Rural Development of Bangladesh

Rural Development of Bangladesh

More than 50% of the country’s GDP comes from the rural sector. Development of this sector is thus crucial for national development.

Social Welfare 

Since poverty alleviation is a major goal of the Government, thrust is being given on socio-economic development of the underprivileged groups. The main emphasis here is on adoption of integrated and comprehensive approach taking the family as the basic unit for social services programs with emphasis on family and group development rather that individual development.
The government has been implementing the following programs in the Social Welfare sector:

(a)    Urban and rural community development program.

(b)   Development services for the physically and the mentally disabled.

(c)    Development services for children.

(d)   Welfare services for the juvenile and the distressed women.

(e)    Welfare services for the aged and the infirm.

(f)    Rehabilitation program for the addicts.

Labor and Employment 

The present government has undertaken various measures to expand the opportunities for domestic and overseas employment. Remittances from Bangladeshis working abroad have marked a steep rise during the nineties due to a massive outflow of workers from Bangladesh. As an export item, manpower exports currently occupy the second position with an annual inflow of over 1 billion U.S. Dollars. The Middle Eastern countries along with Malaysia, South Korea and Japan are the principal destination for Bangladeshi workers.

The Labor Policy of the present Government embodies creation of an environment conducive to improved Labor-Management relations in order to provide higher wages through higher productivity, Tipcarts. productivity, provision of incentives, Labor welfare. Employment generation, earnings according to work, and a healthy growth of trade Unionism have been emphasized for ensuring basic needs of all and a balanced economic growth.

Women and Children Affairs 

The government is trying hard to integrate the womenfolk of the country into the mainstream of the development process, which is one of the main strategies for overall 50cm-economic development. Poverty, malnutrition, hunger, illiteracy, etc. are largely concentrated around womenfolk, and as such women can act as uniquely suitable agents for elimination of these socio-economic maladies. Attainment of reasonable growth rate, alleviation of poverty through generation of production employment opportunities and development efforts. The government reconstituted the National Women’s Development.

Youth Development

The youths are potentially the most productive force in Bangladesh. They constitute 36% of the total civilian labor force. Recognizing the fact that a disciplined and, organized, trained and educated youth community can make significant contribution to the development process, the government has taken up various programs for their socio- economic uplift.

Educationof Bangladesh

Highest allocations for education in the national budgets during the nineties show that the government has attached topmost priority to human resource development though education. The goal of ‘Education for All’ is being vigorously pursued in the country. The education system is divided into 4 levels– Primary (from grades 1 to 5), Secondary (from grades 6 to 10), Higher Secondary (from grades 11 to 12) and tertiary. Alongside national educating system, English medium education is also provided by some private enterprises. They offer ‘A’ level and ‘O’ level courses. There is also Madrasa system which emphasizes on Arabic medium Islam-based education. This system is supervised by the lone Madrasa Board of the country.
There are 11 government universities and approximately 20 private universities in Bangladesh. Specialized universities are Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Bangladesh Agricultural University and BangabandhuShaikhMujib Medical University.. The number of government and non-government medical colleges stand at 1 3 and 5 respectively. There are 4 engineering colleges, 2845 colleges, institutes, 12553 secondary schools, and 78595 primary schools.

Bangladesh: Housing and Public Works

The Ministry of Housing and Public works is entrusted with the task of carrying out public sector construction activities and looking after urbanization, city development housing settlement aspects throughout the country.

Housing is an important growth sector having backward and forward linkages. Because of ever-increasing demand, the sector the tremendous potentials. A large number of property developers are already active in the private sector.

The state-owned House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC) has been made fully operational for ensuring adequate credit flow to this sector on easy terms. A National Housing policy has been adopted which calls for providing shelter to the poor, the homeless and the needy.

Bangladesh Transport Sector

An efficient transportation system is essential to facilitate economic growth in Bangladesh. The country’s economy needs to grow at a sustained 7 percent per year to achieve the first goal of the MDGs: that of halving the proportion of people living under a dollar a day by 2015. To achieve this growth, the transport sector will need to reduce costs and allocate resources among different modes of transport in a more balanced manner.

Roads.

Roads carry over 80 percent of national passenger traffic, providing the backbone of the transport sector in this country of 140 million people.

Railways.

Bangladesh Railways, primarily a passenger railway, handles approximately 10 percent of the national passenger and freight traffic. It carries its maximum number of passengers between Chittagong and Dhaka, the nation’s most important transport corridor.

Inland waterways.

With some 700 rivers and tributaries crisscrossing the country, Bangladesh has one of the largest inland waterway networks in the world. Inland ports handle about 40 percent of the nation’s foreign trade. The network, which shrinks during the dry season, connects almost all the country’s major cities, towns, and commercial centers. Moreover, being cheap, safe, and environment friendly, inland water transportation is often the only mode that serves the poor, proving especially useful during periods of widespread flooding.

Challenges

• Improvements in the ports, railways and inland container depots in an integrated manner are important so that the Dhaka-Chittagong corridor (the main trade route in Bangladesh) can effectively handle exports and imports. Indicative container handling charges suggest that Chittagong Port (USD200/TEU including unofficial and ancillary costs) is more expensive than other ports in the region.
• To meet the demand of passenger and freight transport, increase in the operational efficiency and safety of Inland Water Transport (IWT) is necessary. IWT currently carries more passengers (13% of total) and freight (25%) than the railways.
• Development of major infrastructure such as the Dhaka Eastern Bypass and the Padma Bridge is important to improve the connectivity and land use of the country. The Eastern Bypass would be a significant investment, comprising transport, flood control, and urban development of Dhaka, which is growing at more than 6 percent per year. The Padma Bridge would connect the currently isolated southwest and the eastern zones of the country.

• Although the road network has been substantially expanded and improved, lack of adequate resource allocation for maintenance threatens its sustainability. Secondly, statistics reveal that the fatality rate is more than 100 deaths per 10,000 registered motor vehicles each year. This is a major area of concern and needs to be addressed. To learn more about road safety in Bangladesh click here .
• Substantial scope exists for introducing private sector management and financing in Bangladesh’s transport sector. Currently, many parstataltransport organizations such as the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority are loss making enterprises.

 Key Government Strategies

The Government of Bangladesh (GOB), in its Fifth Five Year Plan (1997-2002), states that “an adequate and efficient transport system is a prerequisite for initiating and sustaining economic development”. It also recognizes this fact in other transport policy documents as well as the country’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).

In 2004, the GOB approved a National Land Transport Policy to improve the policy and institutional environment for roads and railways in the country. In 2000, a National Shipping Policy was approved to introduce reform and private sector participation in ports and inland waterways. In 2003, a draft Railway Corporate Authority Act was developed to corporatize Bangladesh Railways.

Building the capabilities of women

The HDI measures average achievements in a country, but it does not incorporate the degree of gender imbalance in these achievements. The gender-related development index (GDI), introduced in Human Development Report 1995, measures achievements in the same dimensions using the same indicators as the HDI but captures inequalities in achievement between women and men. It is simply the HDI adjusted downward for gender inequality. The greater the gender disparity in basic human development, the lower is a country’s GDI relative to its HDI.

Bangladesh’s GDI value, 0.539 should be compared to its HDI value of 0.547. Its GDI value is 98.5% of its HDI value. Out of the 156 countries with both HDI and GDI values, 107 countries have a better ratio than Bangladesh’s.

The Great War of Liberation and the Emergence of an Independent Bangladesh:

The military junta of Yahya Khan started a dialogue with the leader of the majority party, Bangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman. But it was actually an attempt to hoodwink the Bangalees-the junta was taking time t make  their military preparations complete for a fnal crackdown. They smuggled in arms and ammunition from West  Pakistan and a large number of army personne, too. On March 25, at midnight, they led a sudden attack on the  unarmedBangalees in Dhaka and other places. Thus began the so-called ‘Operation Searchlight’, the most  heinous and barbarous genocide in the history of mankind. A little after the midnight in the early hours of  March 26, 1971, Bangabandhudelcared the independence of Bangladesh. He sent a message containing the  declaration of independence to his party leaders in Dhaka and Chittagong over the wireless of the then East  Pakistan Rifles.

“The Pakistani Army has launched a sudden attack on the EPR Headquarters at Pilkhana and the Police Line at  Rajarbagh and they have killd many people in the city. Street fights are going on in Dhaka and Chittagong.  Our freedom fighters are viliantly fighting for liberating their motherland from the enemies. In the name of  Almighty Allah, this is my appeal andorder to you-seek the assistance from the Police, the EPR, the Bengal  Regiment and the Ansars to liberate the country. No compromise; the victory must be ours. Expel the last  enemy from our sacred motherland. Reach this message to all Awami League leaders and workers and all other  patriotic and freedom loving people. May Allah bless you.You Bangla.”

Conclusion 

The fate of Bangladesh and the Bangalee nation has been enextricablyinterwined with this party. It has always upheld and fought for the democratic ideals and stood by the side of the toiling masses.

Our great leader, Bongobondhu Sheikh MujiburRahman did his politics all for the betterment of the lot of the poor masses of this country.

After his sad death, the mantle has fallen on his daughter, Sheikh Hasina, who is carrying on the same fight as her father.