Expatriate Bangladeshi 2000
Linking Individuals, Regions, Ideas, and Actions
Expatriate Bangladeshi 2000Linking Individuals, Regions, Ideas, and Actions |
Project Ideas
1. Neutral Intelligence Tank (NIT)by Shahidur Rahman, Ph.D., Singaporee-mail : ASRAHMAN@ntu.edu.sgBoth within and out of Bangladesh, there is a wealth of learned Bangladeshi nationals. Past policy makers and professionals with neutral intention to develop the country to its full potential will make up the core of NIT. They will elect a neutral advisory group from among themselves who will work side by side of the present parliament. It will act like the American House of Senate or the British House of Lords. It would be like electing experts from an educated group who would know how to steer a boat. For example, if seven out of ten people don’t know how to steer a boat and then elect one of the ignorant individuals to take charge then there is every possibility of drowning the boat without the help of experts. This NIT will help the elected government to develop comprehensive policies in the field of human resource development, effective administration, viable education, structured foreign affairs, general health, dynamic economics, desirable water and electricity development, etc. The next neutral Government may be elected from this NIT. 2. Volunteer Cadre for National Development (VCND)by Shahidur Rahman, Ph.D., Singaporee-mail : ASRAHMAN@ntu.edu.sgThe Bangladesh education system requires twelve years of Secondary School and Higher Secondary School education prior to entrance to University. I propose that one of these twelve years of schooling be spent in compulsory VCND. All over Bangladesh, students must participate to these development services. During this year, students will learn independence and skills that will help them understand the country’s challenges. The course curriculum can be designed and redesigned from time to time by the NIT and experts from foreign countries. The coming 21st century is the century of IT and Net Working. Our Bangladesh literacy rate is very poor. We have so many difficulties. To cope with the world current IT momentum we have to have Voluntary Cadre for National Development (VCND) to educate our people from the grass root levels. VCND will be formed from the students of all over Bangladesh. The Bangladesh education system requires twelve years prior to entrance to University. Members of VCND will be spending one of these twelve years for VCND compulsory training. The major role of VCND is to transform our weakness into strength. They will learn for themselves and pass their knowledge to the future generations. VCND training will be in four Phases. Each Phase comprises with three months training. First Phase will be Primary Training which including Computer Training, ABC of Business Communications, IT and WWW Basics. Second Phase include Mini Business Administration, the Basics of Bangladesh Economic, Health, Education Development knowledge. Third Phase include Save on Crisis Training (SOC) i.e. Basics of Civil Defense Police training, ABC of Bangladesh Law, Basics of Flood, Cyclone, illiteracy, Birth control training. In Phase four members of VCND will be divided into different groups for Practical Attachments according to their interests and talents. Their grouping may like (1) VCND for Grass Root Level IT, WWW, Network Training; (2) VCND for village Development, (3) VCND for Flood Control, (4) VCND for fighting illiteracy, (5) VCND for Environmental Pollution Control, (6) VCND for Health Development, (7) VCND for Save on Crisis, (8) VCND for Bribery and Crime Buster etc. Their Training and Practical Attachment materials, leaflets Brochures will be developed by National Action Board and/or NIT embers. Bangladesh Government will provide them out of pocket expenses during their training. All Bangladesh Government future appointments including BCS cadre, Police Force, Military Force, will be made from VCND members. 3. Foreign Bangladeshi Forum (FBF)by Shahidur Rahman, Ph.D., Singaporee-mail : ASRAHMAN@ntu.edu.sgMany Bangladeshis scatter around the world in search of duties that result in higher wages and more comfortable life styles. Like other nations, now the time has come when the sun cannot set on the Bangladeshi presence in the world. The relations and activities of these Foreign Bangladeshis towards their native country should be planned and set. How can they assist in domestic economic and business development and natural disaster? How can they help with cultural and business development internationally? There are many foreign Bangladeshi associations all over the world. Under this FBF all Bangladeshi associations could be brought under one umbrella. Their constitutions, activities, welfare programs, problem-solving guides should be given strong footings so that Bangladeshis know how to bring up their national image and prestige with a standard level. 4. Buy Air Time for Political Debateby Kazi Saleheen, M.D., USAe-mail : saleheen@ux1.cso.uiuc.eduAs you know, Bangladesh Radio and Television have no autonomy. They follow direction from the sitting government. It would therefore be very difficult to buy airtime from the media, especially for political debate. Now I will tell you my plan, think about it. It may require a lot of changes so please feel free to tell me about it. 1. First we need two committees for the project "Buy Air Time for Political Debate" :
2. I could work as an organizer for this project. I currently work as chief resident in University of Illinois. I know only few Bangladeshi physicians in USA personally. I am not active in politics. Please provide me with some personal information, including your profession, what is the importance of this project and whether or not you have any political affiliation. 3. Buying airtime will be a difficult job. Nobody has done this before but the Working committee could find a way. If this is possible it will change the whole political situation of Bangladesh, so naturally it will be very difficult. We have to overcome these difficulties with our creativity. 5. Hospital in Exileby Mahfuz Chowdhury, USAe-mail : Chowdhury1@aol.comA few years ago I thought of a similar proposal that would involve services of Bangladeshi expatriate medical doctors. I suggested that we form an association of all medical doctors living abroad and ask them to render one month of free service in Bangladesh in a given year. We would organize their services through an organization that may be named a "Hospital in Exile". We have doctors who are specialized in advanced procedures such as heart surgery and other fields that may or may not be available in the country. In addition to free or less expensive medical services, Bangladesh could even save foreign exchange if we could organize some of those specialized services within the country. However, to implement a proposal of this nature would not be as easy as it may sound, but in my opinion it is a worthwhile proposal to consider. 6. Data Bankby Bilayet Hossain, Ph.D., USAe-mail : MBHOSSAIN@aardvark.ucs.ou.eduI suggest that EB2000 consider as one of its objectives - to establish and maintain a reliable 'data bank' on Bangladesh. The bank should contain relevant data on population, literacy, economic condition (employment, poverty level), communication facilities, housing, health etc. 7. Resource Data Bankby M. Harun uz Zaman, Ph.D., USAe-mail : harunuzzaman.1@osu.eduAnother idea proposed earlier was the building of a data bank of resources, demography, geography, etc. I think this is very important but also an incredibly huge task. I was wondering whether we could develop a logistical plan (such as having data gathering "cells" in each thana) for accomplishing this. Such a databank would be immensely helpful in pinpointing needs and problem areas, in facilitating analysis and in optimal pooling of resources. Software for doing this, known as GIS (geographical information systems) already exists. The most difficult task would be compiling data. 8. Distance Learningby Saleh Tanveer, Ph.D., USAe-mail : tanveer@math.ohio-state.eduThere are fast emerging areas like Computer Science, when students in Bangladesh have a distinct disadvantage - lack of qualified teachers. On the other hand, there may be expatriates who are experts in those areas. I was wondering if a project could not be set up where the lectures of qualified expatriates in those areas are video taped or sent directly over the Internet to students in many interested educational institutions in Bangladesh. I saw a TV program about two years back where they showed somebody in the US army who enrolled in a distant learning course (via internet) that some professor at a U.S. institution was offering. This link was two-way and the professor could actually see the students on a video screen and respond to their questions. This would require quite a bit of logistics and I am not sure this would be suitable for Bangladesh at this stage. But, at the least, it seemed to me those video taped lecture notes of well-known Bangladeshi experts in these emerging areas could partially fill an existing gap in Bangladesh education. 9. Certification Program In Computer Scienceby Saleh Tanveer, Ph.D., USAe-mail : tanveer@math.ohio-state.eduHow about creating a certification program in computer science (something along the lines of what Microsoft has, but at differing levels) that periodically conducts test in Bangladesh. A panel of examiners from among the expatriates would grade the tests. The certification by a credible body as we expect our body to be, may convince expatriates with software contracts to subcontract a part of their work to Bangladeshis having appropriate level of certification. With Internet connection, this should be possible. Alternately, software companies in Bangladesh could use our certification as a basis to employ appropriately trained people to do their work. It is most important that the integrity of such testing is not compromised in any way. We have to think how this can be done in the most effective way. After having the demand side of computer programmers taken care of in the above way, we can address the supply side by helping setting up an appropriate computer institute in Bangladesh, perhaps along the lines suggested earlier (six year training, right after SSC). What I also like about getting students in right after SSC is that students and parents do not have to wade through the uncertainty of HSC and entrance into a desirable program at a desirable institution. In this program, we probably need to get an OK from the Government, because not everybody in this program will land a computer job. So, it is important that the product of this program is treated the equivalent of an MSc from any other University, as far as government jobs are concerned. Designing such a program would require co-operation of people who have knowledge in mathematics, physics and computer science and also have experience in setting curriculum at various universities throughout the world. Let me know if this two-part proposal sounds sensible to the expatriates at large, particularly those who are software entrepreneurs or are in responsible position in software companies and those who are experts in different areas of computer science. 10. Micro Creditby Nafisul Huda, Canadae-mail : babcock.citex@oracle.netMicro Credit, especially the applied aspect of it and the relevance of Dr. Amarta Sen's theories plus "Karz-e-Hasana" (the Islamic concept). This is important not only for Bangladesh, but also at the back drop of failed Mega Macro Credit schemes of World Bank, IMF and the host of so called development banks in the post World War II era. 50 years of continued failure that resulted in polarization of the world economy. 11. Basic/Grass Root Level Programsby Nafisul Huda, Canadae-mail : babcock.citex@oracle.netBasic/grass root level mass education, health and food problems and the solutions thereof. With all the big guys being interested in Big-ticket items like Infrastructure, Mega Projects, Free Economy, etc. my efforts in the above neglected areas can possibly be of some help. It is the small things in life that we should take care, because there is no shortage of wise people taking care of big items. 12. Job Oriented Educationby Khurshid Uz Zaman, M.D., Japane-mail : zaman@perio2.den.hokudai.ac.jpOur literacy rate is very low which have to be raised but percentage of university educated people (after completion of 12 year schooling) is high or almost same as that of some south-east Asian country and probably of Japan. I do not know the basic educational difference between a simple Bachelor and a H.S.C passed. We are just destroying 2 - 3 years unproductively. In a lot of cases we do not have any relation of our university education to our present work. An Agri-varsity graduate or a science graduate is doing banking job, a commerce graduate is doing a administrative job. Can you imagine the loss of our time and effort? We have enough unemployed Bachelor degree holders but lack of technical workers ranging from Hairdressers to Technologists. This system does not educate our people relating to our own work. So efforts should be given to educate the common poor people and educate them in relation to their work. 13. Alternate Approach to Economic Developmentby Khurshid Uz Zaman, M.D., Japane-mail : zaman@perio2.den.hokudai.ac.jpNGOs including the Grameen bank are trying to develop our country by poverty alleviation, which is highly appreciated by developed countries and also by our expatriates. We want to congratulate them. But fact is that they are working in our country and also in other countries for over 20 years but can not bring noteworthy change. We have 53% of our people below the poverty line and our country is one of the poorest countries of the world. Self employment or micro credit can improve the quality of life of some target people for the time being but cannot produce quality products, cannot lessen the cost of the product and overall cannot produce surplus capital to be invested in future. This system does not try to block the production of the "the target people". Through this process, just existing economic framework will be maintained. 14. IT Task Forceby Syeed Chowdhury, USAe-mail : syeed@synopsys.comI am personally interested in creating a task force to identify the bottlenecks in the rapid development of IT technology in Bangladesh. Maybe creating a recommendation to Bangladesh Government in the future. I am working on high level agenda's for this project. Please feel free to add your ideas and recommendation. 15. Market Driven Enterpriseby Abed Chaudhury, Ph.D., Australiae-mail : A.Chaudhury@pi.csiro.auI think we should think of running specific and potentially lucrative "market-driven" enterprises and just not talk about things. In other words think about doing something concrete and showing it. EB2000 should think of raising money for R&D important for Bangladesh and should think of protecting the results of the R&D through the protection of intellectual property. This could encompass areas such as environment, agro-based industries, and software. Such a virtual organisation could take expertise from many quarters and link them under a virtual entity that can discover and patent things and then license them out thereby raising the equity of the entity. I don't know enough about company law but maybe someone could look into it. 16. Compact Townships as a Strategy for Economic Developmentby Salim Rashid, Ph.D., USAe-mail : s-rashid@ux1.cso.uiuc.eduWhat Are Compact Townships? A Compact Township (CT) is an agglomeration of Houses, hospitals, schools, markets, rural industries and local governmental units that provide all basic services to a population of about 20,000. It is to be largely self-governing and self-financing. The size is small enough for traffic within the CT to be conducted by non-motorized vehicles and for motorized traffic to be thus isolated from the CT itself. The CT will thus be well connected yet environmentally friendly. As the size is small enough to provide effective protection from floods, the CT’s will permit Bangladesh to do with many fewer embankments and thus encourage the re-emergence of a wetlands environment as well as serve to stimulate the renewal of freshwater fisheries, so critical to the nutrition of Bengalis. Mirpur Staff College and BARD in Comilla - each about 100 acres - are attractive examples. So a tentative plan is to have about 200 - 300 acres for each such CT, or about three per square mile. Eventually some 7000 of these will become the basic rural landscape of Bangladesh, supplemented by a scattering of homesteads and some remaining number of the existent 68,000 villages. This is rather a mammoth undertaking! The general idea of gaining economies by agglomeration is an extremely simple one and has been the staple of several branches of Economics and Regional Planning. All I have done is to give it concrete shape to suit the particular current situation of BD. My principal reason for writing is to argue that the concept, though simple, is important, necessary and practicable. There are some partial antecedents for CT’s even within BD in the cluster villages (for the homeless) and in growth centers based on market towns. There are several academic precedents: Sarwar Jahan’s Masters Thesis, (BUET 1978), and The Role of Small Towns in Rural Development, by Toufiq M Seraj ,NILG 1989, (from a Liverpool thesis) are two that I have seen. I am told that Dr. A.T.M. Nurul Amin of AIT has a concept called "densification" developed by his students. Mr Lutful Huq of the Geography Department discussed such a concept in 1974. Professor Rehman Sobhan told me that M.A. Chashi broached the idea for the cyclone prone coast in 1970. The general idea of a CT is simply a combination of Integrated Rural Development with the idea of a ‘Growth Pole’, or its spatial equivalent, a ‘Growth Centre’. Insofar as there is a difference, and I will gladly relinquish any claims to originality, the earlier proposals are either focused upon poverty or as an ancillary to some other plan of economic growth. The principal difference lies in the conjoined scale, scope and purpose of the CT. I received a lot of assistance from Rezaur Rahman, Sarwar Jahan and Najmul Hossain. The participants at two recent seminars in Dhaka, the first at the Centre for Development Research in Bangladesh (CDRB) and the second at the Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) provided helpful comments. Mr Q I Siddiqui, Chief Engineer of the LGED and Professor Golam Rahman, Chairman of BIP, were particularly helpful and encouraging. Planning has come into considerable disrepute in recent years, so it is well to point out that most failures of planning tried to settle outcomes or to force people into certain actions favoured by the planner. For example, when it is insisted that a Steel Mill must be built. However, no one has complained about the expansion of education or of roads and infrastructure - so, to be careful, one has to say that suitable planning of inputs is still a desirable option. The question is whether the CT’s will in fact stimulate the appropriate inputs. Furthermore, all moves into the CT’s will be voluntary. No force will be used. The only inducement will be an indirect one. No Government can be asked to support that which is beyond its means. It can be asked to provide education and health, but only in an affordable way. Those who choose to move into the CT’s will have easy access to education, health, banking, family planning etc. Those who do not so move are still eligible for such benefits, but it will be so much harder for them to gain access. And then of course there is the all-important question of financing, to which we come later. I received several friendly criticisms of the CT idea; These objections are certainly true, but they are not so important as to negate the value of the CT’s. For example, for the joint family objection, enabling laws will have to be passed. Indeed such laws are probably overdue, since a great number of ponds cannot be efficiently used, say as fisheries, because of the restrictions placed by joint property rules. Truly fundamental objections state that; I cannot address the last point. Some physical geographers and town planners, those who actually know the facts on the ground, will have to help out. But let me try and meet the other objections as best I can. After all, the thought of altering the entire rural landscape of a nation is an enormous undertaking. Unless it is thoroughly discussed and widely agreed upon, it will surely fail. Why Bother With Such A Dream? The dream is actually motivated by a nightmare. I will use the World Bank booklet, BANGLADESH 2020, whenever possible as the WB have the figures everyone seems to rely on and since rumor has it that they set large aspects of BD policy. These are such overwhelming facts that they bear repetition. How Is This To Be Done? The WB says we must urbanise. Indeed, rural BD has not grown in the last decade. But the WB proposal seems a non-starter on the basis of its own facts. Consider the description of Dhaka City today: When only 20 percent of Dhaka’s daily output of solid waste is collected everyday and the country’s total output is likely to rise eight to ten times by 2020, it is not difficult to imagine cities overwhelmed and even fatally polluted by their own refuse. Unless, they perish first of thirst. Urban demand for water is due to rise from 645 million gallons a day to 3,300-4,200 million gallons. Already only one half of the country’s city dwellers have access to clean, safe drinking water. Dhaka has only a single sewage treatment plant – a completely inadequate one – and a sewage system that covers only one third of its area. Thirty percent of the capital’s people either use open latrines or none at all. (p10) Now consider the projections for the future: More and more of that future will take place in cities and towns and in construction and in the informal and service sectors. As a final component of the setting for growth, the process of urbanisation and its attendant activities have to be examined both for the promise they hold and the threats they raise. In 1996 the urban population of Bangladesh stood at 24 million, one fifth of the country’s population. By 2020 it is projected to be nearly 80 million, not much short of half the total. Together Dhaka (with an estimated 15-20 million inhabitants in 2020, compared to over 8 million now) and Chittagong (doubling to 9-12 million by 2020) will be the megacity homes to one of every four Bangladeshis. Another one of four will live in urban areas that are already sizeable (Rajshahi and Khulna) and in towns that may now be sleepy rural centres but that are destined, because of their location on road and rail routes that are axes of development, to boom.(p10) Anyone who has seen the reality unfold in Dhaka City will know that keeping Dhaka livable with 15 million people is a sufficient challenge. Add to this another 10 million in Chittagong. Suppose the smaller cities grow to a million each and there are ten of them. If rural BD remains at 100 million, this leaves 35 million unaccounted for! The WB does not face this issue squarely after having set up the facts to make it painfully evident. Simply to claim that the answer "must" lie in urbanization and that this challenge can be met is not very hopeful. In the face of the above, what well-grounded reasons can an inquiring, thinking Bangladeshi have to be hopeful about the future? Man is an animal who lives for the future. Hence, he is also the only animal who has sorrow at the thought of "what might have been". The people of Bangladesh are quite ready to both sacrifice and to work. But some worthwhile end must be visible. It is not current poverty that hurts as much as the indefinite future. An ordinary Ukrainian woman expressed this very clearly in explaining the difference between Poland and Ukraine: "What I notice in Poland is not that the people are better off. Many dress like we do. I see that in their faces there is tranquility. They know where they are going. We do not. Whatever happens, we need tranquility," she said. (WASHINGTON POST, Oct 17,1998,A14) What then is to be done? One solution is to just continue as we are. "Somehow things will get done when the situation becomes sufficiently unbearable." Since we have refused to let foresight guide us in avoiding the unbearable, one corollary of this approach is that we will always be dealing with the unbearable. The WB is resolutely against such a policy. It definitely wants BD to strive for better things, but how? The WB itself has no concrete suggestions much beyond the Washington Consensus, i.e. "sound fundamentals" in Macroeconomics and Privatization. I consider this approach to be thoroughly inadequate. The hardest social problems involve coordinating the actions of people. If the Government is not to take a stand on this issue, then who is? Governments must help co-ordinate the activities of its citizens and enable the growth of self-governing civic bodies. It should also consider what sorts of tastes are being developed. If people take pleasure only in selfish activities then society will systematically become more self-centered. The example and exhortation of Government becomes a factor in guiding Economic Development. BD is a Rice Economy. All rice economies are crucially dependent on Water, a resource that is scarce, mobile and indispensable. Markets can fail to work well with such goods. Some Communal ethic is frequently necessary for practical and effective solutions. No one considers Taiwan to be other than a Private enterprise economy, yet Taiwan has one of the most successful communities based Water sharing schemes. The WB does not face the historical point that growth occurs in agglomerations - Consider the start of the most freelance style of entrepreneurship visible today, the Computer Industry. It has minimal set-up costs and finance is available. So why is it focused upon three places in the USA? Or look at the furniture industry in the USA? Or leather goods in Italy? Or automobiles in Germany? There is also a second point that may be relevant - growth is typically focused upon a few years, say a critical decade. This is true for countries as diverse as Japan and Italy. One concentrated effort then sets the stage for the future. The CT’s seem to be part of a solution, they are certainly not a solution by themselves, but I will welcome any alternatives. Just so long as the magnitude of the problem is properly raised. The exact numbers that follow are not as important as the orders of magnitude they indicate. I will be glad to receive any corrected figures. What is Mistaken About the Past Approach? First, there has been an absence of vision. What is the economic future of Bangladesh supposed to consist of? If we look at the largest schemes of Public expenditure, many of them consist of Water Projects. In reading many a report and talking to many an expert, it became clear that for almost fifty years the overriding concern has been to avoid famines. How can anything positive arise, except by accident, from a goal that is so overwhelmingly negative - avoiding disaster? For better for worse, we must try to visualize what BD will look like, may look like, in another 20 and another 50 years. The Water Resource projects are then justified only by the role they will play within this vision of the future. Why should BD grow all its own rice? Let BD make computers and buy what rice it needs from Arkansas. The dominant solutions proposed hitherto in BD are engineering solutions to the Water problem. I was led to the CT proposal after examining the Meghna-Dhanagoda project. Incidentally, this is an embankment that held during the recent floods, due to the heroic efforts of the BWDB, and the support of the people and the NGO’s. Uneconomic solutions even in financial terms and a poor one when we add the distraction to the human capital of BD. If BD is to prosper, safety has to be assured to people and security to investment. Why not plan to make the CT flood resistant and then stop pouring money on the embankments? The engineering solution proposed by the French Plan after 1988 was to spend 6 billion dollars. If we simply allowed the funds to be invested in a good Mutual Fund at, say, 15 per cent, the country would have an effortless growth of GDP of 2-3 per cent and have the 6 billion in its pocket as well! This would preserve the Wetlands and allow fish to flourish. It is a plan with no maintenance costs, unlike the embankments. BD is a deltaic plain. This is the fundamental fact we have to keep in mind as we plan. Secondly, research on BD has been undertaken in mammoth quantities. But it is overwhelmingly project based. However good the results of the individual project, when the project folds, perhaps because donors have other interests, the good work dies. There is no cumulative impact. It is high time a more integrated vision was emphasized at the expense of detailed expertise. It is as though someone came along and taught us to milk a cow more efficiently. End of project. Then someone saw that the extra milk could not be marketed, so a marketing project began. This did not solve the problem since no one had dealt with the pasteurizing and purity of the milk. By the time the third project becomes effective the original milk producers have become tired of having unsold milk on their hands and gone on to selling peanuts. For two very pertinent examples of research that has gone to waste, consider the Intergenerational fertility figures in BJPA, July 1990 and the Time study of Secretariat activities in BJPA January 1990. Hardly anyone I know reads this journal and it has currently stopped publication! Is A Reasonable Trial Feasible? This brings up the question of financing. The important point to bear in mind is that all the benefits proposed such as Education or Medicine are no innovations. These promises have already been made to the people. The expenditures upon them are due. The real question is - how can we effectively do what has already been promised? The exact numbers I provide below are not of primary significance, only the orders of magnitude are. If a four story building takes about $150,000 to build and a school/community center tales about $100,000,then a total of 200 houses in a CT will require a total of 20 million $. Once we add another 5 million for the accompanying infrastructure, each CT requires about $25million for its construction. Can we finance a reasonably large number of Pilot CT's? To refine the initial calculation, let us consider the savings in roads, electricity and marketing that will arise from the CT’s. One will not have the obligation to take electric lines into the interior at Govt cost, smaller village roads can be left in an unfinished state and preserve the environment and the countryside. We can approach these figures in a more desegregated manner for the case of roads and electricity. Suppose we did not extend electricity to villages or pave their roads but instead tried to use the money to make Compact Townships. Through the kindness of Mr. Kamaruzzaman and Mr. Colin Jack of USAID I find that the average kilometre of rural electric line costs about $11,000. Similarly, through Mr. Kashem of LGED (RRIMP2), I find that Rural Roads cost between 25-35 lakhs if fully paved, for brick soiling it is 17-22 lakhs and for WBM about 20-25 lakhs). Incidentally, although I went to them to get some facts, all of them were very supportive of the CT’s as soon as I explained the idea. The REB booklet of 1997 gives us very helpful data on work done and works yet to be done. From the data for work already done we can calculate the number of kilometers of electric line per village. This actually varies quite a bit, from 7km per village in Chittagong, to 1.8 km per village in Kurigram (probably questionable), with a mean around 3.5 km per village. The same database tells us the villages yet to be connected. By taking the product and adding over all PBS’s we see that about 178,390 kms of lines yet need to be laid. This is a total cost of about $1.962 billion, which is a potential saving. Consider the additional savings in not having to fully develop rural roads. If we assume the (minimal) additional cost of developing each rural road is Taka 10 lakhs per km, this works out at $20,000 per km. One has to make a guess about the relative lengths of electric lines and roads, but as lines go into houses while roads do not, we should probably reduce the length of electric lines previously calculated by 25% to give 133,800 kms of roads yet to be developed. If this money is saved by the development of the CT’s then we get an additional 133,800x 20,000=2.68 billions. So an aggregated analysis using only two, admittedly large, items gives us a potential savings of $4.5 billion ----to be used instead in developing CT’s, about 200 of them. The difference between the two patterns of expenditures is that the CT’s look directly to the future and hold out more hope than the current scheme. The situation with rural roads is particularly vexing. Bangladesh is a land-scarce country, a fact that scarcely needs repetition. Due to its topography, soils and floods road building costs in BD are among the highest in the world. One would think that BD would economise on rural roads. Yet BD has the highest density of rural roads in the world according to the BANGLADESH RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGY STUDY (World Bank, 1997)! What is this due to, if not our dispersed village homesteads? Now to the larger, long run picture. The WB sees a total expenditure of $325 billion over the next 25 years, or about $13 billion per year. This is a lot of money! How is it to be spent? Table 8.1 Investment Requirement to 2020 (in billion $)
Source : WB(p102) The WB sees BD as having to attract a good deal of FDI to finance this goal. The CT proposal is a distinct alternative. If we subtract an arbitrary estimate from the numbers above to finance the CT’s, since the WB plan is based on what I consider an unrealistic growth of urban areas, we "see" that about $5 billion can be set aside to achieve the goals of the CT’s. For 2000 CT’s till 2020 we need $50 billion. As those who move into the townships will be expected to pay for their benefits this is an expense but it may not be a cost as much of it will be recovered over time. The land can perhaps be acquired in exchange for the lands of those who are moving in. Regardless, the crude calculation suggests that I can be wrong by a factor of three and still have the CT’s as a viable proposition. On cannot pass by some ancillary benefits. The possibility of using local wealth to provide low-cost financing as an intermediary between Grameen Bank type loans and commercial banks. Or consider some possibilities in physical planning. The most reliable data I have now is that we have 68,000 villages in BD: 13,817,000 households in rural BD, with .07 acres of homestead per household. There are a total of 1,949,000 ponds. Suppose only 80% of the villagers agree to enter the CT’s. Just to get some orders of magnitude, what does this mean? 10,000,000 households freeing up about .05 acres each, they need .02 acres each in the CT’s, this will save 500,000 acres for fruits and vegetables. Similarly, we free up about 1,500,000 ponds for scientific fisheries. What large implications can this have for nutrition, micro-nutrients and the general health of the populace? These are orders of magnitude that surely require closer examination. How Will CT’s Help Economic Growth? First of all, they will at least provide for the 35-40 million who are ‘missing a home’ in the WB plan. To say more requires some preliminaries about the nature of Economic Growth. The major problem is said to be population control. From a policy viewpoint, this is a mistake. First, due to the age-structure of the population, the only way population growth will stop is if we legitimize killing people. Second, it is not at all clear that increased populations necessarily reduce food availability. The graph of population density against food availability is positively sloped over any reasonable length of time. Third, Malthusian fears probably do more harm in guiding policy than would a policy that simply ignored the population problem. Fourth, fertility is already declining very sharply in countries such as BD. There are reasons to believe that this is due more to women’s awareness and to social changes than to the variables posited by economists. Finally, of all the variables used to predict actual family size, the most effective by far is ‘desired family size’. Real change occurs when people change their minds. Economists have too narrow a focus when they try to make social change a corollary of economic change. Insofar as attitudes are mostly changed by social interaction, the CT’s will provide the maximal potential for reducing future population. Secondly, entrepreneurship is the driving force for growth in a Market Economy. Nothing stimulates this more than the perception of high profits. No Government should be in the business of promising profits but it can provide an enabling atmosphere. If we separate out the tasks into Sales, Marketing, Management and Production, we see that the bureaucratic obstacles to each are different. While Commerce can generally operate under known constraints, it is otherwise with Production. It is hoped that the self-government of the CT’s will serve to stimulate this last prerequisite. Indeed, tax collection and local expenditures will be under the direct control of each Township, several of whom can be stimulated into a friendly rivalry. If the central government focuses upon making the principal Roads fast and safe these CT’s will be able to provide nurturing places for the growth of subcontracting and rural based industries. China will serve as a useful model. Thirdly, Technology is the great force leading to continual productivity. However, the potential of the small CT’s is hard to appreciate because of some misconceptions about Technology. It is assumed that Technology is largely dependent upon Science, especially basic Science. However, according to such authorities as Solla Price, it is arguable that Science depended more upon Technology than vice versa. Historians of the Industrial revolution have noted that the famous names may have patented the machinery, but between 1/3 to ½ of all known productivity improvements have no author. Some nameless skilled mechanic made a minor adjustment, which was then improved upon by some other nameless mechanic. Cumulatively, these small improvements made an enormous difference. The reluctance to consider small, specialized and flexible production units is based upon the belief that only large-scale production can be efficient. However, the secret of Japanese JIT production lies in the ability to adapt the workplace to skilled, co-operative workers who take participatory pride in what they do. This pattern will also form a welcome contrast to the dead-end efforts of garment workers, even after a decade of RMG prosperity. In other words, the CT’s can reasonably be expected to provide a stimulating nursery for the most important inputs involved in economic growth---education, entrepreneurship, and technology. I have no special attachment to the CT if it is not viable. Let me repeat, what are the alternatives? How will 50 million people find work, housing and food over the next twenty years - not to mention the additional millions over the next fifty years? 17. Adopt a Bangladeshi Family Programby Syed I. Ahmed, Canadae-mail : iftikhar@accesscable.netMy interest to help start an "ADOPT A BANGLADESHI FAMILY PROGRAM" with the help of other Bangladeshis working abroad as well as a dedicated group of volunteers in Bangladesh. The objective of the program will be for each or a group of expatriate families to help change the lives of one or more families struggling for survival in Bangladesh - from hopelessness to self-sufficiency. Each expatriate could use their own ingenuity, ways and means to accomplish this for their adopted family. Financial help may or may not be involved. Sometimes all that may be needed is information or ideas. Where financial help is involved, for example to help an adopted family member learn a skill needed for employment or attend school or university which otherwise would be beyond their means, the volunteer group in Bangladesh could help ensure that 100% of the financial assistance is directed to achieving the goal for which the assistance is being provided. It takes just one hard working and dedicated member of a family to be successful to pull the rest of the family from despair to hope. The volunteer group in Bangladesh could help identify such families for adoption. A successful "ADOPT A BANGLADESI FAMILY PROGRAM" could help change the lives of hundreds of families each year. 18. Bribery and Crime Buster (BCB)by Shahidur Rahman, Ph.D., Singaporee-mail : ASRAHMAN@ntu.edu.sgBribery and Crime Buster (BCB) will be
organised by the National Action Board Centrally. BCB will have two wings. The
first one will be the Bribery and Crime On Line (BCOL) and the second one will
be Bribery and
There will be two types of representative members to reply and comment for the BCOL related crimes and briberies cases, questions and their justices. The first group of representative members will be from the Bangladesh Government and the second group from the members of NAB Advisory Council. For the first group NAB will centrally choose members from different Government Ministries or Organizations with the help and permission of Bangladesh Government. For the second group of members NAB will choose from its advisory wing according to their interest and expertise. BCOL representative members will be on rotation basis to reduce bias. The representative members will try their best to supply up-to-date information and related actions and justice. On the other hand BCOT will utilize the
advantages related with Mobile Telephone, Usual Telephone and Satellite Area
Code Connection facilities. For BCOT there will be specific Telephone numbers
say 7777777 Voluntary Cadre for National Development (VCND) members, Neighbor Hood Watch or any other reliable members of any corner of the country will supply the information for BCOL and BCOT. 19. National Action Board (NAB)by Shahidur Rahman, Ph.D., Singaporee-mail : ASRAHMAN@ntu.edu.sgNAB utilizes all talented ideas in a concrete form from the EB2000, NIT, different Political groups and other grass root levels and completely different than Planning Commission. NAB should have two wings. The first wing will be the administrative and coordinating wing and the second wingwill be the advisory wing. The administrative wing will coordinating Neutral Intelligence Tank (NIT), Voluntary Cadre for National Development (VCND), Bribery and Crime On Line (BCOL) and other prospective grass root level projects including those of EB2000. Methodology of the NAB's selecting development
related projects and its execution plans is by Scenario Simulation. This is to
expedite our National Development with minimum time, cost and efforts to get
maximum results. The members of the NAB advisory wing will be selected from the
Domestic and International Think Tanks (e.g. NIT). That is distinguish talents
of Bangladesh Government, Planning Commission, BIDS, Universities,
representatives from all political parties, former Bangladesh Presidents and
Prime Ministers, interested High Commissioners/Ambassadors, selected NGO's
representatives (e.g. EB2000),selected foreign countries experts (e.g. UNDP
experts). etc. 20. Science and Technology Transferby Abdul Qader, Ph.D., Australiae-mail : Abdul.Qader@ffp.csiro.auTechnology transfer covers almost all the sectors; for example, it may be in the computer sector, housing, small industries, innovative ideas, marketing sector etc. I am sure there are many Bangladeshi expatriate experts who are directly involved with practical projects that would be very lucrative if implemented in Bangladesh. Some technology/equipment, which are considered obsolete in western world, may find very useful use in Bangladesh. Your list of Project Ideas includes most, but not all of the technology transfer sectors. I am offering myself to be closely involved with this particular item, if needed. 21. Public Educationby Abdul Qader, Ph.D., Australiae-mail : Abdul.Qader@ffp.csiro.auThe other point I would like to mention is education. I know your list has the component, but not all-inclusive. Public education is one of the most important items to counter the conservatives that obstruct progressive development. 22. Public Health and Safetyby Sabir Majumder, Ph.D., USAe-mail : SMajumder@aplexinc.comI would like to request to add the Public Health and Safety (such as air and water pollution; arsenic crisis is probably the biggest of all) as an action item in the EB2000 agenda. 23. Environmental Problems by Mohammed Zillur Rahman, USA e-mail : mrahman@famvid.com Last few days, I read everybody's ideas and I found that we need to consider the environment of Bangladesh seriously that a few members talked about that. In Bangladesh, people are fighting to meet their primary needs (food and shelter) so the environment is neglected. But day by day the situation is getting worse. The air in Dhaka is now becoming toxic and it will be worse if we don't take necessary steps to control this pollution. Seventy million people of the country are affected by arsenic now. What will the future hold? When the situation becomes out of control then World Bank and other donor agencies come to play an important role. But if we use our resources wisely, we can live safely. Eight million people live in Dhaka yet there is no wastewater treatment plant or no landfill. How can we think that we of living in a developed country? We dump everything directly to Buriganaga River. Dissolved oxygen in the river oxidizes this dirt and aquatic life cannot survive in this condition. We are losing our fish as well as other resources from the river water. This should be considered an important issue for the country's safe future. If we can not breathe our air, if we can not drink our water, how we will save our people? Please come forward to discuss environmental issues of Bangladesh to protect life. 24. Human Rightsby Tariq Ashkari, Norwaye-mail : ashkari@online.noHuman right in the context of EB2000 should be defined in a broad sense. As a member of the United Nation, Bangladesh is bound to respect the universally agreed norms and protocols of human rights. The constitution of our country does also protect human rights judicially. This gives us a legal and ethical framework to include human rights as one of our areas of concern. I would like to make following recommendations identifying four aspects we should concentrate on. Fighting poverty aspect The effort to fight poverty or poverty elimination activities are one of the most fundamental aspect of human rights. The right to have honest and decent livelihood should be the very fabric of all policy formulations that aims to fight poverty. Freedom of speech aspect In the same way educational institutions should include human rights into their own curriculum. Thus enhancing the level of consciousness among the students. The situation prevailing at our universities does indicate the lack of tolerance for other people's opinions and ideas. Torture and degrading aspect The police or any other organizations should subject no citizens to physical or psychological torture or any other form of abuses. Being a human being is enough to have the right of human dignity. The police should be trained in modern investigations methods based on reasoning evidences and transparency. The special power act should be abolished as serious misuse of this law has been reported by different human rights organizations including Amnesty International. EB2000 representing 2000 well trained and top educated individuals can achieve a lot just by mentioning the problem and working as pressure group. Our voice does counts while being silent should not be morally acceptable. Environment aspect The right to breathe fresh air and to drink pure water can be ensured by policy adjustments. Even when the volume of traffic in Dhaka is lower then most other Asian big cities the pollution level is among the highest. Huge amount of foreign exchange are drained out of the country for treatment of pollution related diseases. The aim of health for everybody can be realized if the government ensures fresh air and pure water for our people. 25. Rural Children's Computer Educationby Tanvir Chowdhury, Bangladeshe-mail : gp@citechco.netADOPT AND INVEST IN TREES TO FUND RURAL CHILDREN'S COMPUTER EDUCATION IN SYLHET-BANGLADESH Your INVESTMENT ($US 15) would be used for –
YOUR $15 Certificate is redeemable for $150 in 20 years EB2000 & GLOBAL AMITECH invites world-wide synergy in bridging the knowledge gap in rural Bangladesh through this innovative environment stewardship and other long- term collaborative linkages with redeemable TREE EDUCATION ENDOWMENT FUND (TEEF) offered by LEARN FOUNDATION. We see this as a tremendous opportunity for expatriate Bangladeshis to be involved with a real community imbedded education and environmental action drive which can be replicated through your initiative or franchise in other parts of the country. The LEARN Foundation is a non profit charity trust engaged in networking rural schools in Sylhet in partnership and co-operation with DRIK Picture Library and Media Lab of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MISSION & OBJECTIVES THE PROJECT HOW TEEF WORKS - THE PROPOSAL HOW YOU CAN HELPMISSION The Foundation's mission is to enduringly strengthen the ability of rural children of Bangladesh to acquire the highest quality of knowledge, particularly technical & information technology based knowledge, in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner and to enable them to compete effectively in the knowledge driven world. OBJECTIVES
For more details visit LEARN FOUNDATIONTHE PROJECT called the DRIK LEARN INITIATIVE (DLI ) has presently about 1200 girls and boys spanning over 6 rural schools in Sylhet within DLI network where computer education is being imparted to the these children. The ACADEMIC STEERING COMMITTEE of the project has some of the world's top computer scientists from Media Lab of MIT amongst whom are Professor Alex Pentland, Head of Media Lab, Professor Seymour Pappert and Professor Justine Cassel both from Media Lab. Project details are available at the Foundation's Web site; http://www.bangladesh-web.com/learn HOW TEEF WORKS TEEF (TREE EDUCATION ENDOWMENT FUND) certificate is an innovative concept to provide sustainable funding for education for the underprivileged. The Foundation arranges long term contract on barren land suitable for forestry and planting trees. Each of these trees is audited and certified for world-wide adoption for $US 15, out of which $US 10 is spent on education and $US 5 is spent on tree maintenance and land lease over its life cycle of 20 years. The adopter gets a TEEF Certificate which can be redeemed after 20 years for $US 150 and online updates on the progress of the tree as well as communication links with the child it supports. From the fifth year onward the tree starts bearing fruit. The income from sale of produce from 35 trees is expected to cover the annual operating cost of educating a rural child. TEEF CERTIFICATE Your support is not taken as a charity. The TEEF certificate you will hold will be a financial product that you can use for other LEARN schemes that Global Amitech will announce shortly. THE PROPOSAL: HOW YOU CAN HELP The Foundation has planted 4000 Jackfruit trees in 1998 at site AXON in a Tea Estate under a long-term contract. Other varieties like hardwood and spice trees are planned for future planting on this and other sites. These trees are offered to you as long-term investment to support this program. The fund is used to buy computers, deliver education and Internet connectivity to school children and tree maintenance in greater Sylhet division. You will be partnering with hosts of other national and international stakeholders and contributing to education and the environment. Through adopting these trees about 3500 children will be receiving quality computer literacy, internet, email and networking connectivity over 20 years. The long-term value addition of trees will build up an equity reserve fund for venture capital for future professionals. The graduating students themselves will be trained to fully take up the demands of the rapidly increasing knowledge driven world. A CHILD'S LIFE COULD BE RE-DONE FOR US$ 15 BY ADOPTING ONE TREE 26. Technical & Vocational training programs for disadvantaged school studentsby Syed Arif Jamil, USAe-mail : Arif_Jamil@amat.comThis project can be initiated from the Village where the opportunities & hopes are so low. Idea is to promote "hands on" education/skills for disadvantaged students. Then go on to a much larger scale. 27. Law & Order watchdog groupby Syed Arif Jamil, USAe-mail : Arif_Jamil@amat.comSince there is no respect for law & order in Bangladesh, the idea here is to suggest forming an advocacy group for law-abiding citizens. I visited BANGLADESH recently and sadly observed total collapse of law & order situation. 28. Policy against discriminationby Syed Arif Jamil, USAe-mail : Arif_Jamil@amat.comVirtually there is no law against discrimination. People other than Bengali (Tribal population & other groups) can be discriminated and there is no law protecting them in mainland Bangladesh. 29. Non-profit Private Health Care Provider Systemby Maksudar Rahman, Ph.D., Canadae-mail : Maks_Rahman@hc-sc.gc.caHealth is the basic need for the people of a country to even make an effort to progress. Unfortunately there is hardly any basic public health provider in Bangladesh. Whatever facilities available in Bangladesh is either not adequate or beyond the reach of 9 out of 10 Bangladeshis (am I optimistic?). It is an area that needs urgent attention for Bangladesh to survive as a nation in the next century. This will address everything including basic public health, population control, arsenic problem as well as other medical problems like AIDS, Cancer, Cardio-vascular etc. Who will fund it? Well.... 30. Role of Civil Society for Meaningful Democracyby Maksudar Rahman, Ph.D., Canadae-mail : Maks_Rahman@hc-sc.gc.caThe basic notion of civil society is that people can and should prevent the state from becoming authoritarian by keeping watch on it while at the same time demand that it work properly for the general population. By definition civil society should also develop non-state activities. I like to propose I like to propose that we should create a ‘Bangladesh Center for Civil Society’. The vision for such a center should be: 'Public-private-partnership-driven sustainable development for Bangladesh for a better life in the twenty-first-century'. Three themes:
31. World-wide Movementby Mohammed Elahi, USAe-mail : mmelahi@yahoo.comWhat I wish you all could do is, before we go around and advise the folks back home with any policy issue, we could try to start a world-wide movement (to mimic the Jews cause) for Pakistan to first apologize and then distribute our fair share from 1971. It puzzles me that how every leader of our nation never bothered to address this issue and never demanded for a resolution. The world order should be aware of the one sided killing of three million people in the hands of Pakistani armed soldiers. We, as concerned Bangladeshis abroad, should take the lesson of our Jewish friends and start a campaign for Pakistan to come to the table. 32. Graduate Development Scholarship Programby Abdul M. Ismail, UKe-mail : abdul_m.ismail@virgin.netI wish to lobby the Bangladesh Government to
ensure that in all future budgets, an allocation of funds for multiple awards be
set aside to educate students to MA/MSc level. Such funds should come from
sources such as the Government itself, Foreign Donors and possible donations
from wealthy individuals in Bangladesh who managed, in their own 'special' way,
to climb out of the poverty trap.
In return for the Government’s hospitality in financially assisting the
graduate student to read to a higher level of education, after finding
employment, that individual should contribute a percentage of future Scholarship Program.
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