Two sides of Brand Bangladesh
Two sides of Brand Bangladesh Hasnat Abdul Hye 28.03.2012 Like the Greek god Janus Bangladesh as a brand name to outsiders reveals two sides. But unlike the Greek god’s image the two sides in brand Bangladesh are not alike. Far from being a simulacrum of each other they are in stark contrast. Take the most recent example publicised in print an electronic media prominently and graphically. The department of environment seized 10 bulldozers of the Korean Export Processing Zone Authority (KEPZA) in Chittagong for allegedly illegal hill cutting. According to the department permission was given for ‘hill dressing’ and not for ‘hill cutting’; the difference between the two was left unexplained by the spokesman. The yellow earth freshly levelled from hills depicted in photos shows that even if the allegation is true the action taken by the department was very much like the proverbial case of closing the barn door after the horse had bolted. Even a cursory look at the site indicate that it took weeks and not days for the hills to be cut and levelled the way it has been done. What was the department doing during this time? If they were as vigilant and active as their action purportedly claims, violation by the KEPZA would have been noticed within days allowing the department to prevent the damage. It is not only the hills that have been the alleged victims, the image of Bangladesh as an investment-friendly country has also received a blow. It has shown the lackadaisical manner in which investors, local and foreign, are treated by concerned government agencies most of the time. If someone imputes motives to such errant behaviour as seen in the KEPZA case one may not be wide off the mark. The other side of brand Bangladesh is that in spite of the many aberrations from the ideal investment environment foreign investors are coming forward with money, technology and experience to invest in Bangladesh. Some of them are very patient, so patient that it beggars belief. KEPZA could not launch their operation in full swing even after 17 years and yet hung on inspired by hope. According to a newspaper report the government handed over land for the zone in 1999 but issued operational license only in 2007. The deed of transfer was not completed at the time as a result of which KEPZA could not lease out industrial plots to potential investors. It is a measure of the attraction of brand Bangladesh that the Korean investors behind KEPZA did not give up and continued with their weary plodding through the thickets of formalities and put up with the snail’s pace at which things moved in the official labyrinth. The tenacity to hold on to their attraction for investment in Bangladesh against odds is the bright side of brand Bangladesh. Behind it are, of course, various incentives given by the government of Bangladesh and opportunities available in the market, particularly availability of cheap labour. The pull of these incentive are being pushed out by the difficulties created by the absence of required infrastructures and the presence of a bureaucracy that is lukewarm about making it easy for foreign investors to work in Bangladesh. As of now the balance of ‘pull’ and ‘push’ factors has worked to the advantage of Bangladesh. Foreign investment has not declined over the years giving cause for concern, but neither has it spiked continuously, not to speak of significantly. According to the World Competitive Index, a report prepared by the World Economic Forum, Bangladesh slipped one point in 2011 from the previous year and was placed at 177. It is small comfort that Bangladesh is above India in the global competitive index because the need for India to attract FDI is not as strong and urgent as is the case with Bangladesh. A report prepared by the Japan Bank for International Co-operation shows that Bangladesh though continues to be an attractive investment destination has slipped one step and is now placed at 16th position compared to 15th in 2010. The Japan External Trade Organisation has revealed in its report that Bangladesh is gradually losing its attractiveness to foreign investors because of relatively high and growing investment costs and a wide gap between existing government policies and their implementation. The World Bank’s Worldwide Governmental Indicators (WGI) has also come up with a similar report that shows very poor performance of Bangladesh in the areas of rule of law, government effectiveness and regulatory quality, all of which are among important determinants of a country’s investment climate. The World Bank Report has mentioned some of the problems that have faced investors for a long time. These are well-known and familiar to any investor, local or foreign, and are almost given. But the familiarity and inevitability do not attenuate their damaging impact on investment. Mentioning these one by one, the World Bank Report has observed that infrastructure services is very poor in Bangladesh which increases the cost of doing business in the country. The biggest concern, according to the Bank, is the electricity supply which is available to about 59.3 per cent of people. Frequent power failure compounds the problem, particularly for investors. According to the report of the Bank port services in Bangladesh are worse than in any other Asian country. The Report points out that much of the problem is centred in Chittagong port which is plagued by labour problems, poor management and lack of equipments. The World Bank Report does not concentrate on negative factors only and has a few favourable remarks also about investment climate in Bangladesh to encourage investors. The Report mentions that the country offers the most generous incentives to foreign investors, even though the negative factors are overshadowing the lucrative incentives. It points out that to encourage local and foreign investors to invest more in the country the government need to take appropriate steps to solve the problems as early as possible. In line with its positive attitude towards Bangladesh as an investment
Venture capital: A key to economic development of Bangladesh
Venture capital: A key to economic development of Bangladesh Syed Ejaz AhsanThe Financial Express, 24.09.2012 The economy of Bangladesh has for some time been on a momentum of growth. As a result, the country is experiencing growth in almost every sector. The growth in manufacturing and agriculture is viewed as vital for any growing economy. At the same time, the precondition for steady and sustained industrial and agricultural growth is more capital and investment. But as we know, arranging capital is always a great obstacle to Bangladesh. Normally, the new ventures at their growth stage face many challenges like brand establishment, market expansion, human resource development, with the most critical one being arranging the required capital. As per statistics, the country is providing Tk 400 billion (Tk 40,000 crore) as bank loan. The larger portion of this loan is being absorbed by the large corporate bodies. Corporate bodies can manage any amount of loan because they have collateral securities, and even sometimes they manage funds only through providing corporate guarantee. But for the new ventures it is a great problem. Banks and financial houses always prefer to provide loan to the large corporate bodies to avoid the hassles of documentation, processing and consideration of security of the said loan amount; such loans are also easy to monitor. So it is interesting that getting a loan amount of Tk 100 thousand (Tk one lakh) is more difficult than managing a Tk 10-million loan. But providing loan in such a way has already proved to be dangerous for the banking sector and the overall economy. One side of such practice is, it restricts the much expected growth of SMEs (small and medium enterprises), which create employment, boost economic growth and develop and balance other macro-economic factors. By taking advantage of the size, the corporate bodies may misappropriate the loan or use it for a different purpose not related to the original one for which they obtained loan from the bank. Afterwards, all we know of the story is that the loan turns into a classified one. Most of the time, banks fail to recover their money, the security provided against the said loans prove to be insufficient to recover the debts. Classified loans amounting to thousands of millions of Taka left unrealised lower the capability of banking sector to advance further loans. It in turn shrinks the employment opportunity and growth prospects of the country. On the other hand, prospective small and medium scale entrepreneurs face difficulties in getting adequate capital for their existence and expansion. At this stage, emergence of venture capital shows a fresh light of hope for our entrepreneurs and the economy as a whole. Although the venture capital system of financing is nothing new to the developed economy, for Bangladesh venture capital is a new addition to our existing financial and banking products. The newly formed venture capital company named Bangladesh Venture Capital is playing a pioneering role in introducing a new financing system in Bangladesh. Before discussing the effectiveness and importance of this venture, there is the need to shed light on the functional aspects of the system in brief. Venture capital (VC) is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high-risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as biotechnology, IT, software, etc. The typical venture capital investment occurs after the seed funding-round as growth funding-round (also referred to as Series A round) in the interest of generating a return through an eventual realisation event, such as an IPO or trade sale of the company. Venture capital is a sub-set of private equity. Therefore, all venture capital is private equity, but not all private equity is venture capital. In addition to ‘angel investing’ and other seed-funding options, venture capital is attractive for new companies with limited operating history that are too small to raise capital in the public markets and have not reached the point where they are able to secure a bank loan or complete a debt offering. In exchange for the high risk that venture capitalists assume by investing in smaller and less mature companies, venture capitalists usually get significant control over company decisions, in addition to a significant portion of the company’s ownership (and consequently value). Venture capital is also associated with job creation (accounting for 2.0 per cent of US GDP), the knowledge economy, and used as a proxy measure of innovation within an economic sector or geography. Every year, there are nearly 2 million businesses created in the USA, and 600-800 get venture capital funding. According to the National Venture Capital Association, 11 per cent of private sector jobs come from venture-backed companies and venture-backed revenue accounts for 21 per cent of US GDP. It is also a way in which public and private actors can construct an institution that systematically creates networks for the new firms and industries, so that they can progress. This institution helps in the areas of marketing and business models. Once integrated, these enterprises succeed by becoming nodes in the search networks for designing and building products in their domain. We can see even for an economy like the USA how important a role the venture capital is playing. Eleven per cent job creation in an economy like the USA is a tremendous achievement in any consideration. It can also play vital role in our economy. Though initially one company has come forward with a small capital-base of only Tk 500 million (Tk 50 crore), it is expected that more such companies will gradually emerge on the scenario. Venture capital firms differ in their approaches. There are multiple factors, and each firm is different. Some of the factors that influence venture capital (VC) decisions include: * Business situation: Some VC firms tend to invest in new ideas, or fledgling companies. Others prefer investing in established companies that need support to go
Bangladesh’s resource base
Bangladesh’s resource base Abdul Bayes 18th. July 2012 The Financial Express Mahabub Hossain, an eminent economist of the country, provides a succinct summary of the resource base of the country which can, at times, be paraphrased and presented before the readers. Land, the most important natural resource for production, is extremely scarce in Bangladesh and is very intensively used. The total land area of the country is estimated at 14.7 million hectares of which nearly 60 per cent is arable. The cultivable land was almost exhausted in the 1960s. Under pressure of population, there was some expansion of cultivated land in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly through deforestation and expansion of habitation in chars and reclaimed lands in remote islands. But in the 1970s a kind of equilibrium had been reached in the pattern of land use which has changed little since then. Since 1980s Bangladesh has been facing increasing incidence of landlessness and shrinking of cultivable land. The excessive pressure of the growing population over the limited land resources has exacerbated the situation. According to the Agricultural Census taken in 1996, the number of rural households enumerated was 17.8 million; 10 per cent of them did not own any land at all, and roughly 60 per cent owned less than 0.2 hectares. This group is called “functionally landless”, as the meager amount of land they own cannot be a significant source of livelihood. A nationally representative sample survey conducted in 2008 estimated the number of households which do not own any land at four per cent, households without any cultivated land at 29 per cent, and households with less than 0.2 hectares at 59 per cent. In addition to population pressure, the attack on the limited land base has come in the from of acquisition of land for the government development projects – often more than needed – demand for land for housing and industrial and commercial establishments, and erosion of river banks. The 1996 Agricultural Census reported that the land area operated by households declined from 9.2 million ha in 1983-84 to 8.2 million hectares in 1996. It means that Bangladesh had been losing about 83,000 hectares of cultivable land every year (one per cent of cultivable land) on account of increased urban areas, habitation and development of infrastructure. The recently concluded Agricultural Census taken in 2008 at 8.18 million hectares, which indicated that erosion of cultivable land has either been halted and/or additional cultivable land has been reclaimed from silted water bodies and new land accredited in the coastal belt. Bangladesh has abundant water resources which attracted people to migrate to this region centuries ago and turned it into the most densely settled region in the world. The availability of surface water has however declined due to withdrawal of water from the rivers in upstream in India through barrages and dams from increased navigation of tributaries in India and to support agricultural growth. This has become a major issue of dispute and a stumbling-block in the way of improving relationship with India. Heavy rainfall and a suitable geological structure provide abundant supply of ground water which is available at a depth of about 12 meters in most regions, and at less than six meters in many parts of the country. But withdrawal of the ground water for irrigation beyond the capacity of recharge has gradually depleted this resource and has reached an alarming level for environmental concern of desertification and negative effect on the supply of safe drinking water. Land is not of uniform quality and elevation. The overall picture of gently sloping alluvial plain disguises considerable variation of local relief which affects cropping patterns, the intensity of land use and crop yields. Complex local differences in elevation have important implications for the planning of drainage and irrigation as they are associated with differences in soil permeability and crop suitability. The National Water Plan prepared in the 1980s classifies land into four major types according to flood depth. The high land areas which are flooded upto a maximum of 30 cm during the peak of the monsoon season constitute about 30 per cent of the total land. With the development of irrigation facilities, two rice crops of high yielding varieties can be grown in such land and in between rice a shorter maturity on non-rice crops can be grown. The medium-high land, flooded between 30 to 90 cm during peak monsoon months, constitute another third of total land. About one-sixth of the total land is flooded in the range of 90 to 180 cm, which is suitable for one crop of low-yielding deep water monsoon rice (aman). The remaining one-sixth of the area consists of extremely low land that does not permit growing of any crop during the monsoon season. This area is suitable for growing one rice crop (boro) during the dry winter season. The land types by flooding depth have however been changing due to filling up of beds of rivers, creeks and canals through siltation and bringing such land into cultivation. Changes may also have occurred from blockage of drainage through construction of roads, and protection of land from flooding through construction of flood protection embankments along river banks. The changes in land type by flooding depth as reported by Agricultural Censuses conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics can be noted. Both the high land and low land areas have declined and medium land areas have increased from 44 per cent of the net cropped area in 1983-84 to 58 per cent in 2008. The change in land type has favourable impact on the intensity of land use. The single cropped area has declined from 32 to 25 per cent while the triple cropped area has increased from 11 to 15 per cent since the early 1980s.. Agricultural activities centring around crop cultivation which accounts for about 56 per cent of agricultural value addition, has declined from two-thirds in the 1970s. Another 14 per cent of the value addition originates in livestock
Barriers to SME growth: The non-financial dimensions
Momtaz Uddin Ahmed 25.05.2011 – The Financial Express Discussions on the constraints to small and medium enterprise (SME) growth generally highlight their financially-related predicaments. This is for the valid reason that restricted SME access to sources of capital and credit is the most severe operational constraint facing these enterprises. However, at the same time, it is also equally true that many non-financial barriers comprising legal, regulatory, and administrative bindings work as strong disincentives to new business creation, development of innovative SME entrepreneurship and growth of a dynamic SME sector in Bangladesh. The overall regulatory framework impacting on the growth of new businesses and determining the performance of the existing one is quite comprehensive as well as cumbersome. To name a few important ones, these constitute procurement of trade license, boiler license, fire license, tax/ value added tax or VAT registration, environmental, clearance, quality and standard certification from Bangladesh Standard & Testing Institution (BSTI), and patenting through the Department of Patent, Design & Trademark (DPDT) etc. Not only this is a long list, the cumbersome bureaucratic process and the costs (official and unofficial) involved in obtaining them is also frighteningly painful and frustrating enough to scare away the potential new small business investors and their “captive” counterparts languishing in despair while running their enterprises. True, there have been some improvements through the on-going reform process that were earlier initiated through the activities and efforts undertaken by the Better Business Forum and the Regulatory Reform Commission, both of which currently stand dissolved. The prevailing situation in these contexts has not changed much and a lot more remains to be done to create a truly enabling environment for encouraging new industrial investments and facilitating growth and dynamism of the SME sector. In the developing countries such as Bangladesh, the issue of regulatory barriers appears to be generally complex. For the SMEs especially, having access to “business opportunities” is always a long and arduous process to the extent that at times it appears unattainable to them because of their scale barriers. Information and opinions were collected from selected entrepreneurs and concerned stakeholders through the courtesy of the SME Foundation to highlight the important regulatory barriers and challenges facing the sector and suggest recommendations to tackle them. Based on the perceptions and opinions of the respondents and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) impressions and observations. The challenges and outcomes confronted and the corrective actions needed to deal with the them are being discussed here briefly. Licensing and Registration: At start, the SME entrepreneurs have to grapple with severe impediments affecting procurement of trade license, fire license and boiler licenses which are important prerequisites for starting new businesses in the formal sectors. Besides undue delay and bureaucratic complexities involved in processing the documents, excessive costs incurred for paying bribes (varying between Tk. 3000 and Tk. 4000 on average) and frequent visits needed to collect licenses cause suffering and harassments. Fire license that to required before obtaining trade license and vice versa further aggravates the complex procedures. All business documents and factory lay-out plans have to be submitted to get fire license. While trade license is required to obtain fire license, the City Corporation does not issue trade license without fire license. This creates dual complications and unnecessary harassment to the entrepreneurs. Renewal of trade licenses is also equally difficult and time consuming. The solutions to these problems offered by the entrepreneurs include introduction of “one stop service” facilities and decentralization of authority to the Ward Commissioners for issuing these licenses. Similarly, duplication of authority between City Corporation and Fire Service Department needs to be resolved to minimize sufferings of the entrepreneurs. Similar difficulties are encountered while obtaining certificates for boilers for water treatment. As the boiler inspectors do not visit the factories timely, unnecessary documentation is demanded and unofficial payments have to be made. The SME entrepreneurs feel that the government may bear part of the certification costs and provide waiver facilities to the tiny enterprises. Needless to emphasize, the extensive paper requirements, longer processing time, and prohibitive costs etc., make establishment of new businesses exceedingly difficult and dampen entrepreneurial initiatives required to facilitate growth of “birthright economy” and flourishing private sector-centric industrial development. Registration from the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies (RJSC) is again time consuming as well as costly, especially for the SME entrepreneurs of modest financial standing. Implication of the procedures for the SMEs through special arrangements (i.e. delegating the authority to the SME Foundation or BSCIC) may be thought of, as a viable option towards deregulation of business opportunities and making business start-up easier and quicker. Environmental Clearance Certificate: New investors need to collect clearance certificates from the Ministry of Environment to comply with the environmental protection requirements set by the government. As usual, the process is highly bureaucratic and time-consuming which requires the investors to wait between four to five months to obtain the certificates. More importantly, it costs between Tk 15,000 and Tk 20,000 in terms of various unofficial payments that have to be made by the incumbent investors at different stages of processing the applications and final delivery of the certificates. Many SME entrepreneurs also appear to lack in awareness about the need for obtaining environmental clearance certificates as a precondition for starting new enterprises. Awareness creation among the SME entrepreneurs, protection against payment of kick-backs, and quick delivery of certificates are the major recommendations made by the respondents for reducing their sufferings. The difficulties faced by the SME entrepreneurs (as reported by them) in obtaining certificates of product quality and standards from the Bangladesh Standards & Testing Institution (BSTI), and certificates from the Department of Patent, Design and Trademark (DPDT) for patenting and trademarks also tend to be almost insurmountable by the SME entrepreneurs. Long processing time, perverse bureaucratic procedures and an overall SME-discriminating policy environment meted out to the entrepreneurs cause anger and frustration among them. Geographical decentralisation of authority to issue these certificates from dispersed locations at lower costs and quicker pace are the important
On benefits of infrastructure
On benefits of infrastructure 28.03.2012 The Financial Express Abdul Bayes The main benefits of infrastructure come from marketing of inputs and outputs. Market orientation has increased over time more in villages with developed (good roads) rather than underdeveloped roads. For example — as shown by a survey of households spreading over 62 villages, the share of marketed paddy in 1988 was 44 per cent in developed villages. But by 2008, the share shot up to 56 per cent. On the other hand, distress sales in developed villages have drastically gone down. The reason may be that factors that fuel distress sales have weakened in developed villages possibly due to infrastructural development. The impacts of infrastructure on some key economic indicators can be captured by regression analysis. While there could some correlation between infrastructure and economic variables, the establishment of a causal link warrants that the dependent variables be regressed upon the explanatory factors. To this effect, Dr Mahabub Hossain and Abdul Bayes regressed the factors on access to paved roads and electricity. The authors have taken non-farm incomes as the dependent variables and regressed upon roads and electricity (independent variables). The regression appears as a good fit. The adjusted R2 at 0.57 implies that, 57 per cent of the variations in non-agricultural income is influenced by independent factors. For example, non-agricultural capital and workers, the presence of member working abroad and electricity emerge as highly significant factors affecting rural non-farm income. Access to quality roads does not appear as a powerful factor in explaining the variations in income levels. However, taking the dominant variables into account, the researchers ran a second round step-wise regression. The regression function emerges as better fit showing an adjusted R2 value at 0.69 and F=415. This time, again, non-agricultural worker and non-agricultural capital continue to impinge significant impact on household income. Likewise, agricultural capital and member working abroad also showed up as significant contributors to non-farm income. An interaction of electricity and non-farm worker (to avoid multicollinearity) shows that the variable is highly significant in explaining variations in non-farm income. It means that access to electricity enhances the productivity of rural non-farm workers and, thus, contributes to increased income. The estimated elasticity on this count is observed to be 0.17, implying that there occurs a rise of income by 17 per cent following the availability of electricity. Similarly, interaction between roads and non-farm worker also positively affects income and as per the elasticity coefficient, the income rises by 6.0 per cent due to access to roads. Overall, access to electricity and roads tend to increase household income by 23 per cent. It is thus observed that access to quality roads and electricity (or to any of them) is likely to positively affect non-farm income of households. The policy implication of this observation is obvious: government should invest in rural infrastructure – especially in the construction of roads and providing electricity – with a view to raising the income levels of rural households. Fortunately, these findings are in consort with those for China and India. The impact of infrastructure on poverty is also well researched. Various studies eloquently exposed the differential impacts of infrastructure on poverty level in India. According to the researchers, additional expenditure on roads is found to have the largest impact on poverty reduction as well as a significant effect on productivity growth in rural India. The access leads to larger benefits to the rural poor and emerges as dominant “win-win” strategy. The researchers suggest that the government of India should pick up roads for investment, in case of any choice has to be made in allocating scarce funds among alternative investment purposes. More specifically, they focused on agricultural research and extension of roads as the panacea to poverty reduction. Bangladesh’s experience also stands close to the Indian experience. For example, in a survey of households spreading over 62 villages, all sample households experienced decline in extreme poverty over time, but the reduction was higher in developed villages – with good roads – compared to others with bad roads. For example, between 1988 and 2008, extreme poverty declined by 2 percentage point per annum in developed villages as opposed to roughly 1 percentage point in other villages. In fact, the poverty reduction in developed villages was higher than the estimated national average. The same trend holds true in the case of other measures of poverty. As far as inequality of income is concerned, the results are not seemingly so encouraging. First, between 1988 and 2008, inequality in income – as reflected by the higher gini ratio of household income – has increased in all sample villages. Noticeably, however, the distribution of income over time appears to be strikingly skewed in developed villages. Maybe, the opportunities created by better roads and electricity has largely been reaped by the top income deciles in developed villages. If we look at the sources of inequality, we observe that inequality is higher where trade and business are major sources of income. For example, in developed villages, trade and business contributed 40 per cent of the inequality (relative contribution to pseudo gini) in 2008 compared to 13 per cent in 1988. In semi-developed villages also, trade and business continued to impart a pervasive influence in generating inequality. Since, expansion of trade and business is mainly a function of financial and human capital, it is not unlikely that upper income groups in rural areas tend to overtake others to contribute to greater inequality. On the other hand, cultivation as a source of inequality declined in all villages possibly due to the fact that small and marginal farmers are engaged in it and their share is growing over time. Again, the inequality in income from non-rice crops increased during the same period of time for all villages. But income from wage labour has been more equaliser than other sources of income. And finally, income from remittances continues to remain as the most dominant source of inequality (pseudo gini ratio 0.60-0.70)
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTFaridpur, Dinajpur, Kushtia top list United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka 2 August 2010 Faridpur, Dinajpur and Kushtia are the top ranking districts that performed well in terms of business environment, according to a survey. The survey, Bangladesh Economic Governance Index – 2010, was circulated at a function at Sonargaon Hotel Sunday. The 2010 EGI is a partnership between the Asia Foundation and the Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund. The Bangladesh EGI is a part of the Local Economic Governance Programme – Enhancing the Sustainability and Stakeholder Ownership of Investment Climate Reforms in Bangladesh implemented by the Asia Foundation with BICF funding. The EGI survey has been completed in all the old 19 districts of the country. It showed that Faridpur, Dinajpur and Kushtia represents ‘high’ tier comprising scores from 75.7 to 73.3 followed by ‘medium-high’ tier, comprising 4 districts – Sylhet, Cox’s Bazar, Mymensingh, Comilla – with scores from 69.2 to 66.1. The ‘medium-low’ tier comprises eight districts – Rangpur, Patuakhali, Dhaka, Jessore, Khulna, Bogra, Pabna and Noakhali – with scores ranging from 60.34 to 57.13. The ‘low’ tier consists of four districts – Tangail, Chittagong, Barisal and Rajshahi – with scores from 55.71 to 53.02. Like other economic governance indices conducted in Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia or Sri Lanka, the Bangladesh EGI composed of 10 sub-indices. These are entry costs, access to land and security of tenure, transparency, time cost of regulatory compliance, informal charges, participation, law and order, tax administration, dispute resolution and local infrastructure. The survey was conducted with a stratified random district-level sample of 3,800 firms (200 per district headquarters). The strata were based on sectors (manufacturing, trade and services) and size (number of employees). Only firms with at least 3 employees were included in the survey since the EGI analysis is focused on growth-oriented firms, rather than subsistence firms. The survey also showed that less than 1 per cent firms have 20 or more employees, which clearly highlights the disproportionate presence of small enterprises in the country, nearly 70 per cent of the firms covered by the listing are concentrated in wholesale and retail trade activities and less than one half of one per cent of firms covered by the listings are owned by women. Chaired by economist Wahiduddin Mahmud, commerce minister Faruk Khan spoke at the function. Sylhet City Mayor Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, Mahmud-us-Samad Chowdhury MP, Center for Policy Dialogue executive director Mustafizur Rahman and AmCham president Aftab Ul Islam also spoke. https://www.newagebd.com/2010/aug/02/busi.html
ছোট ব্যবসা, ব্যবস্থাপনা এবং পরিচালনা
সুচীপত্র (Contents) (যে কোন আইটেম আলাদা ভাবে পড়তে চাইলে সেই আইটেমের উপর কারসর রেখে কন্ট্রোল চেপে ক্লিক করলেই সেই আইটেমে চলে যাওয়া যাবে সরাসরি) শুরুর কথা… 2 ১। ছোট ব্যবসার সংঙ্গা… 3 ২। পুজী কি… 3 ৩। পুজীর উতস এবং যোগান.. 4 ৪। ব্যক্তিমালিকানা বা পারিবারিক ব্যবসা… 5 ৫। অংশিদারি বা পার্টনারশিপ ব্যবস্যা…. 5 ৬। লিমিটেড কোম্পানী… 7 ৭। দৈনন্দিন কার্য্যক্রম ব্যবস্থাপনা… 7 ৮। মুল্য সংযোজন এবং ব্যয় এর হিসাব.. 8 ৯। নগদ প্রবাহ (ক্যাশ ফ্লো). 10 ১০। ব্যবসার তথ্যাদি তৈরী এং সংরক্ষন.. 13 ১১। ব্যবসায়ীক সফলতা বা ব্যর্থতার মাপকাঠী… 16 শেষ কথা… 17 ছোট ব্যবসা, ব্যবস্থাপনা এবং পরিচালনা শুরুর কথা দুনিয়াজুড়ে ছোট বা মাঝারী (এস এম ই – স্মল এন্ড মিডিয়াম এন্টারপ্রাইজ) প্রতিষ্টান উতপাদন এবং ব্যবসার ক্ষেত্রে বিরাট ভুমিকা পালন করে আসছে। শুধু বড় শিল্পের সহযোগি হিসেবে নয়, অর্থনৈতিক প্রবৃদ্ধীর ক্ষেত্রে সার্বিক পুজীর যোগান, লোকবল নিয়োগ, মুল্য সংযোজন এসব ক্ষেত্রে বড় অর্থনীতিতে – যেমন আমেরিকা, ইংল্যান্ড, জার্মানী, ফ্রান্স,জাপান, সামষ্টিক ভাবে মুল অর্থনৈতিক কর্মযজ্ঞে চালিকা শক্তি হিসেবে ভুমিকা রেখে আসছে। আর এই ভুমিকা পালনের পেছনে রয়েছে এদের অল্প পুজির নির্ভ্রতার মধ্যে ব্যবসায়িক জ্ঞান, পুজি এবং কারিগরী ঙ্গানের উতকর্ষ্যতা, বাজার এবং অর্থনৈতিক কর্মকান্ড সনবন্ধে হাল ধারনা এবং ব্যবসা পরিচালনার ক্ষেত্রে কঠীন আধুনিক নিয়ন্ত্রন এবং পরিচালনা ব্যবস্থার প্রয়োগ। আমাদের দেশেও ছোট ব্যবসা আমাদের অর্থনীতেতে একই ভুমিকা পালন করে আসছে তবে কারিগরী জ্ঞান, আধুনীক ধ্যান ধারনার অভাবে প্রত্যাশীত ভুমিকা পালন করতে ব্যর্থ হচ্ছে। এই সব ধারনা যেমন কারিগরী জ্ঞান , ব্যবস্থাপনা, পুজী, ক্যাশ, স্টক, হিসাব, লাভ লোকসান, বাজেট তৈরী ও এর সমীক্ষন, পর্যালোচনা করার নিয়ম কানুন এইসব নিয়ে অতি সাধারন ভাষায় এখানে আলোচনা করার চেষ্টা করা হয়েছে। মুল লক্ষ সাধারন বিনীয়োগকারি যাদের প্রাতিষ্ঠানিক এবং কারিগরী জ্ঞানের প্রয়োজন তাদেরকে অতি সাধারণভাবে মুল ব্যপারগুলো বলে দেয়া। যেহেতু পুরো ব্যপারটাই কারিগরী (ট্যাকনিকাল) এবং আধুনিক, কাজেই সবটাই সাধারন ভাষায় প্রকাশ করার মধ্যে কষ্ট এবং সমস্যা দুটোই আছে। এরপরেও যে ভাবনা নিয়ে এই লেখার উদ্যোগ, কিছু উদ্দোক্তাকেও যদি কোনভাবে এই লেখা গুলি প্রভাবিত করে এবং সঠিক সময়ে, সঠিক সিদ্ধান্ত নিতে সাহায্য করে সেটাই হবে এই উদ্দ্যোগের সার্থকতা। সংক্ষেপে ব্যবসার নানান দিক নিয়ে বিষয় ভিত্তিক আলোচনা করা হয়েছে। বিষয় বেছে বেছে পড়ার সুবিধা থাকছে, যেমন কেউ যদি জানতে চায় ব্যবসার ‘লাভ ক্ষতি’র হিসেবটা কিভাবে করবেন বা বুঝবেন সেক্ষেত্রে ‘লাভ ক্ষতি’ অংশ বা ‘নগদ ব্যবস্থাপনা’ (ক্যাশ ফ্লো ম্যানেজমেন্ট)সনবন্ধে জানতে চান, ঐ আইটেমটা আলাদা ভাবে পড়ে নিতে পারেন। উদাহরন এবং ট্যাবল এর মাধ্যমে যেভাবে প্রতিদিনের কার্য্যক্রম চলে সেটা যেখানে দরকার সেখানে দেয়ার চেষ্টা করা হয়েছে যাতে সহজে ধারনাটা নেয়া যায় মুল অন্তর্নিহিত কারন গুলো সনবন্ধে। সহজীকরন করার ফলে যাদের কারিগরি জ্ঞান আছে তারা অবশ্যই বিস্তারিত জানার জন্য আসল বই বা মুল বিষয় থেকে বিস্তারিত জেনে নেবেন। ১। ছোট ব্যবসার সংঙ্গা সাধারনত অল্প পুজি নিয়ে কোন উদ্দোক্তা যখন ব্যাবসা বা উতপাদন এর জন্য বিনিয়োগ করে এবং নিজে অথবা অল্প কিছু লোক নিয়োগ দিয়ে তা পরিচালনা করে এইসব প্রচেষ্টাই ছোট ব্যবসা হিসেবে ধরা হয়। কখনো আবার পুজির পরিমাপেও নির্নয় করা হয় – যেমন ১০,০০০ থেকে ১০ লাখ বা ১ কোটি টাকা। তবে সাধারনভাবে এইসব প্রতিষ্টান পারিবারিক এবং ব্যক্তি নিয়ন্ত্রনেই পরিচালিত হয় এবং প্রায়শ আধুনিক হিসাব রক্ষন বা ব্যাবসায়ীক নিয়ম কানুনের রিতি নীতি উপেক্ষীত থাকে। ফলে অল্প সঙ্খক উদ্দোক্তাই সাফল্য ধরে রাখতে পারে দীর্ঘ্য মেয়াদে। এটাই সাধারন ধারনা। ২। পুজী কি লগ্নিযোগ্য এবং বিনীয়োগকৃত অর্থকেই আমরা সাদামাটা ভাবে পুজী বলতে পারি। এই পুজির সাধারণ বৈশিষ্টগুলো এরকম – নিজস্য অর্থ, পারিবারিক ধার (আত্নীয়, বন্ধু), প্রাতিষ্টানিক ধার – ব্যাংক, এনজিও বা কোন লগ্নিকারি প্রতিষ্টান, বা অংশিদারের বিনিয়োগ। পুজি বা মুলধনের আর এক বৈশিষ্ট হোল – এটা হতে পারে ফিক্সড বা দীর্ঘমেয়াদী এবং চলতি বা সল্পমেয়াদি। ফিক্সড মুলধন -সাধারনত যন্ত্রপাতি, মেশিনারিজ, দোকানঘর বা অফিস, লাইসেন্স ফি বা জামানত এসব ক্ষেত্রেই ব্যবহার হয় যার মুল বৈশিষ্ট হোল এই বিনিয়োগ যেহেতু ব্যবসা পরিচালনার জন্য আসল বাপার কাজেই এই মুলধন এখানে বন্দি থাকে এবং ব্যাবসা ভেঙ্গে বা গুটানো ছাড়া এইমুলধন নগত টাকায় রুপান্তৃত করা যায়না। আর কোন ব্যবসার কতখানি এই ধরনের মুলধন দরকার তা নির্ভর করে সেই ব্যবসার ধরন হিসেবে। চলতি মুলধন -সাধারনত ব্যবসার দৈনন্দিন কর্মকান্ডের জন্য ব্যাবহার হয়ে থাকে। যেমন মাসিক বেতন, বিদ্দুত, দোকান ভাড়া, যাতায়াত,বা যাবতিয় আনুষাঙ্গিক ব্যবসা বা উতপাদন পরিচালনা খরচ। এর সঙ্গে ব্যাবসার আসল প্রকৃয়া যেমন বিক্রয় করার জন্য পন্য ক্রয় বা কারখানার জন্য কাচামালের তাতক্ষনিক এবং সল্পমেয়াদী জোগান- ষ্টকএ বিনীয়োগ অবশ্যই থাকছে। চলতি মুলধনের সঠীক ব্যবহারের উপর নির্ভর করে ব্যবসায়িক সাফল্য এবং আমাদের দেশে ছোট এবং মাঝারী উদ্দোক্তাদের জন্য এটা বড় চ্যালেঞ্জ। একটি ব্যবসার সাফল্য এবং সঠিক মুনাফার ভিত্তিতে দির্ঘমেয়াদে বাজারে টিকে থাকার ক্ষেত্রে এই চলতি মুলধনের চুলচেরা ব্যবহারই বেশিরভাগ ক্ষেত্রে মুল কারন হিসেবে সামনে আসে। সঠিক উপলব্ধি বা বাজার ধারনার অদুরদর্শীতা বাজার মাফিক বা পুজির ভবিষ্যত জোগান মাফিক পরিকল্পনার অভাবই প্রয়োজনীয় নগদ জোগানের ক্ষেত্রে সমস্যা তৈরি করে যা প্রায়শ বিরাট বাধা হিসেবে দাঁড়িয়ে যায়। এই নগদ পরিকল্পনার সাধারন রুপরেখা নিয়ে ‘নগদ’ (ক্যাশ ফ্লো ম্যানেজমেন্ট)অংশে আলোচনা করা হবে। এ নিয়ে প্রয়োজনিয় নিরীক্ষা এবং মডেল তৈরির প্রচেষ্টা ‘ক্যাশ ফ্লো ম্যানেজমেন্ট’ এ দেয়া আছে। ৩। পুজীর উতস এবং যোগান সাধারনভাবে একজন উদ্দোক্তা নিম্নলিখিতভাবে পুজির যোগান দেয় – ক। নিজস্য জমাকৃত টাকা এবং আত্নীয় সব্জনের কাছ থেকে সল্প মেয়াদে ধার। খ। ব্যাংক লোন বা কোন প্রতিষ্টান থেকে (এনজিও ইত্যাদি) লোন। গ। অংশিদার গ্রহন। উপরেল্লিখিত তিন ধরনের পুজীর বৈশিষ্টও তিন রকম, যাহা প্রতিটা উদ্দোক্তার সঠিকভাবে জানা প্রয়োজন। ১। নিজস্য বা সব্জনের কাছ থেকে নেয়া পুজির উপর কোন সুদ বা চার্জ নাই, ‘ফ্রি মানি’ তবে এই টাকাটা ব্যংকে জমা রাখলে যে মুনাফা পাওয়া যেত সেটা হিসেবে রাখা দরকার। ২। যেকোন লোনের উপর মাসিক হারে সুদ থাকে, থাকে সঠিক সময়ে না দিতে পারার উপর পেনাল্টি, ফাইন এবং চক্রবৃদ্ধি হারে সুদ। এই খানে লোনের পরিমান এবং তার থেকে আয়টা যদি সুদ থেকে বেশী না হয় তাহলে ব্যবসার লাভ না হয়ে ক্ষতিই হবে মাসের শেষে। ৩। অংশিদার যেমন ফ্রী টাকা বা পুজী আনে তেমনি আনে তার অভিজ্ঞতা। কিন্তু পাশাপাশি সঙ্গে থাকে তার নিজস্য ভাবনা এবং উচ্চাশা। আর শুরুতেই যদি অংশিদারের কর্মকান্ডের গন্ডি এবং পরিধী বিস্তারিতভাবে আলেচিত হয়ে মতৈক্য না হয় বেশিরভাগ ক্ষেত্রে পরবর্তিতে অংশিদার নানা সমস্যা তৈরী করে এবং ব্যক্তিগত মনমালিন্য থেকে তা ব্যবসায়ীক ক্ষতির কারন হয়ে দাঁড়ায়। ৪। ব্যক্তিমালিকানা বা পারিবারিক ব্যবসা যেসব উদ্যোগ ব্যক্তিনামে বা পারিবারিক নামে স্থানীয় পৌরপ্রতিষ্টান থেকে লাইসেন্স নিয়ে ব্যবসা করে। এখানে উদ্দোক্তা একজন ব্যক্তি হিসেবে ব্যবসার যাবতীয় আইনি এবং অর্থনৈতিক বিষয়ে নিজে দায়বদ্ধ থাকেন। এইসব প্রতিষ্টান পরিচালনার ব্যপারে আইনের বাধ্য বাদকতা কম, এর আয় একজন ব্যক্তির আয় ব্যয় হিসেবে বছর শেষে সরকারের কাছে সাধারন নিয়ম মাফিক ট্যাক্সএর জন্য রিটার্ন
ঐতিহাসিকভাবে দিনাজপুর একটি সম্ভাবনার অঞ্চল (land of oportunity)
Dinajpur is a land of opportunity. Its diverse terrain that presents a potential of different crops and underground natural resources if extracted can supply the nation with at least one third of its energy needs. Flood protection or construction rocks and granite are found in here only. For hundreds of year Dinajpur is a land of sufficiency. It produced enough cereal and exported to other districts. মহাস্থানগড়ে প্রাপ্ত ব্রাম্মীলিপি থেকে এখন ঐতিহাসিকরা একমত যে দিনাজপুর জেলা মৌয্য’ সাম্রাজের (খৃঃপুরব ৩২৪ -২৩২)অন্তভুক্ত ছিল। সেন শাসনের পতনের পর, বাংলার প্রথম মুসলিম বিজেতা বখতিয়ার খিলজীসহ সুলতানী আমলের বিভিন্ন স্থানে যে রাজধানী সমুহ ছিল সেগুলি হচ্ছে কোটিবষ’, দেবকোট, পান্ডুয়া, মাহিসন্তোষ, বরবকাবাদ সবই প্রাচীন দিনাজপুর অঞ্চলের অধিনে। সুলতানী যুগে আফগান পাঠানেরা ঘোড়াঘাটকে কেন্দ্র করে যে শক্তি গড়ে তুলেছিল তা মোগলদের পক্ষে ছিল প্রায় অপ্রতিরোধ্য। মোগল বাংলার ইতিহাসে ঘোড়াঘাট একটি সরকার (প্রশাসনিক জেলা) যার আয় আইন-ই-আকবরী মতে প্রায় ২৫ লক্ষ টাকা নিদি’ষ্ট ছিল। সম্রাট জাহাঙ্গীরের আমলে ঘোড়াঘাট থেকে রাজস্য বিভাগ তুলে নিয়ে ঢাকায় (জাহাঙ্গীরনগর) স্থাপন করার পর পরই ঘোড়াঘাটের অবনতির সুচনা হয় এবং বাংলার একটি সুপ্রাচীন নগরী ইতিহাসের পাতা থেকে মুছে যেতে শুরু করে। ১৭৬৫ সালে কোম্পানী শাষনভার গ্রহনের সময় দিনাজপুরের নাম পাওয়া যায়। তখন এর আয়তন ছিল ২,১১৯ বর্গ মাইল। ১৮০৮ সালে হ্যমিল্টন বুকানণের বিবরণ থেকে জানা যায় এর আয়তন ৫,৩৭৪ বর্গমাইল। ১৮৭২ সালের প্রথম আদম শুমারির কমিশনার মিঃ বেভালির রিপোর্ট অনুযায়ী দিনাজপুর ৪,১৪২ বর্গমাইলের ১৮,০১,৯২৪ লোকসংখার এক জেলায় উপনীত হয়। ১৯০৪ সালে মুহকুমা বিভক্তিতে ঠাকুরগাও ১,১৭১ বর্গমাইল এবং সদর ১,৫৯৮ বর্গমাইল যা ১৯৪৭ সালে দেশ বিভাগ পর্যুন্ত অপরিবর্ত্তিত ছিল। ১৯৮৪ সালে সমস্ত মহকুমা জেলায় উন্নীত হলে সাবেক দিনাজপুর জেলা তিনটি জেলায় বিভক্ত হয়। জেলার নাম থানার সংখ্যা আয়তন লোকসংখ্যা দিনাজপুর ১৩ ১,৪৯৪ বঃমাঃ ২,২৬০,১৩১ ঠাকুরগাঁও ৫ ৭০২ বঃ মাঃ ১,০১০,৯৪৮ পঞ্চগড় ৫ ৫৪৩ বঃ মাঃ ৭১২,০২৪ দিনাজপুর বরেন্দ্রভুমির প্রাচিন জনপদ, তবে প্রাচীনকালের তথ্যের বেশ অভাব। একটি অঞ্চলের আর্থ-সামাজিক অবস্থা গড়ে উঠে গ্রামীন অর্থনীতি সংগঠন এবং উত্তপাদন সম্পর্কের সাথে সংগতি রেখে। আপাতদৃষ্টিতে উপমহাদেশের আর্থ-সামাজিক কাঠামো শতাব্দীর পর শতাব্দী নিরবিছিন্নভাবে অপরিবর্ত্তিত ছিল বলেই স্বাভাবিকভাবে গ্রামীন সমাজ ছিল স্বাবলম্বি এবং স্বয়ংসম্পুর্ণ আর উৎপাদনের সীমাবদ্ধতায় চাহিদাও ছিল সীমাবদ্ধ। ‘উনবিংশ শতাব্দীর প্রথম ভাগে জমির স্বল্পতা বা খাদ্যের অভাব না থাকা স্বত্বেও দিনাজপুর জেলার অধিবাসীদের মধ্যে আর্থিক স্বচ্ছলতার প্রমাণ ততবেশী পাওয়া যায় না। তার প্রধান কারন হচ্ছে যোগাযোগ ব্যবস্থার জন্য রপ্তানীর সুযোগ কম থাকায় উদ্বৃত্ত ফসলে তারা আর্থিক দিক দিয়ে বিশেষ লাভবান হতনা। ফলে খাদ্য সংকট না থাকলেও কৃষিজীবি সম্প্রদায়ের হাতে নগদ অর্থ থাকত অতি সামান্য। এদিক দিয়ে তুলনা করলে জেলার উত্তরাঞ্চলের জোতদাররা দক্ষিণাঞ্চলের জোতদারদের চেয়ে কম সমৃদ্ধশালী ছিল কারণ দক্ষিনাঞ্চলের জোতদাররা পাইকারী কারবারে খুবই অগ্রগামী ছিল যা উত্তরাঞ্চলীয় জোতদারদের মধ্যে ছিল পুরোপুরি অনুপস্থিত।‘ (এফ, ও বেল, ফাইনাল রিপোর্ট অন দি সার্ভে এন্ড সেটেলমেন্ট অপারেশন ইন দি ডিস্ট্রিক অব দিনাজপুর ১৯৩৪-৪০) উনবিংশ শতাব্দির মধ্যভাগ থেকে কৃষি পণ্যের দাম বৃদ্ধি পাওয়ার ফলে উদ্ধৃত্ত ভুমি ও ফসলের দেশ দিনাজপুর জেলায় কৃষিজীবি সম্প্রদায়ের মধ্যে স্বচ্ছলতার সুচনা হয়। ‘সরকারী রাজস্ব প্রদানের ক্ষেত্রে তৎকালিন সময়ে দিনাজপুর ছিল সর্বচ্চ রাজস্ব প্রদানকারী জেলা।(দিনাজপুর জেলা গেজেটিয়ারস ১৯১২, পৃঃ-১০২) ফলে উনবিংশ শতাব্দির মাঝামাঝির পর থেকে গ্রামাঞ্চলে এক শক্তিশালী জোতদার শ্রেণীর উদ্ভব হয়। তবে জনজীবনে বিরাট পার্থক্য পরিলক্ষিত হয় এই শতাব্দীর প্রথমার্ধের সাথে শেষার্ধের।কৃষিকাজ লাভজনক হওয়ায় বহু জঙ্গলাকীর্ণ জমি চাষের আওতায় নিয়ে আসেন জোতদারগন। এতে সাধারণ বা ভুমিহিন কৃষকদের আর্থিক অবস্থার বিশেষ উন্নতি পরিলক্ষিত হয়নি। জংলীজমি চাষযোগ্য করার শ্রম এ জেলার কৃষকরা এড়িয়ে চললে বিহার এবং ঝাড়খন্ড এলাকা থেকে আদিবাসীদের এনে চাষাবাদে লাগান হত। এদিকে সাধারণ কৃষকদের বিবাহ, উৎসব এসব কারনে মহাজনের দারস্থ হতে হত এবং চক্রবৃদ্ধি হারের চড়া সুদ কখনই পরিশোধ করতে পারত না। এতদসত্তেও উনবিংশ শতাব্দীর দিনাজপুর জেলার কৃষক সমাজ রংপুর জেলার কৃষকদের মত অনাহারে দিন কাটায়নি বা দুর্ভিক্ষের কবলে বারবার নিপতিত হয়ে দুমুঠো ভাতের জন্য নিজ ভিটামাটি ছেড়ে অন্য জেলায় চলে যেতে হয়নি। এছাড়াও দিনাজপুরের জোতদার শ্রেণীর অত্যাচার ও মহাজনী সুদের কারবার রংপুর জেলার মত এত অমানবিক ও নির্মমও ছিল না। Admin – dinajpurbd.com (based on a book written by Dr. Muhammad Muniruzzaman called Dinajpur Rangpur jillar shikhya biborton -1765-1921
IT revolution in Bangladesh for a double-digit GDP growth
IT revolution in Bangladesh for a double-digit GDP growth Nasir Uddin6.08.2012Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, is one of the wealthiest persons in the world with a strong global corporate image. He became a man of fortune by doing IT business. The income of 225 rich men in the world is half of the income of rest of the people. Most of them have interest in IT business. The share price of IT companies during the period of 1995-2011 increased by 453 times across the global stock market. In 2010 the internet-based income in Asia was $180 billion and most of the income has gone to India, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Singapore. Many countries which were at the same level as that of Bangladesh 25 years ago in terms of national income, have outstripped Bangladesh by using IT-based services. This lucrative business platform can change the health of the whole economy of Bangladesh faster than any other potential business opportunities. Obviously it is a question whether we have enough infrastructural support to bring about an IT revolution. There exists a very high-speed in-built fiber optic backbone in Bangladesh for 15 years. It was built for the signaling of Bangladesh Railway. Most of the railway stations across the country are linked with fiber optic network. Only 8.0 per cent of the networking capacity is being used, the rest 92 per cent remains unused. The existence of IT market and scope of creating new IT market are important considerations before moving for an IT revolution. According to the recent information of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), only four persons out of every one thousand people have personal computer, 5.0 million people are internet users, 92 million people are mobile phone subscribers, and 10.2 million people are public-switched telephone network (PSTN) subscribers. So there exists a huge blank space in the existing IT market. The potential IT market may be expanded to education system, health service, e-governance, agricultural development, and access to information. This will ultimately help uplift the quality of education system, combat poverty, generate employment, reduce export risk, ensure transparency of public activities and accelerate overall economic development. BTRC sources further reveal that 92 per cent capacity of rail-linked fiber optic cable is left for multi-dimensional usage. Using this vast network we can capture the huge market. Among the internet users 80 per cent are from urban area. Our focus should therefore be on the rural areas. Because of the gap of internet access between urban and rural areas, a gap has been created in term of quality of education also. Delivering internet service to the rural students will not only reduce the gap, it will open up the whole world to the grassroots-level students. The entire education system can be developed with the help of internet services. All text-books like those of the Education Boards can be uploaded in the internet to provide free access to all. IT sector can be a possible hub for creating employment opportunity. There are only 100 software houses and 35 data entry centres in Bangladesh. If the number of software houses can be increased to 10,000, it will create employment opportunities for 500,000 people. Now the number of unemployed people in Bangladesh is 30 million. Every year 27000 people are added in the unemployment list and only 18000 of them get employment. Software development centres can reduce the unemployment rate to a large extent. Freelance outsourcing is one of the most promising sectors for earning foreign currency and for employment generation. Bangladesh stands in the 3rd position in the world for earning foreign currency from freelance outsourcing. Recently Bangladesh has been listed among the top 30 IT outsourcing countries in the GARTNER, a leading technology magazine. If this sector can be brought under an industrial zone and business regulations are formulated, it can earn more foreign currency. This lucrative sector can be spread out across the country with the help of internet connection. Establishment of at least one data outsourcing centre in every union of Bangladesh may create a huge employment opportunity in near future. One of the main problems in the industrial sector of Bangladesh is that of diversification. Ready-made garments (RMG) sector alone contributes nearly 80 per cent to our total export. Any kind of disorder can bring a severe negative impact on the RMG sector. The ongoing recession in the Euro zone is making our RMG sector more vulnerable as 52 per cent of our total RMG product is exported in EU market. Labour unrest in the garments sector remains a threat on our RMG exports to USA and the European Union (EU). Thus our top export item is entering into a risky zone creating a concern for our economy. To face this export risk we have to diversify our export. IT sector can play a significant role for this diversification. We can develop different types of software and export them to the world market. For example, Salman Khan, a Bangladeshi student, has developed a software on education which achieved world recognition. With our own expertise we should be able to export software abroad after meeting local demand. This will help us diversify our export and avoid risk generated from concentration on a single item, RMG. Raw data may be another great source of exportable item. Recently research papers are being allowed for commercial sale. We can set up required data centres and produce different types of data for export as well as selling them in the local market. Financial data, economic data, other bureaucratic data can be organised to create a comprehensive index. Information and raw data are the blood of any kind of private and public administration. We can grab this opportunity to be the leader in the information selling business. Research paper can be traded commercially worldwide. We can produce research paper based on local and foreign demand. It will also help us uplift the health of the Balance of Payment (BoP). One of the main
Where science is the solution
Where science is the solution Abdul Bayes There is little shade of doubt that Bangladesh has made commendable progress in food grain production, especially rice. The total rice production reached 32 million tonnes in 2009/10 as compared to 25 million tonnes just five years back. Since Independence, production of rice tripled and the growth rate of rice outpaced the population growth rate during the same period of time. Taking into account wheat and maize, the total food grain production perked at 34 million tonnes in 2009/10. Needless to mention perhaps that the shinning success has come through the adoption of modern high yielding varieties (HYVs) with an yield level roughly three times the traditional varieties (TVs). The advancement of science in the region of rice produced spectacular results in many countries, such as Bangladesh, where the specter of famine haunted every moment. With the help of mechanized irrigation, modern varieties are now spread over four-fifth of the cultivated land. Initially, this expensive package was led by the large and the medium land owners; small and marginal farmers remained as laggards. But at the moment, more than 80 per cent of the small and marginal farmers have learnt to adopt this to fight against poverty. The leading institution for rice research in our country is Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) that has released a number of varities suitable to different production conditions. Despite remarkable success in the past, however, a dark cloud loomed large on the horizon of our happiness as a sizeable part of Bangladesh, known as drought and saline-prone areas, suffered due to the lack of scientific advancement suited to their ecology. As such, poverty level in these areas stood very high. As we can recollect, the infamous “monga” or “mora Kartik”, now almost on the wane in greater Rangpur District, used to steal newspaper headlines for its ferocity in terms of famine and hunger. The scientists of the BRRI, with technical assistance from IRRI, is reported to have released three HYVs named BRRI dhan-55, BRRI dhan-56 and BRRI dhan-57. The first variety is a moderate salinity and cold-tolerant variety with an yield rate of 7.0 tonnes per hectare. This is higher than the most widely accepted HYV BRRI-dhan 28. Since the variety is tolerant of salinity and cold, it is suitable for production in the salinity-prone south and the cold-hit north. On the other hand, BRRI dhan-56 and BRRI dhan-57 are drought resistant varieties – a medicine for the smonga-hit regions. Farmers can now expect better harvest as the wet season ends and water becomes scarce. Specially BRRI dhan-56 can withstand rainless days up to one month and the grain matures in 107 and 110 days during Aman season even when the water table depth goes down to 70-80 cm. BRRI dhan-57 can withstand drought for up to three weeks but the grain matures even earlier – in 100 to 105 days. “This means jute farmers can go for late Aman production with this variety while potato growers can think of reaping the paddy quickly and free the land for winter vegetable prior to cultivation of the next boro rice”, a report in a national English daily said. We congratulate both BRRI and IRRI for developing varieties of paddy that would go a long way in mitigating the miseries of the farmers in southern and northern Bangladesh. In this context, we can submit few important points to ponder with. First, science is the solution to our food crisis. As arable land is going down by 1.2 per cent per annum and 2.0 million people are joining the titanic total of more than 150 million each year, the only way to move forward is to cover the whole country with modern varieties of rice. It also means going for hybrid rice after taking due cognizance of the costs, tastes etc. Second, international collaboration in scientific advancement and technology borrowing could help a resource poor country to grapple with the issue of food security. Third, seeing the successes made by our scientists in developing newer varieties of rice, the government should devote more resources to agricultural research and extension services. In fact, development of research and extension services in rice could turn out to be the “real subsidy” for farmers than financial subsidy provided at the cost of devastating distortions and inequality. Finally, time has come to shift the emphasis from ground water irrigation to surface water irrigation as, allegedly, water table is going down further with competing withdrawal of underground water. This means, we should provide more importance to the southern belt which is apparently the center of surface water irrigation. But mere irrigation will not suffice; salinity tolerant varieties – as has recently been released — must make a mark in those areas. By and large, Bangladesh’s breakthrough in addressing the issues of food insecurity in the past, albeit a bleaker one, came on the heels of the development of a series of modern varieties of paddy. The coming years, and the ecologically diverse zones should witness high yielding varieties at a rapid pace. Only an earnest endeavour to scientific advancement in the field of rice research could provide farmers with the last laugh. And let the developments expand to other crops such as wheat, maize etc. For Bangladesh science is security. The writer is a Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University. He can be reached at email: abdulbayes@yahoo.com https://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=152446&date=2011-10-11
