Unheard Voices

I represented Drishtipat in a conference titled ‘Changing Asia: forging partnerships, building sustainability’ held in Manila on 29-30 Aug. The Conference was held by the Asia Forum to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Magsaysay Award, and more details are available here. Other representatives from Bangladesh were: the Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman; Father Richard Timm of Human Rights Hotline; and Sharif Kafi of another NGO.

In what follows, I summarise the Conference proceedings, and where appropriate, my take on things.
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Bringing Bangladesh into The Internet Age

By Jeremy Wagstaff

In Bangladesh, where less than 1 percent of the population has Internet access and where the rare broadband connection is prohibitively expensive, bridging the digital divide may require new approaches.

A group of Bangladeshi expatriates think they have found one that could work - a plan to bring affordable Internet access to their homeland through a blend of high-end wireless technology and social entrepreneurship.

The service, a joint venture between several Bangladeshi-born U.S. citizens and an Internet company based in Oregon, couples paid service for consumers and businesses with free access for schools, and employs a seldom-deployed wireless system.

“We are unique in terms of our vision,” said Reaz Shaheed, chief executive of the venture, AlwaysOn Network Bangladesh. “We are not interested only in profit. We also have a social agenda.” (more…)

Is the current regime doing a good job? If elections are held immediately, will that help or hurt the country? Who is to blame for the fiasco with our ancient treasures? Should the DU teachers under arrest be freed unconditionally? On these, and many other issues, we debate a lot. And if nothing else, we learn how to conduct such debates in a respectful manner - a desirable end in itself. That all of us spend time here despite hectic daily lives is a testament to our concern for Bangladesh and her people. As such, here is an opportunity for all here. If you have a practicable idea that can improve the lives of low and middle income Bangladeshis, then here is your chance. And there is a cool US$25,000 along the way for you to keep.

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Bangladesh has avoided the top 10 for the first time in 6 years and is not perceived to be one of the ten most corrupt countries in the world. Bangladesh’s ranking has improved and its better than 13 countries. However, the CPI score remained at 2.0 like last year. In effect, this means that the perception about Bangladesh’s corruption has not really improved. Only other countries have fared worse. Burma was ranked the worst.

Western governments have accused Burma’s junta — which seized power in 1988 — of turning what was once a jewel of Southeast Asia into one of its most miserable places through repression, mismanagement and corruption.

Burma’s business elite thrive by serving the generals, while many in the country go without regular food and electricity, the top U.S. diplomat in Burma, Shari Villarosa, told reporters earlier this year.

Details at BBC

the full list here

“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?

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.
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Please download the Rickshaw Development Proposal

The challenge was to propose an idea which would have the greatest impact on poverty alleviation in
Bangladesh. After nine months of living and working in the country as volunteers, my colleague Thomas Wipperman and I realised that the answer was all around us. There are many marginalised groups in
Bangladesh; indigenous people, farmers afflicted by the Monga famines, HIV sufferers – but they compromise a tiny minority in a country of over 145 million. When the purpose of intervention is to reach as many people as possible at the lowest end of the social scale, the stand-out constituency is the rickshaw pullers. Rickshaw pullers are the essential cogs in
Bangladesh’s machine. And they deserve better.

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I had initially planned on continuing with the reform theme, following on from term limits and presidential powers. But then, I started to wonder whether there was any point in writing when things like this suggest that guns are more powerful than pens (or keyboards). But to stop writing would mean letting guns have their way. And even though I’m not sure I want to write about reforms under the current circumstances, I can write about things other than politics, as pointed out by some readers in the open thread. In this piece, I’m going to discuss economics.

What is Bangladesh’s current economic condition? I’m going to explore this question, using this article as a starting point. Then I’ll move on to the economic records of the democratically elected governments compared with those of the military-dominated governments. Here, I’ll use this piece as my starting point. Hat tip AsifS for both pieces. As usual, looking forward to a good discussion.

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গত মাসে আমি যখন রাইজিং ভয়েসেস এর ব্লগ আউটরিচ প্রজেক্টের মাইক্রোগ্রান্ট সম্পর্কে এখানে জানাই তখনও বাংলাদেশে সিটিজেন মিডিয়া উদ্যোগগুলো সম্পর্কে তেমন জানতাম না। বাংলাদেশে আসলেই কিছু কাজ হচ্ছে এ নিয়ে।

৪০টি ভিন্ন দেশ থেকে মোট ১৪২টি প্রকল্প প্রস্তাব এসেছিল রাইজিং ভয়েসেসে। তার মধ্যে বাংলাদেশ থেকে ৫ এর অধিক আবেদন ছিল। আনন্দের সাথে জানাচ্ছি ৫টি সফল প্রকল্প যারা ফান্ড পেয়েছেন তার মধ্য দুটিই বাংলাভাষী এবং একটি বাংলাদেশের। গ্লোবাল ভয়েসেস থেকে তাদের সম্বন্ধে:

কাজী রফিক ইসলাম এবং ক্যাথরিন ওয়ার্ড – ঢাকা, বাংলাদেশ:

কাজী রফিক ইসলাম এবং ক্যাথি ওয়ার্ড হচ্ছেন ঢাকার নারী জীবন প্রকল্পের যথাক্রমে সমন্বয়কারী এবং নির্বাহী পরিচালক। এদের ওয়েবসাইট থেকে আপনি জানতে পারবেন তারা ঢাকার যুবনারীদের নিয়ে চোখে পড়ার মত কাজ করছেন। রাইজিং ভয়েসেস ক্ষুদ্র অনুদানের সহায়তায় তারা তাদের বর্তমানে সেবাদানরত বাংলা, ইংলিশ এবং কম্পিউটার ক্লাসের মাধ্যমে বাংলাদেশী নারীদের ব্লগিং, ফটোগ্রাফী এবং ভিডিওব্লগিং করতে শেখাবেন। আপনারা ‘বাংলাদেশ আমাদের চোখে’ এই ব্লগের মাধ্যমে ইতিমধ্যে এইসব নারীদের পোস্ট করা কিছু নমুনা দেখতে পারবেন।

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There is a saying in Bangladesh “শিশুরাই জাতির ভব্বিশ্যত”. Save the Children’s annual State of the World’s Mothers for 2007 indicates that impressive progress in cutting down the infant and child mortality rates and placed us well over India and Pakistan among 60 developing nations in this regard. In fact, the percentage drop in the mortality rates is much higher than South Asian average of thirty percent. If things progess at this rate, Bangladesh is sure to have a positive contribution to the Millennium Development Goals that targets to reduce child mortality rate by two thirds by 2015.

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This blog has previously covered the parlous state of Bangladesh Biman and the hair-raising corruption that seems to be the defining feature of that organization. In spite of regular doses of bad news across many fronts - massive financial losses, horrible safety performance, nonexistent customer service, pukurchuri on the grand scale, defaults on international airport fees and fuel charges, etc etc - in spite of all that, none of our previous elected governments seemed to be much interested in pursuing any sort of reform. An attitude of “jemne choltese choluk” prevailed. Indeed, in the very recent past the mahouts of this white elephant had the audacity to ask both the Finance Ministry and the World Bank for large bailout packages. The lowest of many low points came two months ago when a Biman plane was responsible for shutting down Dubai airport, one of the world’s major aviation hubs. It has seemed to many that it’s only a matter of time before a major accident involving Biman happens somewhere, bringing both the carrier and our country into the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

It is therefore welcome news that the CTG government appears, at long last, to be trying to fix this broken-down company. (BBC story here). This morning, 1400 job cuts were announced as the first major step of a tentative privatization initiative. Details of the scheme are unclear and appear to be contradictory - for example, the government speaks of ‘public limited company’ status by middle of this year while at the same time it wishes to hold on to a 100% stake for now. That doesn’t add up. Other details should raise eyebrows even higher: the MD Mr MA Momen wants a USD 43-million parachute package for the laid-off employees, which translates to roughly 31,000 USD per employee.

Nonetheless, these baby steps are in the right direction. It is not that the loss of 1400 jobs is cause for celebration, especially in a poor country like Bangladesh. Rather it should be set in the context of Biman’s unrivalled record for corruption and waste. Our taxpayers are not obligated to provide life support for an indolent and inefficient state sector indefinitely. Far better that the outfit should be sold off promptly to the highest bidder and that the operation should be run on the same competitive principles that have seen private airlines thrive all across South Asia, including Sahara and Jet in in India and our very own GMG in Bangladesh.

Of course it must be remembered that in the past, many a proposed reform has come unstuck in the face of determined, even violent, union opposition. Here’s hoping that this is not another false dawn for our national carrier.

The evil empires are gone. Defeating the dishonests and corrupts, now the country is ruled by the knights of honesty, barrons of morality.

Lets sing the song of the successes of this honestocracy at this 3 months anniversary.

1. During the rules of the evil empires last 15 years, the judiciary was not free. The supreme court was tainted by influenced judgements.

Now, the judiciary is absolutely free. People get bail solely on the merit of the case, not at the direction of the joint forces command. More

Finally, South Block seems enthusiastic about the region and so this summit this year, with a lot of potential, is more important than any others.

(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

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[DISCLAIMER: This Is By No Means Any Endorsement for GP Stock, or any Financial Advice as far as UV blog is Concerned, but Merely Sharing News on the Current Market Economy in Bangladesh, and how GPL may have an impact]

Grameen Phone Limited (GPL) stocks will go public soon. Currently it is a partnership between Telenor (62%) and Grameen Telecom (38%). GPL got TeleNor’s nod to offer IPO (initial public offering) – but no fixed date has been announced yet.
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The Global Information Technology Report by World Economic Forum has become a valuable and unique benchmarking tool to determine national ICT strengths and weaknesses, and to evaluate progress. It also highlights the continuing importance of ICT application and development for economic growth.

The Report uses the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) to measure the degree of preparation of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from ICT developments. The NRI is composed of three component indexes which assess:
- environment for ICT offered by a country or community
- readiness of the community’s key stakeholders (individuals, business and governments)
- usage of ICT among these stakeholders.

The 2006-2007 report report is published today. And where do we, Bangladesh, stand?

At the bottom, where else!