable improvement to a section of people of Bangladesh.
2. Stop paying tax incentives to the foreign investors: The same support can be given to the workers and employers in EPZ areas. This is a bit tricky, since there is a lot of scope of miscommunication with the foriegn investors. However, it is our conviction that if a solid case can be made from ROI perspective that the investors will be much more benefited from the uplift of their workers lifestyle and infrastructure. After all, even with the tax incentives (such as tax holiday), the companies enjoy a huge competitive advantage by just by locating the factories in Bangladeshi EPZs. Moreover, if the fund for tax incentives is diverted to the HR development and health service of the employees, it would be much more beneficial to the investors in the long run.
3. Divide the budget of state funded universities into two parts. These two divisions should be development budget and operational budget. The portion of the budget of a university (say BUET or SUST or KU) that is used for developing infrastructure - that can continue to be allocated as the traditional system. However, the operation budget should not be given in one hand to the universities' authorities. This system makes them lazy and there are ample opportunity to execute inefficiently. The operational budget should be allocated as per student basis. A standardized amount of per-student money should be calculated for each university based on previous data. This particular per-student amount can be same for all the state universities OR can be same for each university OR can be same for each faculty within a university - previous data would provide a benchmark for that. A direct dialogue and participation of the teachers and students can be done in each institution to come up with the Taka amount for per-student per year (or per semester). Once that figure is determined and agreed upon, the students will receive the checks directly from the government as scholarships to the students. Our guess is that this amount will be something comparable to the amount that the private university students pay. If nothing, this change in the payment system would give the students a sense of entitlement to their university. As the main stakeholder of the university, the students will engage in the betterment of the service delivery by their teachers. The university authorities will also be more focused to increase their efficiency since they will have more visibility and feedback from their improved performance. A proper communication to the individual stakeholders will be necessary so everybody buys into the new paradigm. We think that this will help improve our education in the public universities.
Similar opportunities should be examined in all government subsidized mechanisms. In every sector where government gives support for understandable reasons of providing a cushion so that the industries becomes more competitive, there are better ways to provide that subsidies. Instead of spending the money at the top of the tree, water the roots of trees. That will make the trees much more stronger. It is that simple.
Aside from the improved satisfaction of the end-users and improved efficiency in the system, a nice by-product of these three proposals are creation of employment. Particularly the first two proposals will revolutionize our insurance and health industry. The third proposal will create a lot of new employment in the financial sector - be it in the regular banks or other financial institutions. All these would create a lot of scopre for IT employment thourghout the economy. This last one would be a much needed thrust for our ailing IT industry. These would enable our local firms to prepare for new outsourcing contracts, too - once they have their experience in developing and delivering IT services to the local citizens.
If you thought some of the ideas are worth of your reading time, please forward it to others. If you have an ear to the members of the CG, specifically the Finance Adviser, please forward it to him - by all means, please! If you have an ear to the journalists and new editors of the electronic media, discuss it with them. Hope they would look at the suggestions and give due diligence.
Thanks for your time,
Innovation Line
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Note: This is a freelance column, published mainly in different internet based forums. This column is open for contribution by the members of new generation, sometimes referred to as Gen 71. If you identify yourself as someone from that age-group and want to contribute to this column, please feel free to contact. Thanks to the group moderator for publishing the article.
We have not seen the Liberation War, but we know if we can free the country from corruption first, we will eventually get to other dreams soon. Because of corruption, we could not even get into information highway for years, let alone other dreams!
This is the kind of article for which we started this column. Because of ongoing mess, a gift from our older generation, we often get diverted. Now that it seems some sanity is returning in Bangladesh, we would try to go back to our original plan.
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Bureaucracy (byÊŠrok'rÉ™sç) , the administrative structure of any large organization, public or private. Ideally bureaucracy is characterized by hierarchical authority relations, defined spheres of competence subject to impersonal rules, recruitment by competence, and fixed salaries. Its goal is to be rational, efficient, and professional. Max Weber, the most important student of bureaucracy, described it as technically superior to all other forms of organization and hence indispensable to large, complex enterprises. However, because of the shortcomings that have in practice afflicted large administrative structures, the terms bureaucracy and bureaucrat in popular usage usually carry a suggestion of disapproval and imply incompetence, a narrow outlook, duplication of effort, and application of a rigid rule without due consideration of specific cases. Bureaucracy existed in imperial Rome and China and in the national monarchies, but in modern states complex industrial and social legislation has called forth a vast growth of administrative functions of government. The power of permanent and nonelective officials to apply and even initiate measures of control over national administration and economy has made the bureaucracy central to the life of the state; critics object that it is largely impervious to control by the people or their elected representatives. The institution of the ombudsman has been one means adopted in an attempt to remedy this situation. Others has been collective decision making and organizational structures that emphasize minimize hierarchies and decentralize the power to make decisions. Administrative bureaucracies in private organizations and corporations have also grown rapidly, as has criticism of unresponsive bureaucracies in education, health care, insurance, labor unions, and other areas. See also civil service; industrial management.

An underwater wonder

2009-01-13T23:26:00.000-08:00

It all started with a dream of discovering the underwater world.
Back in 2002, met Quazi Hamidul Haque, a veteran scuba diver living in Dhaka. That time I was dying to do an underwater expedition in The Bay of Bengal. I thought St. Martin's Island could be an alternative way to start with. We needed a lot of preparations as we did not have any experience.
We went through some diving trip logs and “ The Sea Hunters” TV serial and came to know that it was not as easy to swim underwater. We formed a group and started training ourselves at the Dhaka University swimming pool.

Finally on September 2004, a dozen of adventure lovers reached the white sand after a six-month training. We had tents, cooking stuffs, dive tanks, fins, snorkels, BC (buoyancy compensator), raft and many more. We logged into the Oceanic Scuba Diving hut, a company operated by one of our friends who stated providing commercial diving for beach goers in a limited scale. We called it “ the base camp”.
We hired a boat for roaming around the shore for selecting a perfect location and established another camp site at the south tip of Bangladesh, “CheraDeep”. Anyone would love to be there as it is the best part of the entire Saint Martin's Island. It is calm and clean. Tourists can easily see the seabed from the boat -- shades of green, dark red, brown and other rioting colors.
We started rowing our raft in the morning, marked the spot with a dive flag and took a reconnaissance dive. It was a wonderful world down there! It was almost like a treasure island.
It was sunny day which was an added advantage as fishes were looking like glittering gems and colonies of corals were looking like blooming buds! We had seen many brain corals in nonbearing routes. These corals are called 'Sea Flowers' and are found in almost all the oceans with warm water. In a favorable condition, they live for at least 200 years. These corals get their name from the grooves and channels on their surfaces that look like the folds of the human brain.
Another type of coral that caught our attention looked more like hives. These are commonly known as 'Honey Comb' coral or 'Tabulate' coral. They almost always form colonies of individual hexagonal cells known as corallites defined by a skeleton of calcite, similar in appearance to a honeycomb. Adjacent cells are joined by small pores. Their distinguished feature is their well-developed horizontal internal partitions within each cell, but reduced or absent vertical internal partitions.
There were many fishes with bright colors and beautiful shapes in different lagoons of north eastern part of Saint Martin's Island. It was easy to get very close to them.
We saw many dead corals in the shallow water. The reason was anchorage system of local boats. And the habit of collecting corals of tourist is another danger that has been destroying the underwater beauty.
.....................................................Story & Photo: Muntasir Mamun ImranFor more info: www.nature.com.bd....................Muntasir@gmail.com

A Cautionary Note to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

2009-01-07T23:25:00.001-08:00

A Cautionary Note to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
-Prof. Syed Ahsanul Alam Parvez*

After a landslide victory you are assuming the premiership of Bangladesh when the world is facing one of the worst recession of contemporary history. There are good reasons to believe that Bangladesh will face the trauma of the global recession by late 2009. The have-nots and the poor people of our country will not be able to bear it. So you have no option but to be proactive and act in time to surprise the world. Your and our creator gave you a lifetime chance to write your name in gold as the world's most benevolent lady prime minister by turning Bangladesh to a middle income country during your office this time as prime minister. You have to address the issue of income distribution and social justice in our country very thoughtfully. You should be the first Prime minister of Bangladesh with the aim of raising awareness and creating framings and visions that promote equal dignity for all citizens in the country you govern.

Premier Sheikh Hasina:
I hope you will share with my concept- "Road map to good governance- The Nine-I model" (see http://www.goodgovernancebd.org/ for details) for building a democratic society ensuring good governance. However political democracy rests on economic democracy, and economic democracy assumes a social order that provides equal opportunity for every member of the society to become economically self-sufficient and free from the dominance of some who control their subsistence in today's world.

I am confident you will share the ideology of "the equitable distribution of wealth." The key to economic self-sufficiency is growing the productiveness of the economy in such a way that lifts artificial barriers to equal access to those social institutions (e.g. Capital, credit) that determine who will become empowered as future capital owners. In Bangladesh only then can today's property less citizens receive just share of their capital assets as well as wages for their work to meet their economic needs and develop to the fullest extent of their human capacities.
You have no time to rest but to move forward with your supporters as well as the supporters of Begum Zia, because at least 10- 12% of her supporters trusted you in this election for at least two reasons.

1. In view of many, the former prime minister wanted to salvage the "Maha Chors" and political cronies of her party which seemed like she wanted to present the nation a reign of corrupts and extremists. A political blunder on the part of an experienced former prime minister.

2. According to her critics, Begum Zia, during her honeymoon with "Razakars", "Al-Badars", and "Al-Shams" not only distributed political sweets but also distributed our national flag to them which was earned with the sacrifice of millions. The new generation voters expressed sharp reaction in this election by rejecting the collaborators of the genocide in 1971.

Honorable Prime minister:
The world changed a lot. I know that now you know it better than anyone that you have to cope with international diplomacy of the world politics. Global circumstances cannot be ignored. See Barack Obama meticulously organized his team to salvage the sinking US economy and bring the change for which he is elected to his office.
You should meticulously arrange and rearrange the medium sized cabinet which you can gradually expand evaluating the performance of the cabinet members. You can throw out the bad performers after six months if they fail to give us good governance for which the country paid heavily last two years in both economic and political terms. If the credibility of any of your ministers are questionable or if anyone of them were convicted or corrupt at least by perception, kindly throw them out as soon as the first evidential complain against them reaches you. Congratulations for bringing new faces as ministers and junior ministers, thus creating a space for new leadership in your party.

Madam Prime minister:
Can you consider of giving some lessons to your cabinet crews so that they see how ministers in other democratic countries behave. Kindly arrange some cultural training for your ministers so that they can think, talk and act democratically.
People of Bangladesh no more wants to see vehicles carrying national flags in fish markets, marriage ceremonies, birthday parties, "gaye holuds", clubs or community centers. Please teach them that, this is how they create a distance with their electoral and ensure confirm defeat in the future elections. There is a dogma in Bangla that "joto mantri toto porajoy." Please instruct them not to irritate citizens with sirens and police men to demonstrate the presence of a minister. Ministers should limit themselves in using national flags in official business only and use sirens only while rushing to the airport or the parliament or any other urgency. In this way people will not hate them but will talk to them with open minds, irrespective of political identity. This approach will make them accountable to the people from all walks of life present in different social programs. This will pave the path towards a new accountable political culture.

Madam PM--- Media is your friend not foe:
We have a very strong vibrant media now to act as a watchdog against misrule and misgovernance and corruption. Our media has always played an admirable role to see a truly participatory and functioning democracy in the country where hopes, aspirations and will of the people will prevail and not trampled by elected despotic and authoritarian rule. Kindly instruct your ministers not to waste time by countering the media. The media cannot bring down any government. The media can only inform the government in advance that the voters will bring them down in the next election. Unfortunately some politicians always failed to receive the media message until they miserably fail in elections. The ministers should correct themselves seeing the public reactions in the mirror of the media.

Madam PM-- Give target to Bangladesh diplomatic missions abroad:
To combat the global recession you have to increase the flow of foreign remittance which is presently in the decrease.
Please double the target of manpower export from Bangladesh to the countries that require skilled or semi-skilled manpower from Bangladesh. Let our ambassadors know that you will call them back if they fail to fulfill the new target of manpower export. Instruct them to explore new markets and also to create demand for our manpower in the countries already importing manpower from us. They should perform just like bank managers or have to come back home to do some other job. This is how you can fulfill your election pledge to create one job each house. Also remittances will show an uptrend and will give us a better position to combat the global recession.

Madam PM-- Form Council of experts with people who wants to volunteer:
Many experts from different subject matters do neither want to become minister nor get other government facilities in lieu of their service to develop the economy and governance. They only need your patronization to render service to develop different sectors to take the country ahead. There is no harm if you consider council of experts in different fields like 1.Governance, 2.Trade and commerce, 3.Banking, 4.Insurance, 5.Exploring new markets for manpower exports, 6.Employment creation, 7.Regulating price, and 8.Monitoring law and order, etc. These councils will submit reports to you every three months to assist you to call the respective ministers for a brainstorm towards policy decisions. This will help you to remain well informed and will also stop the ministers from going in the wrong direction.

Beware of Cars without number plate and MP's without tin numbers:
Will your government allow anybody to drive vehicles without a number plate? Your voters are eager to see whether you will allow MP's and ministers without tin number to run the country. Please don't allow tax evaders to handle the money of the tax payers. Give two options to the MP's without tin number which are- 1. They should rush to the NBR to get a number or 2. Quit from the government headed by the daughter of Bangabandhu. If mistakenly anybody without a tin number is sworn as a minister, instruct him to quit as he will be a glaring example for citizens not to pay tax.

Beware of Isolation syndrome:
Madam prime minister, may I draw your kind attention to the historical fact that some viruses in the civil-military bureaucracy and political nexus infect the prime ministers to develop a disease termed "Isolation Syndrome." The disease becomes chronic when political cronies build air tight, air con compartments for the Prime minister, creating a No way to talk—No way to write—No way to reach situations. Due to Isolation syndrome Prime ministers can't hear the people—can't read the mind of their people. The voters can only see their Prime minister in small T.V. screens. No wonder everybody understands the gravity of security threats for any prime minister, especially security threats for the daughter of the father of the nation. But at least fix a fax or e-mail for complains to reach you, which you can see during your breakfast. I am confident everybody responsible for governance will be highly alert.

When I was writing this open letter from the University of Chittagong, you were busy taking oath. I was overwhelmed with millions of other democracy loving people of Bangladesh to see a group of clean people (perceived) as cabinet ministers. Once again Congratulations Prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Sincerely yours,
Prof. Syed Ahsanul Alam Parvez

*Author Syed Ahsanul Alam is a Governance Analyst, Associate Professor at the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh and Chairman-Center for Good Governance. His recent administrative post includes Vice rector- Premier University, Director-S.B Corporation (Sadharon Bima Corp), Treasurer-USTC (SWC), Representative of the President, USTC. He lectured widely at various business schools including University of Science and Technology, Open University, ABAC Thailand and also in Singapore. Rotarian Syed Ahsanul Alam is a well known Academician, Institution Building Personality and Activist for Good Governance. The Author may be reached at Cell: 880-1711 748 748, Fax: 880-31-2550872, E-mail: professorparvez@gmail.com, http://www.goodgovernancebd.org/.

CMP web site opening ceremony by CENTER FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE

2008-12-03T00:44:00.000-08:00

Chairman of Center for Good Governance Prof. Syed Ahsanul Alam Parvez as a special guest with IGP Nur Mohammad in Chittagong Metropolitan Police's Website Opening Ceremony.

CMP web site opening ceremony by CENTER FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE

2008-12-03T00:39:00.000-08:00

A moment of Lunch after opening ceremony of Chittagong Metropolitan Police's website: Chairman of Center For Good Governance Prof. Syed Ahsanul Alam Parvez with IGP Nur Mohammad.

2008-11-26T23:22:00.000-08:00

Center For Good Governance (Bangladesh)
A Non Partisan Research Center for awareness movement on good governance

Current Contributors

2008-11-26T23:19:00.000-08:00

Syed Ahsanul Alam(University of Chittagong)
Prof. Mahfuz R Chowdhury(Long island university, USA)
William Milam(A former US ambassador to Pakistan & Bangladesh)
Prof. Dr. Tofail Ahmed
Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar
Economist Prof. Anisur Rahman
Prof. Sahidur Rahman
Dr. A.N.M. Waheeduzzaman (Prof. & chairman, Austin Peay State University, USA)
Dr. Abul Barkat
Nuruddin Mahmud Kamal
Dr. Mostafizur Rahman
Kudrat-E-Elahi
Anwarul Kabir
Dr. Abdul Momen(Boston, USA)
Taj Hasmi
BN Adhikary

Bangladesh Government

2008-11-26T23:18:00.000-08:00

DIG Of Police Chittagong Range
Bangladesh Government
BD Press Information
Dhaka City Corporation
Rajuk
Export Promotion Bureau
Parjatan Corporation
Bangladesh Parliament
Bangladesh Bank

Governance Literature & Links

2008-11-26T23:15:00.000-08:00

Peoples opinion for good governance
Report of the national democratic institute
Declaration of human rights
Organization & good governance activist in Bangladesh
The constitution of Bangladesh
Good governance concept papers by Prof. Ahsanul Alam
The only website in Bangladesh to have more than thousand E-books
National parliament election(1991,1996,2006)
Bangladesh governance Report 2007

Institutes working for good governance

2008-11-26T23:12:00.000-08:00

Center for economic and social justice
Political party development-NDI
Participatory action research (PAR)
Human rights in Bangladesh,2005
Concepts and status in Bangladesh(Bangladesh human rights network
Positive obligations of states and the protection of human rights - Interights
Commonwealth human rights advocacy
Human rights network in Bangladesh
Democratic government in Bangladesh - UNDP
Working to strengthen and expend democracy in Bangladesh - NDI
Advocating human rights in Bangladesh - Carter center

Media Release

2008-11-26T23:09:00.000-08:00

Media Release

2008-11-26T23:05:00.000-08:00

Our Vision

2008-11-26T22:59:00.000-08:00

What is CGG?

Center for Good Governance (CGG) is a center for academic research on various development issues relating to Good Governance & reforms.
The CGG is a different kind of institution working independently from all kind of powers: political parties, lobbies and social forces. The actions and interventions of the Center are impartial, non-partisan. The CGG´s main objective is to create and disseminate knowledge and new ideas in order to implement the strategies of good governance that is democratic principles and processes which favor transparency, accountability, efficiency, the rule of law, people's participation and consensus in making economic, social and political choices. ....MORE

CGG Activities

2008-11-26T22:47:00.000-08:00

Good Governance Agenda

2008-11-26T22:36:00.000-08:00

Rule of Law

Separation of Judiciary from executive organ

Corruption free society

Establishing the ombudsman system

Independent Anti Corruption Commission

Independent Human right commission

Investment Friendly Government

Autonomy of TV & Radio

Right to Know

Right to speak in the parliament by amending article 70 of the constitution

Independent election commission free from influence of PM office

Parliamentary Autocracy

The Caretaker System

Free and fair election

Concept Papers . . . . . MORE

CGG Member Form

2008-11-26T22:33:00.000-08:00

Click here to submit a FORM

"Abashon" October 2007 Issue

2008-11-26T22:26:00.000-08:00

"Abashon" October 2007 Issue

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Pictographic Presentation of CGG

2008-11-26T21:54:00.000-08:00

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Index Booklet of Chairman's Write-up

2008-11-26T04:29:00.000-08:00

Index Booklet of Chairman's Write-up .

By CGG Chairman

.. for more details click on CGG logo

No Democracy – No Governance

2008-11-26T04:27:00.000-08:00

By CGG chairman - Prof Syed Ahsanul Alam

Information highway has integrated the world in such a way that economy and business have become borderless. Existing governance skills and knowledge becomes absolute quickly, especially in the absence of e-governance. For economic development and to maintain competitive edge with the global changes, governance reform including e-governances should be the top priority to design the future of Bangladesh.... for more click here

Good Governance: Role of Individuals Vs. Institutions

2008-11-26T04:23:00.000-08:00

By - Prof. Syed Ahsanul Alam, Chairman-CGG

In the recent years, Bangladesh made some progress in many areas of economic and social development such as maintaining macroeconomic stability, growth in exports and in remittances, increase in enrolment in primary education, improvements in female's education, reductions in infant and maternal mortality and improvement in women's empowerment. Yet there are growing concerns that Bangladesh 's development prospects are frustrated by bad governance. One does not need to go in the nitty gritty to understand how bad governance affected the economy. Experts tell us that two percent or more of the GDP is lost to corruption and bad governance. Bad governance results to huge loss in economic growth annually. Bad governance and corruption deter investment, waste national resources and disequate allocation and increase insecurity. Moreover, the poor suffer most from the consequences of bad governance and corruption. Amongst the major governance weakness: pervasive corruption, weak governance, absence of monitoring institutions seriously affects economic growth and poverty reduction in the country. Though the methodology used by Transparency International (TI) to measure corruption has been subject to many questions, yet holding the first position in Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 5 consecutive years has tarnished the image of Bangladesh .... for more click here

Follow-up Response to "Road Map to Good Governance - The Nine 'I' Model"

2008-11-26T04:21:00.000-08:00

Proposed by Chairman of CGG

HUMAN DIGNITY AND HUMILIATION STUDIES (HDHS), are a network of concerned academics and practitioners. They are committed to reducing - and ultimately help eliminating - destructive disrespect and humiliating practices all over the world. Their work is inspired by universal values such as humanity, mutual respect, caring and compassion, and a sense of shared planetary rights and responsibilities.
They are first and foremost a global network of people with the aim of raising awareness and creating framings and visions that promote equal dignity for all. Their wish to fertilize and generate interdisciplinary research (both intra and inter culturally) and disseminate information aimed at enhancing awareness of human dignity. They also encourage the application of creative educational methods and strategies, as well as fertilize more to-the-point intervention projects and public policy planning. Thus they work in four ways, firstly as a global network, secondly in research, thirdly in education, and fourthly with intervention. They address all levels, micro, meso, and macro levels.... for more click here

Ending Corruption: Honesty Instituted

2008-11-26T04:18:00.000-08:00

By Hnble Chairman of CGG ( Center for Good Governance )

Corruption in its all shades and colour, is the illegal tool of accumulating illegal wealth depriving people which creates inequality and social injustice. Corruption destroys social order, rule of law and all good governance efforts. Corruption and the corrupts are the enemies of the people and the society in any country. That is why fighting corruption and installing honesty is a pre condition for good governance for ensuring human rights, human dignity, equality and social justice for better living condition of the majority of the suffering people of the developing nations...... for more click here

Ending Corruption: Towards a collaborative strategy

2008-11-26T04:09:00.000-08:00

By Hnble Chairman of CGG ( Center for Good Governance )

Corruption in its all shades and color is the illegal tool of accumulating illegal wealth depriving a person which creates inequality and social injustice. Corruption destroys social order, rule of law and all good governance efforts. Corruption and the corrupts are the enemies of the people and the society in any country. That is why fighting corruption and installing honesty is a pre condition for good governance for ensuring human rights, human dignity, equality and social justice and better business environment.
Holding the first position in Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 5 consecutive years has tarnished the image of Bangladesh, and in such a situation majority of the citizens did not know what to do and how to start a fight against this man made tool of exploitation called corruption. Under the previous oppressive corrupt governance and social system conscious citizens attempted to raise voice against this evil through the media or different civil societies organizations. Today everybody including the Chairman Anti-Corruption Commission emphasizes on the reality of designing a collaborative strategy to limit this evil call corruption. The following nonviolent silent strategies may be used to curve down corrupt practices in every sector of Bangladesh.... for more click here

Global trade talks at a crossroads

2008-11-26T04:06:00.000-08:00

By The New Nation

WORLD Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy said the Doha Round of global trade talks are currently 'at a crossroads' and the G-4 major players need to play a constructive role to avoid a 'deep freeze' of the talks. 'Today the Doha Round is at a cross-road: the path toward success or the slow move toward a deep freeze,' the WTO chief told a meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council in Geneva as reported by Xinhua. Lamy said it was bad news that the G-4 players -- the United States, the European Union, Brazil and India -- recently failed to converge on key issues concerning agriculture substitutes, tariffs and industrial market access. WTO members have pledged to conclude these negotiations by the end of this year -- ahead of the start of an intense political process in the USA in 2008, which would be followed by changes in the European Parliament and in the European Commission in 2009. But if this is to be achieved, progress in agriculture subsidies and a tariff on agriculture and industrial tariffs is required now.... for more click here

Good governance needed for sustainable development

2008-11-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

By Md. Mansur Ahmed

October, 2005, Bangladesh completed preparing her awaited Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and started to implement .It is widely known that lack of good governance is one of the key causes of the failure of 'Structural Adjustment Policy', 'Enhanced Structural Adjustment Policy' and other major reform policies guided by donor agencies ( e.g. World Bank, IMF etc.).Good governance was originally articulated in a World Bank publication in 1989.Good governance is now increasingly used as a base for aid and loans by major donors and international financial institutions. There are many countries in the world that have the same resource base, but the degree of good governance makes the difference in case of growth and poverty reduction. Realizing the importance of good governance, Bangladesh has given the second most priority to good governance as a strategy to accelerate poverty reduction. .... for more click here

No place of meanness in good polity

2008-11-26T03:26:00.000-08:00

By Md. Abdus Sattar

It's sad that altogether a section of columnists with their mispic view come up with an extra interest to make someone he does not deserve this and by doing this they make them unnecessarily subject to criticism, Thus belittling their image indeed. The song is quite obsolete, still they don't hesitate focus on them to the detaste of readers which they create even by criticising other leader of national import. Yes, there was write-up in a vernacular national newspaper. The things highlighted were printed and reprinted throughout the last three decades that has smeared the contribution of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to a great extent..... for more click here

Cancellation of admission in DU

2008-11-26T03:24:00.000-08:00

By The New Nation

THE overall management of the University of Dhaka, including the process of student enrollment in different departments have come under critical review following the detection of enrollment of some candidates in an irregular fashion. Unfortunately, some students were enrolled in different departments of the University by suppressing information about their qualifications. They were enrolled in the Departments of Political Science, International Relations, Chemistry and Business Administration. Some such students have been identified by the authority, which has cancelled the admission of seventy. More of such students admitted in an irregular fashion may be found, if the process of review of admission continues. Some of the students enrolled themselves in different departments for making political careers and did neither attend classes nor participated in examinations. They became student-leaders and worked as agents of political parties plus the governments that were in power from time to time.... click here for more

Issues of food security

2008-11-26T03:20:00.000-08:00

By The New Nation

BANGLADESH was considered to have attained self-sufficiency in food production some years ago. It was judged to be producing all or nearly all of its needs of the main staple, rice, from the year 2000. Food imports declined largely as a result and the food aid also dwindled down adding feathers to the cap of this country with a vast population which it could feed by its own effort.But this good performance in food production has been changing in recent years. For example, some quantities of foodgrains had to be imported during the last couple of years in the backdrop of gaps between production targets and actual yields. Thus, imports of wheat and rice ranging from ten to twelve lakh tons have been noted for some years. But in the last fiscal year, 2006-7, the food deficit was found to be specially higher. The deficit in Fy 06-07 was to the tune of some 45 lakh tons which is an unprecedented record of sorts pointing to the slipping performance in foodgrains production in the country.... for more click here

Safeguarding the rights of rickshaw pullers

2008-11-26T03:19:00.001-08:00

By Md. Masum Billah

The passage for plying rickshaw in the city streets is getting narrower day by day. Does it mean that we are heading towards development? Or does it show the real improvement of our traffic system? The answers will not be so straightforward and direct. The presence of rickshaw in our cities and towns is the genuine reality. It was the necessity of time to flood our cities and towns with rickshaws and again time may approach when the rickshaws will disappear. Now the question is whether we have reached that stage or time to keep the rickshaws in the museum or we are forcibly trying to make that situation at the cost of million's bread? By enforcing laws and threatening the rickshaw pullers, this grim reality cannot be denied. When traffic system will develop and people will have enough vehicles to reach their destinations, the slow moving vehicles like rickshaws will give salute to the cities. Things seem that rickshaws are made to give salute to the cities by force. ... for more click here

Has globalization changed inflation?

2008-11-26T03:17:00.000-08:00

By Editorial Page

Many observers have suggested that the behavior of U.S. inflation has been changed by the "globalization" of the economy. In 2005, for example, The Economist declared that recent experience "makes a mockery of traditional economic models of inflation, which ignore globalization." According to such commentators, globalization has helped to reduce inflation in the recent past and will help it to remain low in the future.In Has Globalization Changed Inflation? NBER Research Associate Laurence Ball questions this view. He reviews theory and evidence on the behavior of U.S. inflation, and concludes that globalization has had little effect on the rate of inflation in the United States.... for more click here

'If I were the President...'

2008-11-26T03:14:00.000-08:00

By Rajendra Aneja

EVER since the Presidential race started in India, you have neither slept nor let me sleep peacefully. The whole night you keep tossing!" nagged Patricia. "This is a critical job," I told her, "and all types of names and controversies are cropping up." "So why do you lose sleep over it?" she queried. "Frankly, I have been wondering whether I should also throw my hat into the ring." Patricia did not smile. That would have been acceptable. She burst out into a wild laughter. "What you? The President?" she exclaimed incredulously. "Just because a newspaper prints your letters to the editor, that does not mean you can run India!" She placed her hand on her hips, looked me in the eye, and asked, "Fine, presuming that by some magic you get the job, what will you do?" I was caught. "I need some time to put my thoughts down," I responded. "See, as usual, ill-prepared!" she taunted.... fore more click here

National Security Council

2008-11-26T03:10:00.000-08:00

By Editorial Page

THE initiative to form a National Security Council (NSC) as has been stated by the Law and Information Adviser on the other day will be welcomed by the people. This is for the reason that such councils are more the rule than exceptions in many otherwise democratically governed countries. The United States of America (USA) has its NSC. The elected US President and his cabinet colleagues, members of the two Houses of the legislature who are elected, all play important roles in law making and governing the USA in all respects. But notwithstanding their central roles in governance, the existence of a body to watch over governance of the USA in matters pertaining to its supreme security or national interests is permitted... fore more click here