Getting down to action
BEFORE pointing out the faults of a new government it would be just to consider its initial problems. The new mahajote government has accepted the challenge thrown by the new generation of voters for a change. The world is passing through a severe economic depression. According to some of our eminent economists, Bangladesh may not be badly affected due to mainly two reasons.
Firstly, Bangladesh is an exporter of low-priced readymade garments, and secondly, Bangladesh is an exporter of low-skilled manual workers whose demand may not be affected seriously despite shrinkage of the international labour market. In fact, demand for low-skilled Bangladesh workers is increasing.
Prices of essentials like rice, flour, edible oil and petroleum are falling. That's good for our people, industries and agriculture. However, benefiting from this situation will depend much on the managerial capacity of the new government.
Fighting against the so-called syndicates may not be easy. The decision to reactivate the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is, however, a good one. In case of production of agricultural commodities, reducing the prices of fertiliser (through subsidy), diesel and kerosene will have a favourable impact.
The agriculture ministry needs to strengthen the statistical base of its data. The weakness of the database was exposed in the recent bumper production of potato.
Controlling the law and order situation is a must for a democratic government. Without law and order our current rate of investment will not improve and as such employment will not increase. Youth unemployment is highly undesirable for developing countries where welfare schemes cannot be adopted.
A peaceful political situation depends on the relationship among political parties, economic situation and good governance. It is time that our politicians realised that interest of the country comes first. Though our common people understand their rights to a great extent, their extreme poverty compels them to surrender to money and muscle power.
People have voted AL to power because they considered that it is better equipped to deliver them good than BNP. AL has, no doubt has accepted a big challenge. Bangalees, by remaining united, achieved independence in 1971. If they can become united again, achieving vision 2021 may not be an outlandish dream.
Sheikh Hasina has rightly understood that she needs whole-hearted cooperation from all. Thus, she has moved in the right direction, i.e. toward attaining political reconciliation.
Sheikh Hasina has stated that she will watch the performance of the ministers for 180 days to ascertain whether they are equal to the task. It would, therefore, be advisable for the opposition to wait for 180 days for a reasonably good assessment of the capability of the cabinet.
If good governance is to be established a small but efficient and smart bureaucracy is needed. This means a substantial reduction of the huge bureaucracy has become essential. Broadly speaking, there is immediate necessity for reorganisation of ministries/divisions, and abolition of some redundant offices of the government.
For last one and a half decades, different committees and groups have carried out many studies. Due to strong pressure from the bureaucracy, the reports of these bodies were literally dumped into cold storage.
In a recent meeting, Sheikh Hasina emphatically stated that she would not allow rules and regulations to stop her from taking decisions for the welfare of the people. The government will have to bend rules/regulations where necessary for implementation of such decisions. This is a right decision for making the administration really dynamic.
The new government rightly appreciated the necessity of a strong and effective Anti- Corruption Commission for controlling administrative, political and social corruption. It would be a right step if the ACC was made independent as far as possible.
The preparations for the trial of war criminals must be completed quickly because this is one of the demands of the new generation of voters, the Sector Commanders' Forum, and freedom fighters in general.
At this stage, let us not find faults of the "known unknowns" and "unknown unknowns" for at least 180 days. Generally speaking, Bangalees are intelligent and quick learners. We wish a bright future for them.
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