[ I took this picture last month]
Dear Friends ( Especially those who are old enough to remember 1986) let’s try to go back twenty years ago and project the following things for Bangladesh to have in twenty years,
- GDP growth rate will be > 6 % for years in a row.
- Bangladesh Cricket team will be trying to reach the semifinals of world cup cricket.
- Nearly 50% of adult population in
Bangladesh will carry a mobile phone device and will actively SMS each other from all the remotest villages in Bangladesh. - The majority of urban middle class will have a family motor vehicle.
- A majority of Bangladeshi youngsters will have access to a PC and internet.
- Nearly a dozen private TV and radio channels, all beaming 24 hour of quality news and entertainment.
Bangladesh will be one of the countries with highest number of vernacular newspapers published online. Bangladeshi’s all over the world will be hooked to 24 hours of live programming and online newspapers from Bangladesh. - Bangladeshis will be one of the fastest growing immigrant communities in North America and
Europe. You’ll hardly be able to walk a New York or Toronto Street without bumping into a Bangladeshi. - Military will force a change in government only to give the key to the throne to a group of accomplished academician, technocrats and help them better govern the country.
- I’ll be what I am now.
Whatever incredible and “too optimistic” they sounded in 1985, all these are very much reality of Bangladesh at the beginning of 2006 or 2007.
Recently in a post regarding top ten events that happened to Bangladesh, I predicted top ten future events that will happen to Bangladesh. Let me rewrite them,
- 2008: Election of 2008: After 20 years of effective one party rule and 15 years of two party rule, a third party led by Nobel laureate Dr Yunus wins the majority seats in the parliamentary election. Two previous ruling parties win second and third highest seats, a all party coalition / national government is formed.
- 2011:
Bangladesh wins the 2011 cricket world cup. - 2012: As a result of 5 years of stunning economic growth
Bangladesh touches double digit GDP growth and crosses China to record the highest GDP growth in the world. - 2013: In the second general election since 1/11/07; for the first time in history, all the winning members have highest university degree while 40% of them are ex-NRBs having overseas education. Yunus’ party consolidates its majority in parliament.
- 2017: the first generation graduates from high school who has been taught to respect both Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib and Late Ziaur Rahman as national leaders.
- 2017: Tareq Zia after being released from jail after 10 years of imprisonment apologizes to the nation for his misdeeds.
- 2018: Biman Bangladesh Airlines crosses Emirates and Singapore Air to become the largest Asian operator.
- 2020: With the opening of Uttara -Purbachol line, the work of massive state of the art greater
Dhaka subway (Underground Railway) system completes. - 2021: Through underground cable system
Bangladesh start exporting electricity to power starved China. - 2027: Second Nobel Prize comes for
Bangladesh. This time it is BRAC and Fazle Hasan Abed. They win Nobel Prize in medicine for their revolutionary contribution to an effective healthcare delivery in Bangladesh which became a model for the rest of the world.
All who responded, dismissed me as too optimistic. I had difficuly understanding why optimism will be crime rather than a method. On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade. He was dismissed as being too optimistic. When young Neheru expressed his vision of ensuring India’s nutrition by ensuring subsidized cheap milk and egg for the whole nation, he was ridiculed. Till to date milk and egg are the cheapest and most afordable food product in
On the the 36th birthday of our country, I urge all to be optimistic and shrug away the pessimism about
A very inspirational post Rumi bhai. Feeling extremely optimistic today, it’s probably a cumulative effect of Bangladesh’s entry to super Eight, and the overwhelming feelings of nationalism on the eve of Chhabbishe March. There are some awesome programs being shown on TV. Very effective resources for the next generation NRBs.
Bangladesh ke Jonmodin er Shubhechha! Your birth was extremely painful, but look how far you’ve come. I totally believe the milestones are quite achievable within the next twenty, may be even sooner.
Thinking “Shobuj-ar-Lal” today. I’ll have a little flag posted on the door at work tomorrow.
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Rumi,
Thank you for the post. I share your optimism. I believe that every generation will take us further ahead and nothing is impossible. We have good times ahead as a nation.
Chhabbishe March er shuvechha shabaike.
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I would like to echo with Rumi. We need to be optimistic and learn to dream as big as possible. Once I read a quotation of JFK but I can’t rememer that word for word. So I like to paraphrase here as JFK said, ” People see something amazing and wonder how is like that! but I dream about something that were never before; and resolve why there won’t be anything like that?
Inspired by the great man like JFK I have 10 dreams for Bangladesh and globe; what I have previously posted in the thread ” Top 10 events” and also love to post in the current thread.
My 10 wishes:
1. By next 5-10 years there will be a
big mosoleum which will symbolize our great leaders, like Sheik Mujib, Ziaur Rahman, AK Fazlul Haque, Suhrawardy, Maolana Bhasani, Tajuddin Ahmed, Ataul Ghani Osmani and so on, despite their shortcomings and people will pay homage to them by visiting the Mosoleum of national unity, not going individually to the graveyards of individual leaders. And people will no more engage in the politics of division and destruction in the name of late leaders.
2. By 2020, the SARC will be a dynamic organization and be transformed to USAC=Union of South Asian Countries. And that will be exactly or better than Europian Union. The 1/4th of the total population [about 150 crores] of the
world will get real freedom. The people will liberate themselves from the bondage of too much nationalistic spirit/pride which is, to my view, nothing but chauvanism, the source of major evils on earth; and which is surely antihuman. The minority issues, Hindu minority in Bangladesh and Muslim minority in India etc will be the subject of museum for ever. And we will have no scope of cursing each other as the Dalal of Pakistan or India. The people of Bangladesh, and other smaller countries of this region won’t be the victim of testing ground of nuclear weapons of Pakistan and India in the potential India-Pakistan war.
3. By 2020 if not possible to send poverty in museum as envisaged by DMY, hopefully, we will not be look-downed as one of the poorest countries of the world.
4. Bangladesh will by 2020 will occupy a prestigious position in transparency scaling not in 3 digit number; our positon will step up to the poisition of two digit number as the top 50 trasparent countries.
5. DMY and other political & social scientists of Bangladesh will be able to innovate a new political system which I call SUPER-SAS/C [super state administrative system/craft] which will replace old-decaying democracy of the west and hopefully we can franchize our innovation to the the whole plant; and for which we can get another Noble Peace Prize.
6. By 2030, literacy rate of Bangladeshis will be 93% for men and women.
7. By 2030 life-span of Bangladeshis will rise up to 75 years.
8. By 2040 NRBs will be able to play a formidable role in the global society.
9. By 2050 following our example of USAC MODEL all the continental countries will have thier own union like African Union, Latin America Union, Meddle-Easten Union etc.
10. And by 2100-2200 the world will be one country, a paradise on planet; and the Dhaka will be the capital of world Nation like Bengali is the symbol international languge heritage. Per contra to our deep-depression as hailing from hellish Bangladesh, our progeny will be take pride in us and as the residents of world capital, THE DHAKA.
Thanks.
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What a pleasure it was to hear tributes to both Bongobondhu and President Zia during the Chhabbishe March parade…(watching it live…).
No obscenely big posters of any of the Zia’s and obvious exclusion of pictures of any of the Sheikhs (as was last year!).
Iajuddin should have been impeached instead of having the previlege of standing there and receiving all the salutes. Oh well…it’s a happy day…we’ll excuse the old senile…
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I have always taken the positive sides and positive thinking as far as the outlook is concerned for Bangladesh though there were many times when I was taken aback by far too many negatives yet I hold my optimism high above. Though many wrote off Bangladesh and her future, I continue to believe that we have hope for greater things and I am glad that I am not alone.
Remembering those that secured a piece on earth that we so dearly call Bangladesh on this 26th of March.
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Thanks Rumi Bhai, we have achieved a lot in the last 37 years and hopefully all your dreams may come true, no matter however optimistic that sounds right now.
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Rumi bhai,
Nice, posting and also pretty broad minded outlooked to looked, as being portrayed again and again as Bangladeshi for ourselves in your posting.It gives us a broader and a internationally global looks to us.I as a Bangladeshi borned and raised kid respect and honour your past and future prediction and mine and would also work on the field of Bangladesh to make them happen in reality not in fiction, with my sincere honesty,hard work and passionate dedication for my mother land.
I am a designer and visioner of my vision for Bangladesh for 2021, with the consent of some of my many members, patrons and patriots of Bangladesh from “ChangeBangladesh” and would like to share with the higly respected readers and bloggers of Bangladesh and Bangladeshi diaspora. Below is our vision described in words by words.Please give us your support, ideas and help in any ways, you can. We listen with our eyes and heart opened like a sea and respect and honour constructive criticism and suggestion by any body despite age,sex,religion and their political beliefs.
Organization
Founded on March 7th 2006, Change Bangladesh (CBd) is a grassroots, participatory planning organization supporting able leadership in the top echelons of the political process in Bangladesh. We work for sustainable development of our motherland in a non-partisan format. Our policy of dead center activism is non-negotiable. We are a non-partisan organization of Bangladeshi expatriates and citizens. CBd wants to make a difference in Bangladesh by bringing effective leadership in the parliament and accountable, strict governance in the decision making policies of the country. Expatriates of Bangladeshi heritage can help catalyze social change in their mother country with one vision: a prosperous and affluent Bangladesh where all its entire citizens can live in peace and prosperity with their democratic rights guaranteed under the Constitution and beyond- food, shelter, education and jobs protected.
Vision
CBd Bangladesh 2021,on our golden jubilee we envision Education, Health, Gender equality, Technological advancement, Sustainable Economic development, Peace and prosperity along with Political stability in a true democracy amidst communal harmony that will benefit all Bangladeshi citizens. Our strategic vision for the future of CBd culminates in a progressive activist organization; entrepreneurial in solving problems, globally linked and uncompromising for Bangladeshi national interest.
Mission
To be a force to aid the People of Bangladesh in becoming aware of their rights and to intelligently participate in the democratic governance of Bangladesh for its emancipation as a whole nation for functional democracy and economic sustainability.
Press
http://www.voanews.com/bangla/2006-07-30-voa4.cfm
http://www.changeBangladesh.com
505 Nan Circle
Little rock,Arkansas 72211
U.S.A
info@changeBangladesh.com
Dis: Dear DP admin and readers, I am not trying to publicize and market my organization here because I don’t sale products or commodities,what I share and discuss is ideas and vision for better Bangladesh.Come help us help Bangladesh.
Together we can.
thanks to all the readers and heartiest and sincere honour to the martyrs of the liberation war in this hounourable day of 26th March 1971.We salute you.
http://www.changebangladesh.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=41&Itemid=2
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Thanks Rumi bhai for this uplifting post.
On a similar thread, can any one one please scan and send us the poem by Nirmalendu Goon that came out on prothom alo shadhinata dibosh shonkha today?
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“Hope is like a road in the country; there wasn’t ever a road, but when many of us walk the same ground, the road comes into existence.”
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Rumi, I find these predictions pessimistic rather than optimistic. You have no thoughts on poverty eradication, improved literacy or health (except that it helps Fazle Abed win a Nobel Prize)?
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for the future
That the character of the deshi cricket team is reknowned as prodigious, incorruptible and grounded in reality. And the international cricketing fraternity starts learning techniques from them.
That the character of elites in business and thought will be honest, diligent and indigenously grounded. No more playschool demonology and bitterness.
That the society will host a respected and world class culture of religiously consious education and research. Other streams will be healthy too.
That society will evolve from its present patriachial nature , to something better, genuinely and organically without losing old values worth keeping.
That the Flag gets a bit of yellow added to it.
Won’t Fazle Abed be 100 years old by 2027?
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What will the yellow in the flag symbolise?
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Hello All,
Great to see such inspiring wishes for Bangladesh. But, not to dampen the optimism portrayed, we should still keep in mind a few (maybe technical) points about the wishes made so far:
Rumi Bhai,
1. Along with development ideas, is the issue of sustainability. We’re all aware of the amount of pressure we the people put on the nature and land of Bangladesh. In such a situation, although it is great to wish that the majority of the urban middle class have the CAPACITY to AFFORD a motor vehicle, due to environmental and congestion reasons, it is probably more prudent to wish that the cities and private companies provide PUBLIC TRANSPORT so that people don’t NEED to spew out toxic death from innumerable motor vehicles to keep the streets of cities in a perpetual traffic jam.
2. Similarly, although the Subway idea is grand, the bounty of bangladesh also means that silt land is a bit too soft to ever sustain a subway.
Bitterboy,
3. A SAARC union is a great thing to dream of politically. But, the economics of unions imply that a lot of monetary and fiscal policy becomes centralized and the autonomy of monetary policy for the countries involved are severly curtailed. This is feasible only when the countries have a very very very strong trade relationship between them and their economies are similar in structure so that a global shock (for example oil-price shock) hits all the countries in a similar fashion and hence the optimal policy response for all the countries are similar. Currently, SAARC countries need to go a very long way to have inter country trade big enough to warrant something like a common currency etc. Still then, the basic structures of the economies may always be different enough (and that is not necessarily a bad thing – it just means one country produces something that the other country doesn’t) so that a union would never be worth the costs.
But, on a political level, more openness and more trade (in both goods and people) is definitely a good thing.
Along with the issues of national identity, issues of ethnic or cultural identity is also important. So far, West Bengal and Bangladesh have played almost a complimentary role in the development of arts and litterature. The biggest names of contemporary litterature still are Koklata based, as is the huge repertoire of classical are classic (Tagore, Nazrul, Adhunic) music. On the other hand, Bangladesh has definitely produced more folk and modern (and nowadays, post-modern) music (including bands and successful experiments such as Shahana, Arnob, Habib, Bangla, etc.)
So, I would like to also add that in the future, the ‘Bangali’ identity would be more strenghtened, and we would all have a strong sense of our history and folk art and litterature and develop our cultural self-identity strong enough to meet the challenges of a globalized and urbanized reality.
Cheers,
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A very positive write-up indeed. Some of these predictions will certainly come true. While, I sincerely believe that some will come true, possibly before the stipulated date even – like the one related to the second nobel prize, there are a few, which probably have very little chance.
# 7, regarding Biman, I would rather cut losses and let go of BB. I do not see any chance of it becoming a major airline in the foreseeable future.
# 9, again some wishful thinking. With a burgeoning population and growing middle class, if we can generate enough power to simply meet all our domestic needs that in itself will be a great accomplishment. Remember, even the US has power shortages. The California power crisis of a few years ago is probably fresh in many minds.
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I would like to add:
1. Gender friendly public facilites.
2. Standard (run by people trained in early childhood education) child care facilites for working mothers
3. Public transports and buildings accessible for peple w/ disabilities
4. An emergency response system for any medical emergency.
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Rumi:
A very nice post indeed. Loved your dream and it is heartening to see so many sharing the concept of dream.
I congratulate you and many others who share the dream that some day we all will learn to respect all our national leaders.
Let us stand behind the good deeds of CG taken so far. Let us applaud them.
Thanks
LTT
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