How many DP readers have tried to walk into Sheraton/Sonargaon* fresh off a ricksha, wearing a plain lungi and a white cotton t-shirt (unless it’s for a performance)? Probably none. How many of us have gone to work in Dhaka that way? Probably the same number. How many of us have seen such a thing? I await the comments with much interest, and anticipate a few stories of 5-star hotel guards swearing at ricksha-pullers and beggars!
I apologise for raising these disturbing (and tasteless to some, I’m sure) questions because nothing highlights the differences between the formal and informal sectors of the economy more than the respective dress codes: trousers and whatever for the former, lungis and whatever for the latter. Why, even Dr. Yunus with all his Grameen checked clothing does not dare to wear a lungi for fear of offending some unspoken agreement made long ago on the fields of Polashi…. but I digress.
Asif Bhai’s post below raises concern that the self-proclaimed “bhodrolokes” are disconnected from the little people below. This does not necessarily mean – as is often repeated with much emotional bluster by critics of all governments – that they don’t know what it’s like to live among the “ordinary” people with ordinary incomes. They probably do: few in their generation were born with silver spoons in their mouth. Some probably even know poverty better than some of their critics do.
Read more…
AsifY, August 31st 2007 |
Posted in Economy, Society, Urban Poverty
As the CTG govt suffers in identity crisis, in stead of getting caught up in the label, if we look at the component in the government, something interesting will appear. A few months ago, we discussed this in the blog which resulted in an op-ed in Daily Star. One of the telling lines of the article was this:
Elitist politics of the top-down variety not only leads to bad governments, but more importantly, it could lead to populist backlashes that produce equally bad — if not worse — governments, since succeeding regimes have popular mandates but few institutions where the information flows from the bottom to the top. That is, we feel, a good description of the kind of governments we had for the last 16 years.
At the thread, Mahmud Farooque exploring the elite of the elites who are calling the shots had this to say:
…my frustration with the elite of the elites is that I have found them to be mostly followers and not leaders. Their education and training allows them to manage well only under steady state conditions. They generally come up with brilliant analysis only after the fact when anomalies, good and bad, occur. They are generally risk averse but power hungry. A Korean analyst once told me that had their leaders listened to the WB-types, they would still be counting on planting rice to grow out of poverty. In our case, contrast the performance of our garments sector, where WB had limited role, with the jute, energy or the IT sector, where it had been a major driver.
… taking my past frustrations into account, I try but cannot gather sufficient confidence in the abilities of the current group of “managers” to separate them from my generalized observations and believe that they will be able to master the creativity, imagination, and entrepreneurship necessary to dig us out of the hole we find ourselves in at the moment. In addition to the political crisis, we have a looming power and inflation crisis at hand that continues to inflict heavy toll on the most economically and socially vulnerable, about which the CTG still hasn’t been able to come up with an effective response.
Read more…
Asif, August 30th 2007 |
Posted in Politics, civil society
Man proposes….
Our present government is a national government, army-backed government. That means it is a collective government,” adviser Barrister Mainul Hossain (BaMo) said at a briefing after a meeting with the heads of news of different private television channels.
God disposes…
“I don’t think so. Government is here and it’s a caretaker government,” General Moeen said when reporters sought his comment on the law adviser’s remarks to chiefs of news sections of the electronic media on Monday.
General Moeen further said: “Army is always with the government like police and civil administration. It can’t remain isolated from any government. It will remain with the government as it had been in the past.”
tiktiki, August 29th 2007 |
Posted in slapstick
“Bangladesh now has one of the fastest rates of poverty reduction in South Asia,” said Xian Zhu, country director of the World Bank.
In his speech, Zhu explained that 57 percent of the country’s population was living below the poverty line in 1991 and the rate of poverty came down to 49 percent in the year 2000.
Over the period of 2000 to 2005, the rate further declined and settled down to 40 percent as around 6 million people were helped out of poverty, he added.
However, some economists disagreed with the findings in the report, stating that the report only considered economic growth to claim reduction of poverty, but the issue of increasing social discrimination during the same period should also be considered.
Full Report.
All the economists out there, what’s your take on this report?
admin, August 29th 2007 |
Posted in Progress
Lot of theories and counter-theories are flying by regarding the last week’s incidents. We have some news stories that have been shared by the commenters in the blog which points to a conspiracy by the students and teachers led by political parties. While there may certainly be meat to the allegation of conspiracy, we, however, have not seen any news report that did its own investigation and presented evidence to support the theories. Rather, we detect a trend of having a trial by media of the accused people. None of these reporters actually care to interview both the sides in the incident and do their own investigation and in stead quote unnamed sources and allegations without any references or evidence. Also some reports tend to quote goyenda (investigator) sources which are itself a party at the incident. Alarmingly several newspapers are publishing news stories which are exactly identical in nature. At this time of news censorship in Bangladesh, we understand the difficulty in publishing objective news. Without discounting the conspiracy theories put forward by these various reports, we hope we get a balanced picture and a thorough investigative report done by their own reporter by credible print media and at the same time we hope due process is followed in treating the accused. We await an objective report by the enquiry commission of what happened. In the mean time, foreign news reporters are covering this issue. One such report today came out in BBC which interviews all the sides and presents a good overview on the outcry that followed the publication of the much talked about picture.
admin, August 28th 2007 |
Posted in Censorship, Foreign Media, Media, Politics
After years of their services what good organizations like IMF and World Bank have done for Bangladesh? Venezuella recently asked the same question and found out that the answer was “not much”. Hence they were asked to pack up and leave their country.
Farid Bakht makes a strong case to say goodbye to these organizations from Bangladesh.
The rich countries do not take their advice. They certainly do not follow their guidelines when it comes to managing their own economies. The US and UK can run up huge trade deficits but ignore the tenets of orthodox Fund thinking. Yet, when it comes to the Third World, they come down hard on any wavering government. The Aid Consortium works in unison with the Bank and the Fund. It does not help that most of the poor governments are weak, lacking in principle, and happy to play ball in return for Western support.
Read more…
Asif, August 28th 2007 |
Posted in Bangladesh
Subject: To the honored colleagues and loved students of my father Dr. M. Anwar Hossain who was recently arrested
Dear Sirs, Madams and Students of my father,
My name is is Sanjeeb Hossain. I am writing on behalf of my father Dr. M. Anwar Hossain who has been recently arrested at 12.20 am on August 24, 2007. I am aware that you had known him in different capacities. He is in urgent need of your help now.
The following account is a description of what happened when my father Dr. Anwar Hossain was taken away by the Military Intelligence of the Bangladesh Army:
Read more…
Asif, August 27th 2007 |
Posted in Human Rights
Dear UV readers and commenters,
The last few days have been trying for all of us. As we try to come to grips with what has happened, and as we begin to discuss where to from now, we should take some time to reflect on what we ourselves write in these pages.
Read more…
admin, August 26th 2007 |
Posted in admin
This was sent by “Jodi Kichu Mone na Koren”.
Prospect: Intel Corporation in Bangladesh – What can we learn from Vietnam?
By Abu Abdullah
Intel Corporation’s chairman Craig Barrett will visit Bangladesh during first week of September 2007. This could be viewed as an opportunity to develop partnership that brings a win-win platform. Craig made similar visit to Vietnam in 2002 which triggered the staggering investment afterward.
Intel Corporation entered the Vietnam market in 1997. Initial engagement was a sales office staffed by few employees and few thousand USD. Now in Vietnam Intel has Assembly and Test facility which will employ 4000 employee by 2009. Feb. 28, 2006 – Intel Corporation announced it will invest $300 million (US) to build a semiconductor assembly and test facility in Ho Chi Minh City. However, Nov. 10, 2006 – Intel Corporation raise its investment from the USD$300 million to USD$1 billion. The investment growth is phenomenon.
Read more…
admin, August 26th 2007 |
Posted in Progress
Shahidul Alam’s take on the whole week deserves a special entry.
Take a look.
admin, August 25th 2007 |
Posted in News and events
