Topics

46

Industry / Barriers to building industries in Bangladesh and the way-out

« on: March 13, 2012, 09:19:47 PM »

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=120545&date=2012-02-18
VOL 20 NO 378 REGD NO DA 1589 | Dhaka, Saturday February 18 2012
Barriers to building industries in Bangladesh and the way-out

M S Siddiqui concluding his two-part article

Industry is the backbone upon which the economy of any country prevails. The growth of economy as well as economic development of a nation depends upon the development of industrial sector. The external environment of any industry, mainly the political and legal along with social environments affect the growth of industries greatly.

The importance of environment analysis has significant impacts on business and economy since this is directly or indirectly affecting the growth of industry in any country.

Diversifying the economy might mean further shifting the economy away from agriculture and encouraging more manufacturing and services thus reducing the dominance of one sector in favour of others. The economic history suggests that countries tend to diversify their economies from primitive form of agriculture to manufacturing and/or service activity. All nations have their Industrial Policy (IP) considering the geo-political situation, technology, manpower and other factors. The objective of IP is to limit the role of the government generally in establishing strategic and heavy industries and to improve efficiency in the public sector.

The development of industry preferably small and cottage industry are expected on grounds of (i) labour intensity, (ii) use of indigenous raw-materials, (iii) lower capital -output ratio, (iv) generation of employment at minimum investment cost, (v) equitable distribution of income, (vi) regional distribution of industrial investment, (vii) reduction in fixed investment costs through sub-contracting tie-ups, (viii) foreign exchange earnings through exports/imports substitution, (ix) building up entrepreneurial base through trial and error at low cost, (x) introduction of new/appropriate technology atlow cost, etc.

An IP needs to develop the industrial sector in order to increase its contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP), income, resources and employment. IP can promote expansion of industrial sectors, by putting more emphasis on development of the private sector. It can make the role of the government as promotional rather than regulatory. It can encourage domestic and foreign investment in overall industrial development. The development of export-oriented, export linkage and efficient import substitution industries, especially encourage the development of small and cottage industries. A policy can be for exquisite better technology and improvement of appropriate technology. A policy can develop efficient production process to attain self sufficiency in essential consumer goods. IP can ensure development of industries based on indigenous raw materials and indigenous technology, small and medium enterprises (SME) and cottage industries as one of the major driving forces, providing assistance to women entrepreneurs on a priority basis, setting up special economic zones in different parts of the country, improving the quality of industrial products to world standard, marketing of goods at competitive prices, and enhancing productivity in the industrial sector. IP can encourage balanced industrial growth in different regions of the country and expand production in value-added sectors, with high employment and growth multipliers that compete in export markets and in the domestic market against imports. In doing so, IP can also place emphasis on more labour-absorbing production and service sectors, increased participation of historically disadvantaged people and regions in the economy. It can create possible opportunities for revitalising and rehabilitating sick industries. IP may develop policy of effective arrangements for improving standards and controlling quality products and to take appropriate measures for preventing environmental pollution and maintaining ecological balance.

A report of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) and the World Bank Investment Climate indicates that compared to China, India and Pakistan, Bangladesh is falling behind. The incidence of corruption is far greater, the quality of infrastructure poorer and the performance of key government departments or agencies less satisfactory. Added together, the cost of doing business in Bangladesh today compared to other countries in the region is considerably higher. Corruption is pervasive. Bangladesh ranks worse on measures of corruption than its neighbours-with more than half the firms reporting it as a major or very severe obstacle.

Among elements that add to the cost of doing business in Bangladesh invariably are the inordinate delay in the disposal of cases, by the lower courts in particular, and the indifference or incapacity of the police in enforcing law and order.

Infrastructure poses some of the most severe obstacles facing firms. Bangladesh fares worse than its neighbours in general measures of infrastructure, and the vast majority of firms report that problems in infrastructure seriously hamper their growth. The utilities section of the report focuses on three sectors: gas, power, and telecommunications. Bangladesh is already a land scared country and in near future there will be acute shortage of industrial plots.

Bureaucratic barrier is a major obstacle in Bangladesh. Investors view too many regulations also stand as a barrier. Starting a firm in Bangladesh is fairly difficult. And once firms are running, they receive frequent visits from government agencies-about 17 a year on average. Moreover, by studying and adopting best practices from other countries in the region, and South East Asia, with lower corruption indicators; Bangladesh may be able to achieve considerable success in reducing corruption and other hidden costs of doing business, thereby attracting greater investment.

Indirect expenditures most often increase the cost of doing business in Bangladesh. These include the costs of securing adequate infrastructure, obtaining necessary licences and permits, dealing with government bureaucracy, transporting goods, importing or exporting goods, and ensuring security of property and personnel. Although these costs are understood to be an integral part of doing business in Bangladesh, their exact extent is unknown and they must be negotiated unofficially. It is these unofficial costs that cause the greatest problems for businesses. Unofficial costs are difficult to estimate and plan for and may not always yield the desired outcome. Furthermore, sustainable economic growth requires a stable regulatory environment, which is at odds with the personal discretionary system currently in place in Bangladesh.

Finance appears to be a looming problem due to high interest rate, lengthyloan sanction process and high collateral. While most firms appear to have access to finance, it is mostly short-term and nearly 60 per cent of firms with a line of credit report having exhausted that credit. Small- and medium-size firms are disproportionately affected by all these problems. The smaller the firm, the more of its resources it devotes to bribes and to dealing with government visits and inspections-and the less likely it is to have access to formal finance. These problems can pose great barriers to market entry and growth for small firms.

The costs and benefits of these policies and the fairness of the distribution of these costs and benefits should be available to all citizens. Like all economic policies, IP creates winners and losers, and there should be ample public debate about the implications for equity. For example, sometimes industrial policies are deliberately intended to foster greater development in particular regions, or types of region e.g., urban or rural or different part of the country. Industrial policies may also favour particular industries over others, and thus certain types of workers, such as those in manufacturing rather than those in agriculture. Similarly, policies designed to stimulate investment in particular industries may have important implications for gender equity if jobs in that sector tend to be dominated by either men or women.

The implementation of IP is a huge job and only the Board of Investment is unable to implement (BoI) it. The agency is not provided with sufficient power in the governmental structure to cut through the bureaucracy and deliver services to investors. The entire government mechanism with visionary leadership can achieve the target. Bangladesh needs an effective industrial promotion agency out of a government department as an investment promotion agency with the philosophy and outlook of the personnel to change sufficiently.

The image crisis is another major obstacle to foreign investment and foreign trade. Bangladesh cannot sustain in global market with low labour cost and low-cost garments in the export market. It should try for value added high-end product and develop own brand. Industries cannot sustain in long run without premium price and brand image of end products. Again the brand value of 'made in Bangladesh' products depends upon brand value of country.

Bangladesh should take initiative of various bureaucratic, judicial and political reforms being undertaken in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Singapore that are addressing the same problems Bangladesh faces today. This policy is not an innovation but replication of our neighbours to achieve economic and social emancipation.

A few years' long evaluation and consultations by two political and one caretaker governments have given an Industrial Policy -2010 which is in fact a 'wish list'. Can the 'wish list' create a favourable environment for rapid industrialisation and to help address the existing problems?

47

Appreciation, Patience, Tolerance & Ethics / Story of Appreciation

« on: February 29, 2012, 05:13:07 PM »

**Story of Appreciation**

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the first interview; the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the post graduate research, never had a year when he did not score.

The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the youth answered "none".

The director asked, "Was it your father who paid for your school fees?" The youth answered, "My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked, "Where did your mother work?" The youth answered, "My mother worked as clothes cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.

The director asked, "Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?" The youth answered, "Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said, "I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning."

The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid.

The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.

The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked: "Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered, "I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes."

The Director asked, "Please tell me your feelings."

The youth said........

Number 1: I know now what is appreciation. Without my mother, there would not the successful me today.

Number 2: by working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done.

Number 3: I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.

The director said, "This is what I am looking for to be my manager.  I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company's performance improved tremendously.

A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts. When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others. For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement. He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more.

If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?

You can let your kid live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.

48

Internet / Syndromes of cyber addiction

« on: February 15, 2012, 04:16:31 PM »

Syndromes of cyber addiction
 
Addiction to the internet and video games is a threat to the mental growth of children
 
IT Reporter
 
Internet addiction is better than the addiction to smoking and drugs. But some of campaigners against internet are suggesting parents not to allow children more than three hours to work in cyberspace. They are also suggesting before and after the surfing they should workout, join gym or playground.
 
Especially clicking on to video games for a long is a destructive blow to the mind. Many teenagers can play more than 14 hours, even almost full day, they don’t sleep, forget about foods, they don’t get time to go toilet. Few gamers died for dehydration and blood clogging of eyes. Many rehabilitation centres are inaugurated to heal the online addiction syndrome.
 
Researchers at University College London, UCL, found a strong connection between Facebookers’ minds and the amount of grey matter in several regions of the brain, including the amygdala - a region associated with processing memory and emotional responses. It rose the question-- whether these structures change over time; the finding  will help scientist to answer the question of whether the internet is changing our brains.
 
Recently brain scan scientists discovered young peoples’ brain with internet addiction; their white matter fibres of brain damaged, it connects emotional processing, attention and decision making parts. Similar impairments have been found in research into other addictions including alcohol and cocaine.
 
It released after researchers at the University of Worcesters found smartphones are so addictive to many users who have hearing hallucination of ring tone because they are desperate to get new messages.
 
The scientists in China said the study could help develop a treatment, although they admitted they do not know whether the changes to the brain are the cause or consequence of internet addiction.
 
Cyber ignorant parents often appreciate their children's overstaying on the Net. Their wrong perception is that spending much time in the cyber space always educate their children.
 
Too much addiction to the internet is a threat to the natural development of surfers. Internet users have been increasing for the demand of Digital World. To sustain in the competitive world with receiving required knowledge every one needs cyber knowledge. However, instead of knowledge many surfers are spending time on the net for the addiction and obsessions.
Especially students are more vulnerable to the addiction which is taking away much of their time and energy. They are spoiling their study for overstaying at the fun sites.         
 
 
Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) rose from over surfing, abnormally browsing the Net like exchanging cyber dirty words and teasing, 'pathological computer use' and excessive gluing to PCs that hampers daily life. Ivan Goldberg proposed IAD in 1995 to describe the pathological problem.

It has been reported that many offices blocked social networking sites for negligence of works of staffs who prefer the sites more than doing office works. Before the social networking sites some employees inspired surfing the Net for gathering knowledge and keeping in touch with the colleagues, partners and clients.   
If you forget your daily life and be irresponsible to your profession means it is a matter of concern. Being in touch with online friends can keep you distance from your friends in real life. Internet addictions are common among the students and teenagers, free Internet access, availability of internet can be a reason of inspiring the obsession.

Working at online is not always addiction to internet. For profession and for the benefits of yourself internet is essential. You can test yourself own obsession level if you hear you have an addiction to internet. If your mates, coworkers or family members have made comments that you are over using the net, so you should test whether you are addicted or not.
If you ever late in attending office, meeting and assignment for delaying sign out of internet that means you are addicted to internet web options. If you ever found yourself getting very uneasy not to get your a facebook friend on the list. Without emergency talk you spent hours to wait for the friend. It should be a matter of concern for you. Out of stress if you tease someone or sent cyber abusive words means you are not mentally sound and most of time staying on the peoples' personal information can distort your nature. Privacy breaking is a part of mental disorder if you are browsing personal information of other only for pleasure.
Curing internet addiction is a new field of psychology. Every day a big numbers of addicted person are been breeding in the cyberspace. Soon we will have remarkable cyber citizens and a big part of it will be obviously internet addicted that addiction should be cured by trained psychologists; sociologists should address the problem on time.
 
People are hypnotised with Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Myspace to get pleasure and overstaying on there are causing losses of energy and time. Our productivity at work is declining for over surfing and logging on to fun sites.
 
The Independent
10-02-2012

Shahidul K K Shuvra
01715245459
IT and Science Editor
The Independent
www.theindependentbd.com

49

Common Forum / MOVED: Brand Image of DIU

« on: November 29, 2011, 11:43:37 AM »

This topic has been moved to Brand Image of DIU.
From now on all Brand Image related topics will be here.
http://forum.daffodilvarsity.edu.bd/index.php?topic=478.0

50

Internet / Globalisation through cyber connectivity

« on: November 26, 2011, 10:00:49 PM »

Globalisation through cyber connectivity
 
By Shahidul K K Shuvra
 
Nowadays understanding globalisation is vastly connected to the Tour De Force of cyber connectivity. Every thing can be done within World Wide Web, WWW, and acts outside the cyberspace are almost worthless to influence a state and individual. A new world order was being on the way after the rise of internet and its dominance across the earth is going unbridled.
 
Invasion of the west in Asia and the Indian Ocean from the 15th century has been narrated as a part of globalisation. Besides the context of businesses in 1930s it was used in the human experiences regarding peoples’ education. Since 1980s the term went through many conflicting definitions.
 
Literarily globalisation is known as the unification of the world's economic rules by reducing barriers to international trade as tariffs, export fees, transit levy and import quotas. It is the course of expanding wealth, goods and services with integrating international division of labours with facilitating international relations, specialisation and competition. Regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through communication, transit, corridors, transportation and trade.
 
The transnational circulation of ideas and views, linguistically connection via practicing foreign languages or textual translation, all sort of cultural exchanges and dissemination also belong to the term globalisation.
 
The disputes of the cold war had been sparked since the end of the two world wars. The nations belong to the communist block were fostering socialist economy against the capitalist countries. After the breaking up of the Soviet Union and knocking down of the Berlin Wall globalisation started getting focused. Especially Information Technology, IT, is defining globalisation with a newer outlook after 1990s.
 
Three times Pulitzer Prize winner author Thomas Friedman went into in-depth study of globalisation in which he found internet is backbone of the coinage word globalisation. The on going globalisation is powered by cyber connectivity has taken the place of the cold war. His books ‘The Lexus and the Olive Tree’ and ‘The World is Flat’ lucidly discussed on globalisation and about the world navigating ability of the people.       
 
Before the idea of cyberspace some historical components were controlling the destiny of human beings. At present internet fuelled globalisation is determining the fate and fortune of them. Dialectics in society and class struggle theories are yet to be updated with the outlooks behind the internet. People are stepping back from calling themselves historical determinists. The course of technology involved globalisation is re-naming the flow of history differently as technological determine.
 
Innovative individuals are going ahead with the info-tech to defeat traditional methodology of businesses. A revolution can be kicked off from a garage wherein few boys are developing new software, even dropout students who acquired expertise in software manoeuvring can revolutionise the world and they can be richest persons before the age of 25.
 
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are not academic, at all not scientists, not from business background but they got all the aforesaid tittles with the innovations and adopted technologies.
 
Facebook was invented by Mark Elliot Zuckerberg to connect his friends on a website and Linus Benedict Torvalds enriched his personal operating system Linux by sharing on the web. At the beginning of their mission they never imagined the world knocking success that they have achieved till today. Their background in technology and innovation didn’t only make them world influential persons also they changed the way of communication. 25/26 years old Jawed Karim, a Bangladeshi German American, is one of the three who founded You Tube that catapulted tools of video and music sharing.   
 
Professional hacker Julian Paul Assange became a hero for his Wikileaks site that revelled many direct truths and hidden secrets. His acts instigated cyber and social thinkers to rethink about computer ethics and related issues. So far posted information on his site turned to be a treasure for historians, politicians, journalists etc.   
 
Scientific discovery is a result of individual imagination and it can’t be universal until appreciation comes from the public. Its development dependents on widespread application. At present cyber communication is set on more interactivity and it is stronger than the traditional e-mail system. This is surprising that e-mail is going to be a traditional cyber media.
 
In 1969 Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) of the US Department of Defence planted the seed of Internet for connecting computers at some universities. The networking mission called ARPANET was set up for creating a large computer network with multiple paths. Computer scientists of the military and secret services wove their networking formula to save data and information from nuclear attacks and other disasters. As a back up mechanism on the site was to safe from attacks or damaged by other occurrences. During the attack all the information would be saved and passed to the undamaged part of the network. Later the internet technology came out from the military periphery and since 90s it is reshaping economics, social ideas; and cyber disconnected individuals are out of the track of the development.
 
The definition of a super computer is continuously changing and a handheld device like mobile phone may behave like a super computer. Data storing capacity of a computer is rising day by day, once the information storing space of a huge computer of a big research lab was only 5 to 10 GB (gigabyte). Currently a personal PC and even handheld device are able to store information of several labs and archives. This makes a technologically sound and innovative person more change-maker than, to some extent, collective workers of a laboratory and such person can be stronger than a state in the third world.         
 
Urgency to outsource works to the developing countries by the richer West is necessary if they want to survive in the severe capitalist competition. This is the second recession blew the western economy. To rescue themselves from the economic turmoil they have to outsource works and adopt new technology for cost minimisation.
 
Investment is on the click, it can be done from anywhere of the world. Your location isn’t a matter when you are logged on to the internet. One can access information and set up communication from a village of a remote region with a friend doing the same from Africa. Anyone can be well connected in the cyberspace and can explore one’s resources from anywhere in the world.
 
International terrorists are associated with cyber terrorism which is a great threat to the world peace. According to some thinkers terrorist attacks by fanatics is also connected to globalisation where internet played one of the prime roles. Devastative attack on the Twine Tower in US reportedly was done after cyber analysis.
 
Cyberspace is the place to disseminate information; 100 gigabytes file of a nuclear power station design can be passed to another nation. Formulas of the weapons of mass destruction can be sent to the terrorists’ inboxes, trans-border terrorists can keep communication via the cybernetic tools. Border strain can’t slow down their communication.
 
Privacy is under a threat for making citizen data based, going personal information and record of telephonic discussions to the servers of the mobile phone operators. Social networking sites are gripping surfers’ information; hackers and intruders can bring havoc to the cyber commuters. To crack down on terrorists the richer nations are patronising citizen data development. Anyone can be tracked down on even from other nation.
 
Still it is out of the focus that within a decade cyber war will be headache like recent war on terror. Hackers can collapse a nuclear reactor, transactions of financial institutes could be stopped for virus attacks, spy software could kill a system after stealing billion dollars worth information etc. Bankruptcy in the era of the globalisation is one of the common phenomena and internet fraudulence will boost up the cyber criminals to precipitate more bankruptcy.
 
Physicists and engineers are somehow involved with military researches. As a result internet has been developed by Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) of the US Department of Defence. It is almost inevitable for the military establishments of the developed nations to focus with a big fund on cyber technology and warfare. Cyber attacks on the developing nations can be intensified when the system crackers will find security loopholes are available in the east than the west.
       
After the cold war, for globalisation, states are strengthening and confining their borders. Communication among some nations is getting harder. Imposed restrictions and fears of terror attacks limited free movement of the people. So cyber communication is the alternative to reduce the distance. It is an opportunity for the investors and creative people, and also terrorists can accomplish their mission through the internet.     
 
Connecting all the parts of the world with lowering trade and political barriers and adding digital techs in doing business can confirm a desired development. If the citizens want to survive in a densely populated country they don’t have any other way than setting up a well-built cyber society. Penetration of Information and Communication Technologies, ICTs, at the grass root level can change social and economic conditions. There is a prevailing reverse interpretation—with better ICT infrastructures a nation in which no content, no innovation and no info-management are available can invite multinational companies and parasite culture to create market and businesses. Cyber exploitation can be started in that way.   
 
It has been said that globalisation is inevitable for Bangladesh but the country couldn’t occupy a minimum cyberspace. However, the country already branded as a Digital Bangladesh in the last election pledge of Awami League without ensuring uninterrupted electricity, still it is following traditional IT education, failed to connect industry with education system, just for lack of policy bandwidth is unutilised etc.  Gigantic multinational software companies are getting here businesses without investment, only a few staffs of them and partners are selling their products of Crore taka, neither they are investing nor employing our software engineers with handsome salary. Mobile phone subscribers have no scope to escape from the ill-net of telecommunication companies, they are trapped in.
 
Politicians in the cabinet are talking in favour of transit, corridor, free flow of information, free economy and trade zone. But accessing the global villages through the internet is not getting infrastructural and policy supports. Very lately and limitedly Bangladesh Bank introduced online payment gateway. Full-fledged e-Commence yet to be popularised so that freelancers can subscribe some sites and take the outsourcing works. Even a story writer can’t participate in an international story writing competition with paying two dollars reading fee. Still it is out of calculation that tech-based freelancers in the country are generating much revenues than the software industry is supposed to create.
 
Generally conceived distance between day and night has been removed because it is not possible to sleep half of the world when another hemisphere of the world is working. Data entry company and call centres are acquainted with working at the same time of the two hemispheres of the world. Mobile phones and internet penetration are spreading fast but the gap of the digital divide is also widening much. Despite the spreading connectivity it seems navigating world becoming harder for those people who lag behind in right technology adaptation and managing it with required savvy.   

http://www.theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=56&date=2011-11-23 
 
Anniversary Supplement of The Independent
 
Shahidul K K Shuvra
01715245459
www.theindependentbd.com
 

51

CSR / Organised and regulated social service

« on: November 26, 2011, 03:13:52 PM »

Source http://www.fe-bd.com/more.php?news_id=157266&date=2011-11-26
M S Siddiqui

The government is pledge-bound for welfare of citizens and all its activities are meant for welfare of the common people. For doing so the government has a workforce in the administration popularly know as bureaucracy. The administration machinery has certain advantages, disadvantages and limitations. They are unable to reach the really deserving people. The commitments, vision and mission to work for others without any return is believed to be the best option to work for the common people. The legacy of welfare and development initiatives has predisposed traditional organisations to believe that disadvantaged population can be included in mainstream development by providing key inputs in areas of health, education and micro credit etc. The micro credit to the inaccessible poorest of the poor is a widely acclaimed method of banking in the recent history. The practice of giving service to others without expecting any return and helping the distressed are crucial and commitment come from voluntary and religious dimensions.

Philanthropy is not a new issue. It is rooted in custom, tradition and religion. Initially, religious laws and customs governed private charitable and philanthropic activities. Religion has traditionally been one of the principal factors that motivated individuals to undertake philanthropic work in any society. Religious endowments were thus made not only in the hope of living a good life on earth but in order to ensure a heavenly existence in the life hereafter.

People in the predominantly Muslim society of Bangladesh have long assisted the less fortunate through financial help such as zakat, sadqa and fitra. These religious contributions needed an institutional basis to charity. With the passage of time, the spirit and the practice of giving to others has not changed, but the mechanism of providing services to people without profit has undergone transformation.

History has long details how kings and zamindars established mosques, temples, schools and hospitals and donated huge amount of money towards charity in the hope of acquiring name, fame and eternal bliss. The spirit of doing for collective good also prevailed among social leaders and philanthropists, who worked together to assist people in crises like epidemics, famines, floods and cyclones. As natural calamities were a regular feature of this part of the globe, recourse to community support was an inevitable choice for the general populace.

Colonial rule in the South Asian subcontinent influenced philanthropic activities considerably. Christian missionaries engaged in philanthropic work across the region, often choosing remote and impoverished communities to establish hospitals, schools, orphanages and associations.

Therefore, what started out as purely humanitarian efforts, ultimately evolved into concrete mechanisms for providing services to the people. The societies, trusts, clubs, associations, foundations and other entities were established with the primary objective of rendering social services in an organised manner.

The sustainability of these institutions largely depends on availability of funds and the manner in which the funds are managed. These are operated within a regulatory framework regulated by the government, foreign donors, domestic donors, or generation of surplus through their activities for financial sustainability. The foreign donors are gradually shifting the responsibility of their fund from government agencies to non-government organisations (NGO) and private individuals. The advent of donor-aided NGOs is another dimension of donation for the cause of common people. NGOs have institutionalised the pattern of philanthropic activities for operation of funds available from foreign donors and other sources.

Non-profit organisations in Bangladesh are mainly formed under four acts: The Societies Registration Act (1860); The Trusts Act (1882); The Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance (1961) and The Companies Act (1994). There are two sets of laws in Bangladesh that pertain to non-profit organisations - one setting out the parameters of legal status and legal obligations, and the other setting out the regulatory measures under which such organisations must operate.

The activities of non-profit organisations and their funding status are regulated under the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance (1961); the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Ordinance 1978 (as amended in 1982); and the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Ordinance 1982. There are also legislated or regulate religious laws pertaining to the registration and activities of religious philanthropic and charitable institutions. For example, the Waqfs Ordinance (1962) was established for the registration and regulation of Muslim trusts.

There are in flow of foreign funds to many organisation including NGOs. It is not mandatory that non-profit organisations make public their activities, decisions and accounts. And unless there is a complaint or dispute or a specific legal requirement, there is no general provision for government inspection. The government may, at any time, inspect the accounts and other documents of non-profit organisations receiving foreign funds under the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Ordinance, 1978. Most non-profit organisations have their own means of regulating their affairs, the terms of which are included in their individual constitutions or articles of association. Now-a-days, the NGOs are in business namely social business and having successful ventures. The commercial activities of the NGOs and their profit are under debate. There is demand for introduction of regular tax on their social business.

Non-profit organisations are generally established on the basis of certain purposes and objectives. While some of these purposes may be quite specific in terms of meaning and application, there are others that are wider in scope. There are many types of service organisations like society, trust, waqf, non-profit company and service club like Rotary and Lions clubs etc.

A society has a separate legal identity as a body corporate with perpetual succession and operates for pecuniary gain. Pecuniary gain is making a profit with the intention of passing this profit on to some or all of the members of the society. In case of a society to be registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860, it is essential that it must be established for charitable purposes.

A foundation is a non-profit organisation which is usually created via a single primary donation from an individual or a business and whose funds and programmes are managed by its own trustees or directors. As such, rather than funding its ongoing operations through periodic donations, a private foundation generates income by investing its initial donation, often disbursing the bulk of its investment income each year to desired charitable activities.

A trust is an obligation binding a person, the trustee to deal with property in a particular way for the benefit of another person or class of persons whose interests are protected by the equitable jurisdiction of the courts. In general, a trust is a relationship in which one person holds title to property, subject to an obligation to keep or use the property for the benefit of another. The Trusts Act 1882 provides legal cover for private acts of public charity and affords creators or authors considerable flexibility in the operation of the trust. A trust may be set up for public welfare, naming several trustees who will administer the trust in conformity with the trust instrument. Some trust property, whether in cash, assets, land or buildings; and the beneficiaries must be the public at large or some section of it.

A waqf may be created for pious, religious and charitable purposes. No transfer may be made by a mutawalli of any immoveable property of a waqf by way of sale, gift, mortgage or exchange or by way of lease exceeding five years without the previous sanction of the Administrator of Waqfs. A waqf is an inalienable religious endowment in Islam, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. It is conceptually similar to the common law trust

In Islamic terms, waqf refers to a religious endowment i.e. a voluntary and irrevocable dedication of one's wealth or a portion of it - in cash or kind such as a house or land property, and its disbursement for shariah compliant projects such as mosques or religious schools.

Waqf is a permanent donation. Once a waqf is created, it can never be donated as a gift, inherited, or sold. Disbursement of its returns is done in accordance with the endower's wishes. Charity is Islamic concept of alms-giving -Sadaqah, a voluntary act of giving alms.

In order for a voluntary social welfare agency to be established under the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance 1961, it must be established for the purpose of rendering social services. Social services are defined by the act to include child welfare; youth welfare; women's welfare; welfare of the physically and mentally handicapped; family planning; recreational programmes intended to keep people away from anti-social activities; social education; education aimed at developing civic responsibility; welfare and rehabilitation of released prisoners, juvenile delinquents, socially handicapped, beggars and destitutes; welfare of the aged and the infirm; training in social work; and coordination of social welfare agencies.

An association may be incorporated as a non-profit company with limited liability of the Companies Act provided it is formed to advance commerce, arts, science, religion, charity or any other useful object; it uses its income in promoting its objects; and it prohibits the payment of any dividend to its members.

The government may in issuing the license direct that the association be registered as a company with limited liability, without adding the word 'limited' to its name. The license may be granted subject to such conditions and restrictions that the government may deem fit and shall be binding on the association.

A service club or service organisation is a voluntary non-profit organisation where members meet regularly to perform charitable works either by direct hands-on efforts or by raising money for other organisations. A service club is defined first by its service mission; second its membership benefits, such as social occasions, networking, and personal growth opportunities encourage involvement.

A service organisation is not necessarily exclusive of ideological motives, although organisations with such defined motives are more likely to identify themselves through their association. Much like the historical religious organisations formed the basis for many of societal institutions, such as hospitals, service organisations perform many essential services for their community and other worthy causes.

Historically, most service clubs consist of community-based groups that share the same name, goals, membership requirements, and meeting structure. Most of these clubs started with a single club in a single city, but then replicated themselves by organising similar clubs in other communities. Many of the service club organisations have become world-wide movements. Rotary and Lions clubs are remarkable service clubs, and have obtained official recognition by the United Nations and various governments as non-government organisations.

These service clubs have remarkable contribution in certain service sectors. Rotary Club has donated about Tk 11.48 billion for immunisation programme. The programme is conducted by the government and the fund channalises through UNICEF to Bangladesh government; and Tk 63 billion throughout the world to eradicate Polio from the world. The Eye camps for free treatment are one of the landmark social work of Lions club.

These contributions of individuals from home and abroad are sources of income to many people in Bangladesh and they are having more and more influence in woman empowerment, health and education etc.

The government has no records of organisations active in Bangladesh. It is, however, gradually trying to regulate the activities through various laws and rules. There are some regulating authorities like NGO Bureau, Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) etc to co-ordinate and integrate with such government programmes

The writer is a part time teacher of the Leading University, and pursuing PhD in Open University, Malaysia. He can be reached at email: shah@banglachemical.com

52

Alert for various Fraud activities / New Scam in Singapore, it won't be long to be here!

« on: November 10, 2011, 02:24:27 PM »

Please read and note ! Bad guys are everywhere !!!
VERY SOPHISTICATED WAY OF CHEATING - be wary of those who
> come bearing gifts. You may like to circulate this to your
> friends. Just happen last week in Singapore.

> Hi everyone,

> I want to let you all know that Frank and I have been the
> victims of credit card fraud this week and felt I should
> warn you all about the clever scam. It works like this:

> Last Wednesday I had a phone call late morning from Express
> Couriers to ask if I was going to be home as he had a
> delivery for me. He said he would there in
>  roughly an hour. He turned up wi th a beautiful basket of
> flowers and wine. I expressed my surprise as I wasn't
> expecting anything like this and said I was intrigued to
> know who was sending me such a lovely gift. He said he was
> only delivering the gift and the card was being sent
> separately (the card has never arrived).There was a
> consignment note with the gift.

> He went on to explain that because the gift contained
> alcohol he has to charge the recipient $3.50 as proof that
> he has actually delivered to an adult, and not left it on
> a door step if the recipient is out, to be stolen or taken
> by children. This seemed logical and I offered to get the
> cash.
> He then said that the company required the payment to be by
> EFTPOS so he's not handling cash and everything is
> properly accounted for.

> Frank was there and got his credit card and 'John'
> swiped the card on this small mobile machine that also had a
> small screen upon which Frank entered in
>  his pin number. A  receipt was printed out and given
> to us.

> Between last Thursday and Monday $4,000 was withdrawn from
> our credit account at ATM machines in the north shore area.
> It appears a dummy credit card was made using the details in
> the machine and of ! course, they had Frank's pin
> number. The Bank has stopped our cards and I've been to
> the Police this morning, where they confirmed that it is a
> definite scam and many households were hit during the first
> 3 days of October.

> So PLEASE be wary of accepting a gift you're not
> expecting especially if the card is not with it. We've
> all received gifts like this and would never dream that it
> could be such a despicable act. Please also let other female
> friends and relatives know. Hopefully, these fraudsters have
> ceased this activity by now but you never know.

Joshua Chin date 10.11.11

53

Be a Business man/woman / Steve Jobs and the Seven Rules of Success

« on: October 25, 2011, 11:26:28 PM »

Steve Jobs and the Seven Rules of Success
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220515?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed 

Steve Jobs' impact on your life cannot be overestimated. His innovations have likely touched nearly every aspect -- computers, movies, music and mobile. As a communications coach, I learned from Jobs that a presentation can, indeed, inspire. For entrepreneurs, Jobs' greatest legacy is the set of principles that drove his success.

Over the years, I've become a student of sorts of Jobs' career and life. Here's my take on the rules and values underpinning his success. Any of us can adopt them to unleash our "inner Steve Jobs."

1. Do what you love. Jobs once said, "People with passion can change the world for the better." Asked about the advice he would offer would-be entrepreneurs, he said, "I'd get a job as a busboy or something until I figured out what I was really passionate about." That's how much it meant to him. Passion is everything.

2. Put a dent in the universe. Jobs believed in the power of vision. He once asked then-Pepsi President, John Sculley, "Do you want to spend your life selling sugar water or do you want to change the world?" Don't lose sight of the big vision.

3. Make connections. Jobs once said creativity is connecting things. He meant that people with a broad set of life experiences can often see things that others miss. He took calligraphy classes that didn't have any practical use in his life -- until he built the Macintosh. Jobs traveled to India and Asia. He studied design and hospitality. Don't live in a bubble. Connect ideas from different fields.

4. Say no to 1,000 things. Jobs was as proud of what Apple chose not to do as he was of what Apple did. When he returned in Apple in 1997, he took a company with 350 products and reduced them to 10 products in a two-year period. Why? So he could put the "A-Team" on each product. What are you saying "no" to?   

5. Create insanely different experiences. Jobs also sought innovation in the customer-service experience. When he first came up with the concept for the Apple Stores, he said they would be different because instead of just moving boxes, the stores would enrich lives. Everything about the experience you have when you walk into an Apple store is intended to enrich your life and to create an emotional connection between you and the Apple brand. What are you doing to enrich the lives of your customers?

6. Master the message. You can have the greatest idea in the world, but if you can't communicate your ideas, it doesn't matter. Jobs was the world's greatest corporate storyteller. Instead of simply delivering a presentation like most people do, he informed, he educated, he inspired and he entertained, all in one presentation.

7. Sell dreams, not products. Jobs captured our imagination because he really understood his customer. He knew that tablets would not capture our imaginations if they were too complicated. The result? One button on the front of an iPad. It's so simple, a 2-year-old can use it. Your customers don't care about your product. They care about themselves, their hopes, their ambitions. Jobs taught us that if you help your customers reach their dreams, you'll win them over.

There's one story that I think sums up Jobs' career at Apple. An executive who had the job of reinventing the Disney Store once called up Jobs and asked for advice. His counsel? Dream bigger. I think that's the best advice he could leave us with. See genius in your craziness, believe in yourself, believe in your vision, and be constantly prepared to defend those ideas.

54

Be a Leader / জীবনের যেকোনো কাজে সফল হওয়ার উপায়

« on: October 25, 2011, 11:09:58 PM »

জিবন আসলে একটা চক্র (জন্ম থেকে মৃত্যু)।এই ছোট্ট জিবনে আমরা অনেক বড় হতে চাই। কিন্তু আমাদের মাঝে হতাশা কাজ করে ।আর এই হতাশা দূর করার জন্য আমার এই টুইটস। টুইটগুলকে আমি ১০টি পর্বে সাজিয়েছি। আশাকরি সবাই খুব মনোযোগ দিয়ে শুরু থেকে শেষ পর্যন্ত পড়বেন।
আজকে আমি সবার সাথে জিবনের প্রয়জনিয় কিছু বিষয় নিয়ে আলোচনা করবো।

একজন লোক মেলায় লাল-নিল-সবুজ ইত্যাদি অনেক রঙয়ের বেলুন বিক্রি করে জীবিকা নির্বাহ করতো । কখনো কখনো তার বিক্রি কমে গেলে সে হিলিয়াম গ্যাসে ভর্তি একটি বেলুন আকাসে উড়িয়ে দিত। বেলুনটিকে আকাশে উড়তে দেখে উৎসাহী বাচ্চারা বেলুনগুলোর কাছে ভিড় করে তার বিক্রি বাড়িয়ে দিত। সারাদিন এই পদ্ধতিতে বেলুন বিক্রি করত । একদিন পিছন থেকে জামায় টান পরাতে বেলুনয়ালা মুখফিরিয়ে দেখল একটা বাচ্চা ছেলে । বাচ্চা ছেলেটি বলল “কালো রঙয়ের বেলুন কি আকাশে ঊরে?” বালকটির অত্তাধিক আগ্রহ লক্ষ্য করে লোকটি তাকে আশ্বস্ত করে বলল, “ভাই , রঙয়ের জন্য আকাশে ঊরে না , বেলুনের ভিতরের গ্যাস বেলুনকে আকাশে উড়ায়”।
আমাদের জিবনেও একথা সত্য । আমাদের ভিতরে কি আছে সেইটাই প্রধান। আমাদের ভিতরের যে জিনিসটি আমাদের উপরে উঠতে সাহায্য করবে তা হল আমাদের মানসিকতা। আমরা যদি মানসিকতা ঠিক করে একটা সিন্ধান্তে উপনীত হই যে আমি ইহা পারবোই। তাহলে আপনি দেখবেন যে আপনি সেই কাজে সফল।

যেকোনো কাজে আপনি প্রথমে পরাজিত হতে পারেন,কিন্তু এর অর্থ এই না যে আপনি পারবেন না। আমেরিকা প্রক্তন প্রেসিডেন্ট আব্রাহাম লিংকন জিবনে অনেক বার পরাজিত হয়েছেন। তার পরাজয়ের কাহিনী নিম্নরূপঃ
২১ বছর বয়সে তিনি বিজনেসে ক্ষতিগ্রস্ত হয়।
২২ বছর বয়সে আইন সভার নির্বাচনে পরাস্ত হন।
আবার ২৪ বছর বয়সে তিনি বিজনেসে ক্ষতিগ্রস্ত হয়।
২৬ বছর বয়সে তার প্রিয়তমা মারা যায়।
৩৪ বছর বয়সে তিনি কংগ্রেস নির্বাচনে পরাস্ত হন।
৪৫ বছর বয়সে তিনি সাধারন নির্বাচনে পরাস্ত হন।
ভাইস প্রেসিডেন্ট হওয়ার চেষ্টায় নিরাস হন ৪৭ বছর বয়েসে ।
প্রেসিডেন্ট হিসেবে নির্বাচিত হন ৫২ বছর বয়েসে ।
একেই কি ব্যর্থ বলে? না। আব্রাহাম লিংকন এর মতে “পরাজয় মানে সমাপ্তি নয়,যাত্রা একটু দীর্ঘ হয় মাত্র”।
বিজয়ীরা সবসময় যেকোনো সমস্যা মোকাবেলা করতে প্রস্তুত ।বিজয়ী দের আচারন নিচে দেয়া হলঃ
বিজয়ী বনাম বিজত

*বিজয়ীরা সব প্রশ্নের উত্তর খোঁজেন
বিজিতরা প্রশ্নের সমস্যা নিয়ে ব্যস্ত থাকেন।
*বিজয়ীদের একটি কার্যক্রম থাকে,
বিজিতদের থাকে সব বিষয়ে অজুহাত।
*বিজয়ীরা বলেন তোমার হয়ে কাজটা করে দিচ্ছি
বিজিতরা বলেন এটা আমার কাজ নয়।
*বিজয়ীরা বলেন কাজটা কঠিন কিন্তু করা সম্ভব,
বিজিতরা বলেন কাজটা করা গেলেও খুব কঠিন।
*বিজয়ীরা বলেন আমি অবশ্যই কিছু করবো
বিজিতরা বলেৎ “কিছু করা উচিৎ”

নিজের বিবেককে প্রশ্ন করেন,আপনি বিজয়ী না বিজিত?

From http://techtweets.com.bd/uncategorized/zahid-hassan/10639?mid=5092

55

Be a Leader / The most innovative Jobs: Think different

« on: October 25, 2011, 02:44:03 PM »

The most innovative Jobs: Think different
October 12, 2011

Many years have passed, but I can still vividly recall the excitement I felt when my father bought us our first computer, it was an Apple Macintosh; cream in colour, size of a small microwave, with a built-in monitor, and a mouse. There was nothing seemingly complicated about it, you could learn to use it just by following your intuition.

Steve Jobs (1955 – 2011), who died on October 5 at the age of 56, was the co-founder of Apple Inc. He played a pivotal role in shaping how we interact with computers and electronic gadgets, and redefined entertainment; in doing so, he changed the course of our imagination and our human experience.

From the beginning, the design of every product developed by Apple was like artwork, they could easily be a decoration piece in one’s living room; but they were more than just visual beauty, each device pushed the boundaries of what we thought was humanly possible.  Jobs had the vision to see things not in the way things ought to be but what it should be; he brought the future to the present, and made science fiction our reality.  In the world of technological innovation, where products become obsolete as fast as its arrival, what has endured for Apple are its core philosophy of intuitive design meshed with cutting edge functionality.

As Jobs put it, “Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works…To design something really well, you have to get it. You have to really grok what it’s all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that.”

In 2001, when Apple launched the sleek iPod, with its click wheel design, it would foreshadow the transformation of the music and entertainment industry.  At a time when Napster created havoc by offering free music downloads, Apple offered iTunes and music stores where people were willing to pay for music. He presented the ingenious idea of selling music like a slice of pizza, instead of the convention of forcing the buyer to purchase the entire album. This innovative pricing strategy broadened a market that was on its way to becoming obsolete.

Jobs was the rare businessman, who was an artist and designer at heart.  His drive and passion was not only to create successful products, but an enduring company where the mission was beyond mere financial profitability, it was about driving change in how consumers experienced the world and everything around them.

He created an environment (or perhaps nudged) those who worked at his company to “think different” (it would be Apple’s marketing campaign to “Think Different” as opposed to “think differently”).  Jobs took all of us on his journey to see and feel things that perhaps exists in the recesses of all our minds, somewhere hidden deep between the conscious and subconscious.

Jobs journey to the pinnacle of an industry that he helped transform began with humble beginnings, with twists, obstacles and uncertainty right from the start. As an infant, he was adopted by Armenian couple Clara and Paul Jobs.  His biological parents, Joanne Schieble and Syrian Muslim father Abdulfattah Jandali were graduate students at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. At the time of Jobs’ birth, they were unmarried, and due to pressure from Schieble’s father against marrying an Arab, they gave Jobs up for adoption. (Shortly after Jobs’ adoption, his biological parents married; after the death of Schieble’s father.)

Schieble and Jandali’s only requirement for the adoption was that the adopting parents be college educated. It turned out both Clara and Paul lied on their application about their education level. The adoption almost fell through due to this, but Clara and Paul promised that they would send Jobs to college.

Jobs attended the prestigious Reed College for six months only to drop out. He thought the cost of attending college put too high of a financial burden on his parents. He however dropped in on creative classes and developed a fascination for calligraphy. His love of calligraphy would later influence his focus on typography.

“I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great,” Jobs said. “It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.”

In 2007, Apple released the iPhone. With its release, the phone industry was reshaped. Dominant players such as Nokia and Research in Motion (makers of Blackberry) would soon lose their historical hold in the US market. Carriers such as AT&T, Version and Sprint’s business would suffer or blossom depending on the relationship they had with Apple.

The phone was no longer a device to make calls, it was now a portable computer, camera and entertainment centre wrapped in one. As expected, the trend set by Apple was copied by the competition. The marketplace for smart-phones, which was the domain of business users, would segway to retail customers. The entire market for phones would exponentially grow in size, due to Apple’s innovations.

The innovation unleashed by Apple was more than having ample funds and resources, as Jobs put it, “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”

The last decade was clearly Apple’s decade; the iPod was a game changer, and then came iTunes, iPhone and iPad. Some of us are so accustomed to these products that it is easy to forget what the world was like without them. Just less than a week prior to Jobs’ death, I bought Apple’s Airport Extreme, it is a wireless networking solution; I marvelled at its design – simple, elegant, and yet extremely functional; it sits in my living room undistinguishable from actual showpieces.

Jobs was a creative genius, and surely he had natural talent. But there are insights, he revealed that we can all imitate that would perhaps make us at least one step closer to his liking.

In 2005, Jobs gave the commencement speech at Stanford, he said, “much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on”.

He advised everyone not to be “trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary”.

He spoke about a photograph and caption he found in the mid-70s on the back of a magazine, which he remembered the rest of his life.  The caption was “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” Jobs described the photograph as “an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous”.

Simple advice from a man who transformed the boundaries of innovation, the boundaries of our mind, and changed our lives’ journey — forever.  Think Different! Think Different!

Postscript:
I believe there is a tremendous lesson developing countries such as Bangladesh can learn from Steve Jobs and Apple (and should be used as a case study). When Apple entered the personal computers space in the 1970’s, companies such as IBM and Xerox dominated, only to be overtaken by Apple. Sony was a leader in consumer electronics in the 1980’s only to be outdone by Apple. Over the past ten years the share price of Microsoft has decreased, IBM has approximately doubled (i.e. less than 100 percent growth), Xerox is flat, whereas Apple shares have increased by over 4500 percent.

The typical story in Bangladesh is that business deals are won through connections instead of the content of one’s ideas; which means the Apples of Bangladesh will lose to the IBMs. The net loser will be the Bangladeshi people.

Bangladesh may think it is unable to compete with neighbours who have a larger work-force and are rich in resources. But as demonstrated by Apple, with creative thinking, passion, vision for the long horizon and impeccable execution of strategy, these obstacles can be overcome. It has been done; Bangladesh needs to learn from those who have achieved this success.

There are several countries in the region, such as South Korea, who have developed a successful strategy framework for competing with historically stronger neighbour such as Japan. Korean firms such Samsung and Hyundai, no longer fear Sony and Toyota; and consumers are no longer shying away from Korean products in favour of Japanese. Certainly, Bangladesh has had historical challenges, such as natural disasters, but with right leadership and a framework for growth, change can occur.

Price of electronics and technology is dropping inversely to the power it offers, and in the near future, the vast number of poor who have been left out of the digital revolution will have access. Just think how fast cellular phones have spread; now you can find farmers speaking on phones that were once luxury, even for the wealthy. In a similar fashion, we will find iPads and other electronic devices connecting students in the most outskirt regions, where physical roads are even missing. The poor will be most impacted by this technology transfer.

The government’s role in many regards will be to facilitate the process; provide a legal and structural framework. If there are legal and structural distractions, it will only impede innovation and growth.  Just ask, how much energy is lost driving from one place to another, how much frustration one faces trying to get simple tasks done such as registering a vehicle; or performing more “complicated” deals such as buying and selling real-estate. The daily non-sense has substituted the innovative zeal that is in all of us. In spite of this, the poor have been extremely resilient even with great obstacles; imagine if things were marginally more efficient.

Bangladesh has been the ancestral home to many great scientists and thinkers (more on this on a future article). There are Steve Jobs’ walking around Bangladesh right now, if the right system existed, the net would capture them; and Bangladesh would be an exporter of innovation instead of an importer. However, when there are holes in the system, the outcome will be the demonstrated track-record.

Jobs dropped out of school and still become one of the greatest innovators of our time. Bill Gates (Microsoft), Michael Dell (Dell), Larry Ellison (Oracle), and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) are all billionaire dropouts, who have shaped the technology space and beyond. In Bangladesh, people are too busy brandishing their BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology) degree and admissions test scores (even 20 years after graduation); public devours and worships this, instead of focusing on the impact one has made. Let this be an open (and friendly) challenge to BUET graduates to produce the next Jobs (a BUET dropout will count)!

—————————————
Ikhtiar Kazi is an economist and capital markets professional.

56

Business / Informal economic activities and criminal acts

« on: October 22, 2011, 11:47:00 PM »

Informal economic activities and criminal acts

M S Siddiqui

Civil society and media in Bangladesh regularly mix up informal economic activities with criminal activities. On the other hand, the country has wholesale methods of whitening black money earned both through informal economic activities and illegal means like smuggling, drug trafficking, bribe, illegal toll collection, extortion, cheating etc. Often the opportunity of whitening black money provides an escape route to the corrupt.

Majority of the laws and regulations that govern the business sector are cumbersome. Inefficient application of rules and regulations causes arbitrary exercise of bureaucratic and political power allowing administration to engage in corrupt practices. Moreover, lack of accountability, transparency, and law and order facilitates corruption. In most cases, an entrepreneur engages himself in deal-making and underpays legitimate transactions with corresponding payoffs to public officials. Payoffs are commonly made to public officials to obtain a trade licence, services connections, getting illegal things done, or even paying just utility bills and taxes. Entrepreneurs routinely resort to bribery or illegal payoffs, influence peddling for personal or corporate gains.

The distinction between formal economic activities and criminal activities surfaced once again while The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) of the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) asked Bangladesh government about its promised actions on identifying money laundering and terrorist financing; institutionalising and enforcing adequate procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets, and implementing requisite procedures for confiscating funds related to money laundering. Furthermore, APG also wanted to know how much progress had been made on ensuring a fully operational and functioning Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU); improving suspicious transaction reporting requirements and improving international cooperation. The government in June, 2010 submitted an Action Plan to FATF outlining its desire to tighten the money laundering and terrorist financing. FATF raised the issue of money whitening provision in the current budget (2011-12) through investment in stock market.

Upon advice of FATF, Ministry of Finance has initiated move to formulate regulations to plug the holes used for terrorist financing, and a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) will soon be issued by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on investing black money in bond and capital market. New SRO will pave the way for anti-graft watchdog Anti-corruption Commission to question source of funds and punish criminals. It will also allow informal economic activities to migrate to formal business regulated under law of the country.

Bangladesh is yet to gain membership to Egmont Group, an international organisation comprising members of financial intelligence units of member countries. The Egmont Group aims at improving cooperation in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Bangladesh's application is on hold for several reasons. It is yet to make certain amendments of regulations - introducing online reporting system to make the FIU of Bangladesh Bank more effective, strengthening monitoring in the NGO Affairs Bureau, Securities and Exchange Commission and postal department to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

The informal economy has blossomed primarily due to higher costs and longer delays associated with the adherence to existing laws and regulations. Too many regulations, high cost of compliance, government corruption, poverty, deprived access to justice, etc. push businesses and economic activities to informal sectors. There are some complexities in defining informal economy or informal economic activities. Certain types of income and the means of their generation are unregulated by regulatory institutions in some countries but regulated in other countries. The informal economy, generally untaxed in nature, commonly includes goods and services of any kind and category. They include private unincorporated enterprises, individuals or households that are not constituted as separate legal entities. Hence, for such entities, no complete accounts are available that would permit a financial separation of the production activities of the enterprise from the other activities of its owners.

The distinction between formal and informal economic activities is determined by the national laws of individual countries. There are many economic activities that generate little income, but constitute a vital means of survival. These include: self-employed single individuals (street hawkers, taxi drivers and home-based workers), casual and temporary jobs, subsistence agriculture, multiple job holding, etc. Undeclared business activities resulting in tax evasion, avoidance of labour regulation and other government or institutional regulations, no registration of the company also constitute informal economic activities.

The vast majority of informal economic activities provides goods and services whose production and distribution are perfectly legal. Informal economic activities are not necessarily performed with the deliberate intention of evading taxes or social security contributions; infringing labour legislation or other regulations. The informal economy can however include restricted illegal and restricted legal operations, but no criminal operation. The informal economy should therefore not be confused with the 'black market' which is characterised by criminal economic activities like trade in stolen goods.

The informal economy has been observed to have more of a fixed character in developing countries where incomes and assets are not equitably distributed. As such when economic growth is not accompanied by improvements in employment levels and income distribution, the informal economy does not shrink, instead it begins to increase continuously in mostdeveloping countries, in both rural and urban areas.

The informal economic activities are largely characterised by easy entry and exit in relation to formal enterprise owing to low requirements of capital and skills, professional qualifications, labour-intensive methods of production, and skills gained from informal training and education, poor working conditions, and lack of knowledge on legal rights. The employees are not employed on regular basis and nominal wages are determined in a free market environment. Almost every country has an informal economy with differing dimensions, the highest beingdeveloping countries where up to 60 per cent of the labour force is in the informal sector. A recent study of donors says that 35 per cent of GDP of Bangladesh is in informal sector. Tax evasion is widespread in Bangladesh. Undeclared income could account for up to 80 per cent of GDP -- some US$110 billion, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported recently, citing a new Finance Ministry study. There is no reliable statistics of informal economy.

Underground activities like crime, corruption, bribe, money laundering, smuggling etc are not part of informal economy but activities of criminal nature and the global community is concerned of these crimes including terrorist financing and promote of security concern.

Despite the prevalence of the informal economy, many countries do not have official definitions of the same. Instead, some institutions in these countries have created their own interpretation of the institutions that function in the informal economy. Bangladesh has no differentiation between informal sectors and criminal activities.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) classifies organisations that do not contribute to the general Employees Provident Fund (EPF). According to the Central Statistical Organisation of India, all unincorporated enterprises and household industries (other than organised ones) which are not regulated by laws and which do not maintain annual accounts or balance sheets constitute the unorganised sector. Indonesian authority defined the informal sector as individuals over 10 years of age, self-employed assisted by family members, farmer employees or non-wage family workers. The Thai National Statistical Office (NSO) defines the informal sector as those enterprises that typically operate with a low level of organisation on a small-scale, low and uncertain wages and have no social welfare and security.

It has been observed that in some countries in Asia, the informal economy has declined during economic boom and increased during economic recession. This shows the link or dependency of the informal economy on the formal one. However, the informal economy has been observed to have more of a fixed character in countries where incomes and assets are not equitably distributed. It seems that if economic growth is not accompanied by improvements in employment levels and income distribution, the informal economy does not shrink. The situation therefore is that the informal economy is continuously increasing in most developing countries, even in rural areas.

The legal and regulatory framework relating to entrepreneurship and business affects both the informal and formal economic activities. It reflects the overall investment climate of a country. Transparent and unambiguous laws and regulations reduce bureaucratic blunders and corruption while leading to efficient investment procedures. Legal instability and high volatility of fiscal and business regulations enhance informal economic activities. The taxation regulation, foreign exchange arrangements, environmental laws and regulations, competition regulation, consumer protection and regulations concerning access to finance should be easier and clearly defined and properly enforce equally on all the citizens.

The rule of law is essential to achieve economic development and sustainable poverty reduction. An important issue to be answered here is whether informal economic activities can be reduced so as to allow the formal economy to take its place.

All the countries have provision of changing the informal economy to formal economy for enhancing the social and economic development. It has been observed that even a small formalisation process would probably give rise to an increased economic growth. However, the formalisation of informal enterprises in many developing countries is a difficult process mainly due to lack of rule and regulations. The law and rule should have distinctive definition of informal economic activities and criminal activities. Bangladesh must have official definition of informal economy and informal economic activities.

The writer is a part time teacher of the Leading University and pursuing PhD in Open University, Malaysia. He can be reached at e-mail: shah@banglachemical.com

57

Higher Education / Strategy of financing higher education in Bangladesh

« on: October 21, 2011, 10:37:00 AM »

Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest and most densely populated countries, but according to the IMF list of 2007, Bangladesh ranked as the 48th largest economy in the world"10. And if this type of success is achieved by Bangladesh where its universities turn out almost "450,000 skilled graduates" annually, then we can easily imagine that if the number of university graduates goes higher then there is a huge possibility that the economy of Bangladesh would be in much better position rather than 48th. So, let's work together to findout more ways to finance higher education in Bangladesh for a more prosperous future.
 
==============================================
 
 
Strategy of financing higher education in Bangladesh

Kazi Khaled Shams Chisty



The quality of human resources of a nation is easily judged by the percentage of literate population living in it. Only through the attainment of education, one is able to receive information from the external world; to get acquainted with the past and receive all necessary information regarding the present. For the development of any field or area such as Business, Science, Economics, Religion education is deemed necessary.

This is to say that education is a must if a nation aspires to achieve growth and development and more importantly sustain it. This may well explain the fact that rich and developed nations of the world have very high literacy rates and productive human resources. We call say that without education, we arc as though in a closed room and with education we find ourselves in a room with all its windows open towards the outside world.

"According to statistics released for the first time, China has the most tertiary graduates in the world. As part of the World Education Indicators (WEI) Programme, this publication analyses the progress made by 19 middle-income and developing countries.

1. For comparative purposes, the report also includes benchmarks for Member States of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and an additional 12 countries. 2. In total, it presents data for 63 countries at different stages or development that comprise 71% of the world's population and produce over 90% of the global gross domestic product (GDP).

In 2005, more students entered and graduated from universities in the 19 WEI countries than in the 30 Member States of the OECD combined. About 5.7 million WEI students attained a tertiary degree compared to 5.2 million from OECD countries. This figure does not include data from India, which are currently not available.

China now has the most tertiary graduates in the world - 2.4 million in 2006. This is more than the top three OECD countries combined: the United States (1.4 million), Japan (0.6 million) and Prance (0.3 million). In addition, more than one million tertiary students graduated in the Russian Federation, which is also the case for Brazil and Indonesia combined" 1.

"The education system in Bangladesh is divided into four levels or stages. The first is the Primary level which incorporates grades 1 to 5. The second is Secondary level which covers grades 6 to 10. The Higher Secondary level consists of grades 11 and 12. If a student wishes to pursue further studies, tertiary education institutions are available. There are government universities in Bangladesh and some private universities which provide tertiary education. Students can choose to further studies in engineering, technology, agriculture and medicine at a variety of universities and colleges.

At all levels of schooling, students can choose to receive their education in English or Bengali. Private schools tend to provide instruction in English while government-sponsored schools use Bengali more frequently.

A separate religious branch of education, known as the Madrasah system, teaches all the basics of education in a religious environment. Religious studies are taught in Arabic and the children also usually serve the related mosques, 2.

Universities represent 75 out of 104 institutions listed as conventional higher educational institutions in Bangladesh. Segmented by management and financial structure, these include 29 public universities, 56 non-government universities, 1 international university, 31 specialised colleges, and 2 special universities. There arc specialised universities in both categories offering courses principally in technological studies, medical studies, business studies and Islamic studies. There are two private universities dedicated solely to female students".

Passing the HSC is one of the ways to step into the arena of achieving higher education in Bangladesh.

"Over 23 percent of students registered in class XI to sit for the HSC examinations this year have dropped out, due mainly to financial constraints.

About 6.07 lakh students were registered as regular students under nine Education Boards after passing Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations. But only 4.64 lakh students sat for the Higher Secondary Certificates (HSC) examinations in 2007 according to statistics. As many as 143,297 students or 23.58 percent will not appear in this year's HSC examinations under seven Education Boards, one technical education board and one madrasah board, according to data.

The main cause of the failure to complete is the financial inability of the students' families to bear their educational expenses. The problem becomes acute as purchasing capacity of the general population has been tremendously reduced, while prices of educational materials and different types of fees have sharply shot up in the last two years. Academicians observe that most families of the low-income group are forced to reduce their children's educational expense".

"Bangladesh has recently developed a National Strategic Plan for Higher Education for the next 20 years. The strategic plan highlights major challenges facing the sector in Bangladesh and recommends strategies to address the issues. The strategic plan recognised, among others, limited access, weak governance and management of institutions, and poor quality of higher education as major issues which need to be addressed.

The Plan proposed a number of policy reforms and interventions to be implemented in three consecutive phases. Some of the key recommendations made by the Plan are: (I) Depoliticisation of public universities; (ii) Setting up a national search committee for selecting Vice-chancellors and other senior officials; (iii) Strengthening of UGC; (iv) Establishment of accreditation council; (v) Enhanced support for research; and (vi) Development of strategies for retaining and developing quality teaching staff' 5.

"The educational system in Bangladesh is three-tiered and highly subsidised. The government of Bangladesh operates many schools in the primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels. It also subsidises parts of the funding for many private schools. In the tertiary education sector, the government also funds state universities through the University Grants Commission"6. But so far no policy has been taken for in the name of financing higher education.

But does it mean that we sit idle or do not search for options for financing higher education in Bangladesh? Or has no one done anything yet to finance higher education in Bangladesh? The answer is no, a few financial institutions and to the best of my knowledge one private sector university is doing something to further the financing the higher education in Bangladesh.

"Grameen Kalyan, the welfare division of Grameen Bank, famous since 1983 for its innovative lending programmes for the landless poor, has expanded its objectives beyond micro enterprise to include higher education. Grameen Kalyan has devised a programme the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP)--that identifies intellectually talented young villagers and helps them to finance their university education through loans.

Using Grameen Bank's network of 1,118 branch offices throughout rural Bangladesh, Grameen Kalyan wants to encourage poor children not only to complete the equivalent of Secondary education, but also to attend public university.

The hope is to create a new generation of highly educated poor who will have one more weapon with which to attack the cycle of poverty. In the context of Bangladesh, one of the least-developed countries in the world, such a task would seem enormous if not impossible7".

"Prime Bank Limited, one of the leading private commercial banks in the country has established the Prime Bank Foundation. Through the foundation, the bank provides education scholarships among poor but brilliant students" 8. And I am sure that few other banks are also contributing for the same cause but unfortunately I do not have all their names right now.

From my own experience I can say that Dutch Bangla Bank has given a scholarship to one student of East West University for finishing his IBA. Standard Chattered Bank of Bangladesh used to provide higher education loan to the students of East West University.

"Regarding Contribution of Universities for financing higher education IUBAT-International University of Business Agriculture and Technology, set an example by establishing a higher education finance programme name, KBAD-Knowledge Based Area Development. Under this programme IUBAT has set out the long term vision of producing one technical graduate from each village/ward as a step towards community self reliance.

To institutionalise the educational financing IUBAT has established an educational cooperative in the form of IUBAT Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd (IMCSL), with a share capital of 50 million taka divided in 500 thousand shares of taka 100 each.

One of the prime objectives of IMCSL is to mobilise funds for providing educational loans and scholarships to members and their dependents to help them pursue higher education and professional training"9

1. More budget allocation to support higher education from the government.

2. Raising tuition fee as a significant source of revenue for the support of instructional cost.

3. Full cost recovery of other fees such as institutionally provided room and board.

4. Sale of research publications, consultancy, etc

5. Participation of private sector both non-profit and proprietary providers

6. Philanthropy for endowments, for direct operations and for scholarship to students

7. Getting sponsor for meritorious but financially challenged students from different private sector banks, industries.

"Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest and most densely populated countries, but according to the IMF list of 2007, Bangladesh ranked as the 48th largest economy in the world"10. And if this type of success is achieved by Bangladesh where its universities turn out almost "450,000 skilled graduates" annually, then we can easily imagine that if the number of university graduates goes higher then there is a huge possibility that the economy of Bangladesh would be in much better position rather than 48th. So, let's work together to findout more ways to finance higher education in Bangladesh for a more prosperous future.
Source: http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/08/22/news0472.htm
__._,_.___

58

ICT / ICT and Education in Bangladesh

« on: October 21, 2011, 10:33:33 AM »

ICT and Education in Bangladesh
 I. Introduction
In the beginning globalization is fully believed to be able to lead to greater economic development in the sense of greater market scale, which in turn will increase the gross national product. So people believed that poor countries or third world countries will develop faster, thus the economic gap between the rich developed countries and the third world countries will be diminished.
However, facts show the contrary. It is true that the gross national product of countries will increase, but the gap between the income of the rich and poor countries is also getting wider.
The main reason for this gap is the extra-ordinary growth of information as a result of the development of communications and information technologies in western developed countries which have full control of these technologies. This information boom enables multinational companies to compete with changes in market demands, new products and new technologies, which in turn can boost the economy of a country, increase its efficiency and win global dominance.
On the other hand, in third world countries which are also known as southern hemisphere countries, they have difficulties to seek, to receive, to process and to produce information. The lack of appropriate information at the right time will result in low productivity, low quality research works, and waste of time to pursue information and even to do research which actually had been done by others or in other countries.
Bangladesh as a third world country has a great concern over this deficiency and believe that the digital divide should be reduced so that there will be an economic recovery. Daffodil Group is very much concern about this and we are determined to utilize the information technology effectively to support efforts to increase the national competitiveness. Daffodil Group has emerged as one of the most prominent and experienced ICT and Educational conglomerate in Bangladesh. The Group took off from the incipient period after establishment of Daffodil Computers ltd. an ICT concern, widely known as “Daffodil” which came about to be its first successful venture. Quality, trust, service & efficiency are the key performance assets of Daffodil Group, which have successfully been operating in all spheres of business activities ranging from ICT to highest level of education. Keeping pace with rapid economical and technological changes followed by the policy of Globalization, Daffodil Group has outspread their business activities within a short period of time and has been able to emerge as the largest ICT Company and premier education provider of the country.

Digital inclusion: what it is and why it matters

Since the early 1990s, an increasing number of countries around the world have developed programs to address the “digital divide”, aiming to:

• increase availability and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
• help citizens and businesses become more sophisticated in their use of ICT
• encourage a socially equitable diffusion of the benefits of ICT.

“Bridging the digital divide in and among countries has assumed a critical importance on our respective national agendas.”
Leaders of the G8 nations, Okinawa, July 2000

"Technology has given birth to the information age. Now it is up to all of us to build an information society. From trade to telemedicine, from education to environmental protection, we have in our hands, on our desktops and in the skies above, the ability to improve standards of living for millions upon millions of people.”
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, December2003

These triple policy goals have been pursued by political leaders both within countries and in promoting international development between countries – underpinning achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. This is not about technology for the sake of technology. Political leaders have focused on the importance of digital inclusion because they recognise that the changes being driven and enabled by ICT present a historic opportunity to:

• deliver genuinely sustainable development, generating new growth, jobs and productivity
• transform public services around the needs of citizens, while also significantly increasing the efficiency of public services
• improve engagement and participation in the democratic process.

ICT: driving sustainable development of the Knowledge Economy

• The ICT sectors are significant and growing in both developing and developed countries:
- In OECD countries, the ICT sectors contributed close to 10% of business sector GDP - up from 8% in 1995
- China, India and South America, saw average yearly growth rates in ICT expenditure of around 13% during the 1990s, compared with an OECD average of 7%
• Evidence from OECD countries shows that:
- ICT investment accounted for between 0.3 and 0.8 percentage point of growth in the last half of the 1990s
- Exploitation of that investment throughout the value chain contributes to improved firm performance, helping firms increase their overall combined labour and capital productivity
• ICT professionals account for 5% of employed people in OECD countries, while around 20% more use ICTs intensively in their jobs. Higher shares of ICT users are associated with higher levels of productivity
• In the future, business leaders estimate that 85% of jobs in the UK will require ICT skills
(Sources: OECD, Confederation of British Industry)

Given the importance of policy objectives, and the decade long experience of digital inclusion policy around the world, policy makers should now have an increasingly clear picture of what works and what doesn’t. Yet the existing mechanisms for networking and for best practice dissemination between Governments tend not to operate on the real-time basis needed to keep up with the pace of change. Moreover, best practice transfers between countries often fail, because they tend to be based on an exchange of information, rather than on transferring the underlying know-how about the cultural, political and contextual factors which have contributed to success.

Our Priority in ICT Education

In this 21st century no nation can dream of success without advancement of education & ICT. This is more so far Bangladesh with 140 millions people in only 55 thousand square miles. 35 years have passed since we got independence through historic freedom fight. Unfortunately, the country has not progressed; exception of the common mass has remained unfulfilled. With the flow of time no hope of light is in sight; a sense of despair and lack of mission is engulfing the whole nation. Repeated failures of larger and larger dimensions in our national activities and in the international arena are in one hand reducing self confidence of our people and the other giving poorer image of the country in the world. The whole nation is in a vicious circle of non-development. Under these circumstances there must be some initiatives of far reaching consequences to lead the country back to the road of progress. Where else can we take the initiative other then in ICT & education?   

There are many examples in neighboring countries where the development of nation has been brought about the improvement of ICT & education, with visionary initiative in the sector. Creation ok Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Indian Institutes of Technology, Tata Institute of Fundamental research, Indian Institute of Science are growing examples of initiative in education that have changed technological face of the country. KAIST is widely regarded as a creator of modern Korea. For the last 30 years Korea has invested in education enormously and the result is astonishing as can be seen from economy, scientific and technological progress. The same is true for Malaysia that was sending thousands of students to Australia, UK and USA for many years for education. Now they are developing a commendable education base.   

Let me come back to computer education. In Bangladesh for the last 15 years more and more universities opened departments in this field. Nationally we also aspired for changing lot of our distressed people through the golden touch of information technology. Unfortunately, in none of our efforts did appear that computer education should be given some priority. There were directives from the upper level to double intake in relevant disciplines without really giving any commitment to improving ICT facilities and development in education. For the last 10/15 years we have been dreaming to change the socio economy condition of the country through reaping the benefit in Information Technology. Different governments have attached significant improvement to IT calling it thrust sector and so on. Efforts have been made to formulate IT policies in order to expedite and accelerate its progress. Meetings, seminars, festivals, exhibitions on IT have become a part of our life. The government has set up an incubator to facilitate IT development activities and has given tax holiday to our entrepreneurs. But unfortunately none of these infinitives has been rewarded with any mentionable success. A tow billions dollars ambitious target for software export has been set although there is no justifying indication in our performance. It appears that our initiatives are not mission oriented.

Time and again government has instructed to increase intake in computer departments throughout the country with a hope that these graduates will add to the IT workforce. Hoverer, there has been no government institutive to develop laboratory facilities or faculty in universities. While professionals of different fields are able to participate in IT related workshops and other training programs, as far as we know these facilities are almost never available to teachers of computers department of any university. We are aware of our deficiencies and the big responsibilities that have been placed on our shoulders without strengthening it, reinforcing it.

ICT and Modern Society

ICT applications created paradigm shifts in business, administration, financial services, education, publication, entertainment, healthcare, transportation etc. Commercial and business institutions need to accommodate new technologies, protocols and standards. In the circumstances some areas which require special attention for developing nations like Bangladesh are:
-   E-commerce
-   E-government
-   ICT in Management
-   ICT in Healthcare
-   ICT in education
-   ICT in research
-   E-travel
-   E-entertainment etc.

Global Context of ICT Development

The combination of global telephone networks and the global Internet comprise the larger and most complex machine ever built by man; and information related activities of the modern world are heavily dependent on it. The internet is the largest source of information of all sorts. New opportunities and new ways of solving problems have been opened up by ICT; the following list includes some of them:

-   Internet communications
-   Online and internet banking
-   Electronic funds transfer
-   E-commerce and m-commerce
-   Virtual factories
-   Collaborative research
-   Global enterprises
-   Exports and import wing W.W.W.
-   Virtual institution of learning
-   E-Journals & E-Magazines 

Modern financial and other services performed globally depend largely on ICT resources. Many corporate bodies use networks having thousands of servers and clients and their Web sites get millions of hits per day. Electronic publishing allows items to be distributed electronically, viewed electronically and printed selectively from anywhere in the world.

Prospects of ICT Globalization

 Instant access to multitude if information available through the internet from countless Web sites and quick decision making using such information are essential to be competitive in the present globalization era. The present generation must adapt to new situations some of which are outlined below:
-   Instant accesses to information
-   Quick decision making
-   Efficient management
-   Effective governance
-   Global culture and global society
-   Speeder research and development
-   Faster changing in human activities
-   Transparency through ICT
-   Diminishing importance of political boundary etc.

Associated Problems

ICT services did not expand uniformly in the global and e3xpect few countries most nations occupy insignificant positions in the ICT map of the world. Major impediments for slow growth of ICT in many countries including Bangladesh are:

-   Inadequate information infrastructure
-   Absence of ICT policy
-   Poor quality education
-   Access of education in rural & remote areas
-   Lack of political will
-   Digital divide etc.

Effective ICT Environment   

Developments have become dependent on effective information infrastructure. Like transport infrastructure for industrial society, internet connectivity, Web contents, Knowledge based workforce and appropriate legal infrastructure for applications of ICT in the present information age.

Digital Divide and Bangladesh     

With about 30% of its population, most of the people of Bangladesh live in villages where amenities for ICT are almost nonexistent. Noticeable digital divide in the country can be observed in the following areas:

-   Urban and rural populations
-   Dhaka and the rest of the country
-   Different educational streams
-   Rich population and poor population
-   Male & female
-   Main stream and tribal population
-   Lack of education
-   GOB & private organization

The city of Dhaka, with the population of about 8% of the total population of the country, is the hub of ICT activities in the country and a huge digital divide exists between the city of Dhaka and the rest of the country in the areas mentioned below:

-   University campus
-   Academic programs in ICT
-   Internet services providers
-   Cyber cafes
-   Software firms
-   English & Bangla medium education system etc.

We aspire a digital divide free Bangladesh with ICT education, internet connectivity and software industries evenly spread over the country.

ICT for social Development   

Social development is a very complex issues and ICT should be effectively used for several crucial areas in Bangladesh and a few are mentioned below:

-   Eradication of Corruption
-   Politics and democracy
-   Poverty alleviation
-   Urban & rural environment
-   Education for all
-   Media’s responsibilities

ICT in Bangladesh
As mentioned above, the success of utilization of ICT is among others depends on the infrastructure which includes the telecommunication network, the availability of internet facilities, education and the use of internet.
In general the development of ICT in Bangladesh nowadays is less encouraging compared to the developed countries, or even compared to neighboring countries such as India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri lanka, Pakistan and others.
To give a general picture of the ICT & education condition in Bangladesh let us consider the data quoted from the bureau of statistics of the Government of Bangladesh, 2003 as follows.
Total population-140 million
Rural population as a percentage of total population-76% (estimated)
Key economic sectors-Ready-made garments, frozen foods and shrimp, tea, raw jute and jute products, leather and leather products, chemical fertilizer, handicrafts, ceramic products.
Literacy in the national language(s)-56%
Computer ownership per 100 inhabitants-0.78
Telephone lines per 100 inhabitants-4.64
Internet hosts per 10,000 inhabitants-0.015 (estimated)
Internet users per 10,000 inhabitants-19.04
Internet cafés/telecentres per 10,000 inhabitants-0.19 (estimated)
Internet users per 10,000 inhabitants-19.04
Cell phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants-3.91
Number of websites in the national language(s)-200 (estimated)
Number of websites in English and other language(s)-600 (estimated)
National bandwidth within the country-68 Mbps (data) (estimated)
National bandwidth to and from the country-112 Mbps (estimated)
ICT and Education in Bangladesh
A. ICT Education
In the development of human resources through ICT education, there are two objectives which are desired to meet the need for skilled human resources: those who can use ICT products (ICT users) and those who can produce ICT products (ICT producers).
Some ICT education which have been done and are still being done in Bangladesh are among others:
1.   Formal Education
a. Vocational School program in Information Technology
Through this program it is anticipated to get skilled manpower at the basic level in ICT, who can fill the position of ICT operator, technical support, help desk and web designer.
b. Diploma program in ICT
This program is anticipated to produce semi-skilled manpower to meet the need for skilled ICT manpower for industry.
c. Undergraduate program in ICT
This program is expected to produce ICT programmers, software engineers, analysts and designers.
d. Graduate program in ICT
Through this program it is expected to provide manpower with more specialized skills in the areas of ICT engineering.
2. Non-formal Education (out-of-school)
Besides ICT educational programs through formal educational institutions/schools in various levels, in Bangladesh there are many out of school educational efforts which teach various areas of ICT skills, which covers certain areas for example preparing manpower for responsibilities as network technicians, computer technicians, programmers, graphic artists, animators, operators, Web designers, etc. Some of these non-formal educational institutions or ICT training centers are organized in partnership with foreign ICT training center, while others are totally motorized by local experts.
3. ICT Literacy
a. Development of software in the Bangla language
One of the obstacles to the use of computer for the Bangladesh society is their low mastery of English, so that they are reluctant to use computer. To overcome this obstacle and to support efforts to make the populace ICT literates, the government had issued the Presidential Decree about the Utilization of Computer with Application Programs in Bangla Language through the development of application programs in Bangla language based on an open source platform, LINUX & windows platform. 
b. ICT training in schools
The Directorate of Vocational Education has started this program since 2001. Its objective is to train teachers and students in using information technology especially the internet. For this activity the Directorate of Vocational Education cooperates with the Network of School Information, a community of Vocational Schools which are internet users. This network provides the training.
c. Socialization of computer-assisted learning media in High Schools
In 2002 the Directorate of Secondary Education conducted a training program on the use of computer-assisted learning media in cooperation with the Center for Information and Communication Technology for Education. This program was conducted in face-to-face interaction involving 2300 high school teachers from 250 schools in 12 districts.
d. Healthy Internet
There are indications that internet users in Bangladesh comprising mostly of youths, especially use it to get access of negative information such as pornography, racial issues, etcetera. To make community of internet users avoid such negative contents, some private parties motored by ICT Watch (an NGO organization), Association of Bangladesh Internet Service Providers and Association of Cyber Cafe had done a campaign called Healthy Internet. This activity consists of campaigns, training and distribution of information through print materials.
ICT for Education
As mentioned above, to improve the quality of human resources, we had used ICT to expand the educational opportunity, to improve the quality and relevance of education, and to increase the efficiency of the educational system.
Various efforts to use ICT in education are among others:
1.   E-learning
Starting from 2001, the Ministry of Science & ICT in cooperation with the Directorate of Secondary Education, and the Directorate of Vocational Education are developing an e-learning program.  The objective of this program is to improve the quality of education at high school and vocational school levels through the use of internet. But due to lack of coordination and GOB initiative this program is yet to see the sun light. We have a plan to initially 360 upazilla under this program and set up 360 institutes in each upazilla. At this preliminary stage, learning materials are being developed for the following subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Electronics, and Information Technology.
2.   Online Courses
Aided by Daffodil International University we have a plan to provide lectures through the internet for some courses.
Online Tutorials
One use of information technology for education at higher education is for tutorial purpose for institutions of distance education. BSDI that has made use of tutorial via internet is the Daffodil International University.
3.   Joint Research
As a medium which provides for collaboration through the use of information technology, a joint research program has been conducted.
Electronic Library
There will be a network of electronic library called BSDI Digital Library Network which is a network of electronic libraries from the DIU central library (Digital Library). BSDI Digital Library Network is meant to support efforts to improve the quality of university graduates, to increase sharing of information among institutions of higher learning and research institutions in Bangladesh.
4.   Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI)
This is an off-line instruction program so it does not depend on access to the internet. BSDI have developed computer assisted instruction learning materials for various subject matters and courses. These are interactive learning materials which students can learn on his/her own with minimal assistance from the teacher/lecturer.
Issues and Problems
Issues Concerning Education
1.   Preparation of New Legislation Draft on National Education System
At present the government (cq. The Ministry of Education) prepared a Draft on National Education System. The draft also includes arrangement on ICT education and ICT for education. BSDI will follow the draft with minimum revision and implement it in its 360 upazilla based institutes.
2.   ICT Curriculum for general school
With the development of a new curriculum for elementary and secondary schools which is competency –based, this year the government is doing some limited try-outs in certain schools. This curriculum also includes ICT education which will be taught since elementary school, junior high school and senior high school and vocational school. Hopefully by teaching ICT from the very beginning, Bangladesh will have enough qualified ICT manpower.
3.   Preparation of ICT teachers for general school.
To implement the competency-based curriculum especially in correlation with ICT teaching in schools, the government needs to do various activities to prepare the teachers who will teach in schools. We can work with the government to implement the agenda.
4.   Increasing the role of non-formal education
Non-degree education to train skilled manpower in ICT needs to be encouraged. Because non-formal education has a significant role, even a decisive role, to help prepare skilled non-degree educated manpower in ICT in the future.

5.   Inducing the local government to do its role
With the newly implemented decentralization system of administration, where the local government has autonomy to self-administer in their upazialla, the success of provision and development of ICT skilled human resource will be determined by the role of the local government. As such, BSDI can take a series of activities to induce the local government in socializing; utilizing and providing ICT trained human resources.
6.   Promoting private sector participation
The role of the private sector in ICT mastery is very important. Both its role in developing ICT resources and its infrastructure or in developing human resources, the private sector has a very important role. However, we further needs to collaborate with the private sector to take greater role to promote ICT education.
Problems faced
1.   Economic Crisis
No wonder the biggest obstacle faced by Bangladesh regarding ICT is the economic crisis. This condition forces the government to prioritize on short term programs to help improve the economy of the general population through social security net, aids to poor students to decrease drop-out rate, improvement of teacher’s welfare, etc.
As such the government has to postpone various programs that had been planned including the program to support education & ICT development. The despondent economy also makes the people’s spending capacity shrunk, so they prioritize their spending on primary needs such as food and clothing, so that the need to use ICT to get access to information become the last choice. In that case allocation of huge fund can only solve the problem.
2.   Infrastructure
Another obstacle to the development of ICT is the poor condition of the infrastructure, in terms of quantity and also quality. Of course this poor condition affects the ease to get access to information. In connection with the availability of infrastructure it makes access to information costly, which in turn makes the use of ICT low.
3.   General public awareness and knowledge of ICT low
The public ICT literacy is still very low. What concerned us most is that ICT literacy among students and teachers are also low, especially those that live in the perimeters or remote areas. We have to take huge public awareness campaign through various media.

Conclusion:
The prime objective for Bangladesh – a populous country with cheap labor force – is to turn its huge population to ICT literate manpower of international standard. Our general likeness for education in liberal arts should be shifted to ICT related technological education and our research and development activities in information processing and ICT should be directed to solving indigenous problem.   
Poverty and underdevelopment is in-built with our culture. Information propagated across the country by many of our rural bards, preachers and poets illustrate that the world is an inn and discourage material development and accumulation of wealth, and that poverty glorifies a human. For sustainable socio-economy development we need to change this attitude and give proper attention to education & ICT.   

59

Be a Leader / Great Speech by The Indian President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

« on: October 21, 2011, 10:32:05 AM »

ACTION PLAN FOR EMPLOYMENT GENERATION

PRESIDENT'S REPUBLIC DAY EVE ADDRESS TO THE NATION

The President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has called for launching missions in
the areas of agriculture and food processing, education and health care,
information and communication technology, infrastructure development and
self-reliance in critical technologies leading to transforming India into a
developed nation by 2020.  In his address to the nation on the eve of the
56th Republic Day, the President said that the only way to retain the smile
in the youth was by generating employment.  He outlined bio-fuel generation,
wasteland development, water harvesting and recycling, bamboo mission,
converting fly ash as a wealth generator, textile industry, healthcare, and
village knowledge centers as potential sectors to generate approximately 56
million direct employment during the next five year.  This would be in
addition to other employment avenues in the government and private sector.
Creating 76 million jobs in the next five years would be feasible only if
the scheme would be taken up in mission mode, he added.

Following is the text of the President's Republic Day eve address:

"Everyone has inside of him or her, a piece of good news.

The good news is, that you don't know how great you can be!"

"Dear Citizens, on the eve of the 56th Republic Day of India,  my greetings
to all of you, including those living abroad. I convey my special greetings,
to the members of our armed forces and the paramilitary forces, who guard
our frontiers on the land, the sea and in the air and also the internal
security forces. While we are saddened by the wrath of the Tsunami waves, we
are not disheartened. The Central and State Governments, with utmost
seriousness and sincerity have reached out to those who needed help and are
in the process of providing relief that will atleast partially wipe out the
pains caused by the Tsunami.  During this period of active relief
operations, my heart was with you, but I did not make a visit because
the members of the Government and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) were
deployed in large numbers in relief operations, which were in
full swing.  Reviews were taken by our Prime Minister, Governors, the Chief
Ministers of the respective states and the Lt. Governor of the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands. Now, I feel that the time has come, for me to join you, my
fellow citizens, to study the process of the reconstruction of homes and
bringing back normalcy.       

Smile of Youth

            I have met more than six hundred thousand children from all
parts of our country, after becoming the President.  During my
interaction with them, they posed a series of questions, with affection.
They asked:

            "Mr. President, you saw us smile, when we were five years old.
We smiled because we were blossoming innocently.  When we came
to our teens, smiles slowly faded away and the signs of concern appeared.
You said that it is because of our anxiety about our future.
This anxiety, almost took away our smiles.  When we complete our education,
the top most questions in our mind were, what would I do
after my education? Will I get employment? Our parents, who have spent all
their savings on our education, also share the same concern.  Mr.
President, will I get proper employment and be able to contribute to India,
to make it a Developed Nation?"  Their questions really made me
to think and think.

            Concerns about employment are not only for those who are
fortunate enough to have school and college education. It is the same
fading away of the smiles, the shattering of the dreams and the weaning away
of the gleam in the eyes that we see in every cross section of youth in the
country. The only answer to retain the smile from the child to the youth is
to generate employment. It represents the aspirations and anxiety of nearly
540 million youth of our nation. Hence, I have selected the topic for the
Republic Day address as "Action Plan for Employment Generation."

Societal Transformation

            In my earlier address to the Nation on the eve of the 58th
Independence Day, I talked to you on "Education for Dignity of Human
Life".  The whole purpose of education in a country like India is to develop
and enhance the potential of our human resource and progressively transform
it into a knowledge society.  The knowledge society will be a society
producing products and services that are rich in both explicit and tacit
knowledge, thus creating value added products. The real capital of this
knowledge society will be its knowledge workers. This society will be highly
networked to create a knowledge intensive environment along with an enabling
process to efficiently create, share, use and protect knowledge. Our
education system should re-align itself at the earliest to meet the needs of
present day challenges and be fully geared to participate in societal
transformation.

Changing Pattern of Society   

            When the world was moving from the industrial to the information
and knowledge era, we witnessed a changing pattern in the sectoral share of
Gross Domestic Product and the number of people employed in each sector.
The share of GDP percentage has undergone a considerable change.
Contribution of agriculture to India's GDP has reduced from 39 percent to 22
percent during the period 1979 to 2004. During the same period the
contribution of the manufacturing sector has moved from 24 percent to 27
percent and whereas the contribution of the service sector has increased
from 37 percent to 51 percent. There has been considerable change in the
employment pattern also.  The percentage of people employed in agriculture
has come down from 64 percent to 54 percent.  Simultaneously, the percentage
of people employed in manufacturing has gone up from 15 percent to 19
percent and in the service sector from 20 percent to 27 percent.  This trend
has to continue and by 2020 our employment pattern should aim at 44 percent
in agriculture, 21 percent in manufacturing and 35 percent in service
sectors.  The displacement of 10 percent people from the agriculture sector
has to be facilitated through skill enabling for undertaking value added
tasks in rural enterprises so that migration to urban areas is reduced.
Instead of person from rural areas going to urban towns in search of jobs in
manufacturing and services sectors, PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural
Areas) will facilitate creation of employment in rural areas. PURA achieves
this by providing physical, electronic and knowledge connectivities to a
cluster of villages thereby leading to their economic connectivity and
prosperity.

National Employment Status

            The National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill 2004 was tabled in
Parliament in its last session to create employment opportunities in the
rural sector. What is needed is coordinated planning and linking of the
spirit of this Bill to productive and sustainable employment generation
schemes for the unemployed youth.  Now I would like to discuss the national
employment scenario.

            As per the estimates of the Planning Commission, the total
number of people eligible for employment at present is approximately 400
million.  Out of this, nine percent are unemployed which works out to around
36 million. In addition, there is a need to find value added employment for
10 percent of those employed in the agriculture sector in rural areas.  Our
attempt hence should be to find gainful employment for around 76 million
people. This will add to our productivity and will ensure a sustained 10
percent GDP growth for the decade, which is an essential need for India to
become a developed country before 2020.

            Dear Citizens, a nation of a billion people that is capable of
exporting foodgrains, a nation that is recognised for its software products
and services, a nation that can build its own aerospace systems and nuclear
power plants, a nation that is leading in the pharma and automobile
industries, I am sure, will be able to put all its think tanks together and
come up with many innovative wealth generating schemes for the productive
employment of 76 million people.

Employment Generators

            Let me share with you how to generate employment. The most
important sectors for sustainable national development are Agriculture,
Education, Healthcare, Water and Energy.   The common thread that will run
across these would be the three connectivities of PURA.  One of the ways by
which rural agriculturists could increase their earnings is by value adding
to the agricultural produce through processing and manufacturing.  Farmers,
either individually or through their co-operatives would market processed
and value added items instead of marketing raw materials. This increase in
value-addition taking place in rural areas itself is an indicator of society
moving towards prosperity and a knowledge era.

            I would like to suggest a few schemes that can bring large-scale
employment and prosperity to our people.

 Bio-Fuel Generation

            We have nearly 63 million hectares of wasteland available in the
country, out of which 33 million hectares have been allotted for tree
plantation. Certain multi-purpose bio-fuel plants can grow well in
wastelands with very minimum input. Once cultivated, the crop has fifty
years of life. Fruiting can take place in two years.

            Bio-fuel plants grown in parts of wastelands, for example, 11
million hectares can yield a revenue of approximately Rs. 20,000 crore a
year and provide employment to over 12 million people both for plantation
and running of extraction plants. It will reduce foreign exchange outflow
for import of crude oil, cost of which is continuously rising in the
international market. Bio-fuel is Carbon mono-oxide emission free. The oil
can also be used for soap and in the candle industry. De-oiled cake is a raw
material for composting and the plantation is also good for honey
production. We should absorb the best of technologies available worldwide
and start commercial operations immediately. One time investment needed for
bio-fuel plantation to production in 11 million hectares will be
approximately Rs. 27,000 crore.  Capital equipment and investment in plant
and machinery can come from bank loans and private sector entrepreneurs.
   
 I have seen the progress in bio-fuel plant cultivation, preparation of
seedlings, tissue culture and development of non-toxic hybrid varieties in
the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Coimbatore. They have also worked
from processing of seeds to bio-fuel production by indigenous design and
development of bio-fuel plants.  Anand Agriculture University at Anand in
Gujarat has also made progress in bio-fuel cultivation and processing in
Gujarat. Bio-fuel plants can be grown in a number of states in the Southern,
Western and Central parts of the country.

Waste Land Development - Opportunities

            ICRISAT with its international experience of working in arid
regions, has developed short duration, disease and drought resistant
varieties of important crops beneficial to our farmers. They have introduced
various tillage practices and nutrition management techniques, to boost crop
yields even under drought stress. This technology will enable us to reclaim
5 more million hectares of the 33 million hectares of wasteland allotted for
productive farming. As per the experts, this will result in the deployment
of 15 million people for dry land cultivation.

 Water Harvesting and Recycling

            Water harvesting should become mandatory for all. To improve the
watertable, we need to build check dams, develop water sheds, desilt ponds
and rivers, clear the inlets and outlets to ponds and water bodies and
recharge wells. If our rural areas are made to have operational water
bodies, recharging of wells will take place. The task is totally labour
intensive and nation wide implementation of this scheme will provide
employment for six million persons for more than three or four years. The
scheme will result in an increase in storage capacity of water bodies and
create additional irrigation potential for land in and enhance agricultural
productivity.

Bamboo Mission

            This mission envisages an integrated programme of expansion of
plantations of the Bamboo species, the scientific management and promotion
of community level value addition and entrepreneurship. This will enable
presenting raw material for industries and the industry to access and apply
modern technology for producing globally competitive new generation bamboo
products. This includes setting up of clusters of small value addition
processing units near the resource for employment generation and benefit the
local small entrepreneur.  Processed raw material suitable for
ultimate use in industry and the handicraft sector will be required, for
economising handling cost of raw material to the location of the industry
proposed to be set up in different parts of the country.

            The programme envisages the cultivation of bamboo over two
million hectares and promotion of technology and networking for enhancing
trade.  Economic and social benefits from these activities, will lead to the
creation of 8.6 million jobs and market opportunities worth over  Rs.6,500
crore with an investment of Rs.2,600 crore.  This will be useful for the
additional development of the North-Eastern region. We should use management
personnel, industrial experts and business houses to provide international
market connectivity for our bamboo products leading to sustainable growth,
wealth generation and positive contribution to the growth of our GDP.
Institutions like the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, the Indian
Institutes of Management, Industrial houses, State Governments and the
Ministry of Agriculture can work together to generate a number of Bamboo
enterprises in different rural clusters.

Converting Fly Ash as a Wealth Generator

            As you are aware, the use of coal for power generation results
in an increased quantum of fly ash production, which has reached about 100
million tonnes per year. All out efforts are needed to utilise this fly ash
not only from environmental considerations, but also to avoid land usage for
fly ash dumping. Though there has been a steady progress in fly ash
utilisation from 1990, we have a long way to go to reach the target of 100
percent fly ash utilisation. It is reported that the agricultural increase
of grains is around 15 percent, green vegetables 35 percent and root
vegetables 50 percent, when fly ash is mixed with soil. Toxicity tests have
proved that there is no toxic element due to fly ash. But it has higher
nutrients due to
increased availability of iron and calcium. Fly ash can become a wealth
generator by making use of it for producing "green building" materials,
roads, agriculture etc. Full utilisation of the generating stock, will
provide employment potential for three hundred thousand people and result in
a business volume of over Rs.4,000 crore.

Textile Industry

            The textile industry is very important for the Indian economy.
The basic raw material is cotton. India is the third largest producer of
cotton in the world. However, compared to the world average of 700
kilogrammes of seed cotton per acre we produce only 350 kilogrammes of seed
cotton per acre. It is indeed a technological concern for the nation.  Some
of the industries have adopted a village in Punjab, which has launched a
cooperative movement of farmers, scientists, trainers and industry for
cultivating cotton in over 1200 acres. A training programme was launched for
farmers starting with soil characterisation, matching the cotton seed to the
soil, water and fertilizer management.

            The project resulted in increasing the average seed cotton yield
of the village from 450 kilogrammes per acre to 950 kilogrammes per acre.
This led to a seven-fold increase in net return per acre, due to
considerable reduction in input costs. It is worth noting that in this case
the yield is above the world average. This model has already been replicated
in ten villages and can be emulated by many cotton-growing regions of the
country.  India can definitely produce 25 percent of the total world
production of quality cotton compared to the existing 12 percent leading to
a revenue of over Rs.25,000 crore a year for the nation.

            I would like to link cotton production to the garment export
business, which is a low investment and large volume employment generator.
India is presently exporting six billion U.S. Dollars worth of garments,
whereas with the WTO regime in place, we can increase the production and
export of garments to 18 to 20 billion U.S. Dollars within the next five
years. This will enable generation of employment in general and in rural
areas in particular. By tripling the export of apparels, we can add more
than 5 million direct jobs and 7 million indirect jobs in the allied sector,
primarily in the cultivation of cotton.  Concerted efforts are needed in
cotton research, technology generation, transfer of technology,
modernisation and upgrading of
ginning and pressing factories and an aggressive marketing strategy.

Healthcare

Another area, which is an employment generator, is the healthcare industry.
We have only one doctor for one thousand eight hundred people, whereas in
some of the developed countries the doctor to population ratio is 1: 600.
For providing quality healthcare to all of our citizens, we would need at
least doubling the strength of doctors and paramedical staff in the whole
country. The investment for this, need not necessarily come from the
Government alone. Hospitals can be setup by the private sector with certain
tax concessions and subsidised infrastructural support.

            Setting up of 30000 static tele-medicine stations distributed in
30000 key locations, within a zone of 3 lakh villages and providing 20000
mobile tele-medicine units will enable the reaching of quality healthcare
closer to every home, which is connected to the district, state government
hospitals, corporate hospitals and super specialty hospitals in the country.
This is possible as India has a network of satellite communication.

            How to reach healthcare for the large number of our population?
An innovative method has come into action in certain states.  This system
provides free health cover to citizens who are members and pay Rs.10 per
individual per month as an insurance premium. State and Central Governments
can sponsor this insurance scheme involving the payment of a small premium
of Rs.10 per individual per month by citizens in different states of the
country.  Such an insurance cover should be able to provide treatment for
all types of diseases including expensive open heart surgery. A consortium
is required to be formed in different states between the Government,
insurance agencies, corporate hospitals and NGO's for providing
integrated cost effective healthcare. The scheme when fully operational can
provide direct employment for an additional 600,000 doctors and 1.2 million
paramedical staff. Apart from providing healthcare to citizens, these
corporate hospitals can attract large number of medical tourists to the
country in view of our competitiveness in treating complex diseases.  I am
very happy to know that the scientific community for health is working on
anti HIV vaccine development programme which is in an advanced stage of
development. The success of this programme will be a breakthrough in
containing the HIV virus.

Village Knowledge Centres

With the kind of awareness and opportunities available in Information and
Communication Technology (ICT), it will soon become a reality wherein every
one of our villages will have computers and connectivity available. These
would be the windows to the world of knowledge for our villages and also to
reap the benefits of our e-governance, tele-education, tele-medicine,
e-commerce and e-judiciary initiatives. In spite of the all pervasive nature
of computers they would still be far away from being a truly friendly access
device for our villagers. We would need in such cases, a human intermediary
who would act as the village information officer. He will be the extended
eyes and ears of the villager to the world of knowledge.  India has
approximately 2.3 lakh Village Panchayats. I visualize the  establishment of
village knowledge centres in these Panchayats to empower villagers with
knowledge and to act as  nodal centre for knowledge connectivity for
villagers.  The knowledge centre from which villagers would access
information through the village information officer can also be used for
collection, digital storage and dissemination of village specific
information pertaining to any relevant information to villagers.  This will
provide direct quality employment to over one million villagers who will be
instrumental in promoting higher level of wealth generation in our rural
sector. 

The schemes discussed so far have the potential to generate approximately a
total of 56 million direct employments during the next 5 years. This does
not include other employment avenues in the government and the private
sector. Together creating 76 million jobs in the next five years looks
feasible if only we take up each of the above schemes in mission mode.

Integrated Action for People

Dear Citizens, I would like to give ten suggestions on the eve of this
Republic Day, the role of different constituents of our society in
implementing various programmes leading to creation of employment
opportunities and wealth generation:         

The education system should proactively build entrepreneurial and vocational
capacities in students. When they come out of educational institutions, they
should have the confidence to start small enterprises and also possess the
skill to do it. Above all the education system has to impart the spirit that
"we can do it".

Rural development has to be a mission mode operation through the PURA
programme, which will enable the provision of maximum benefit to
villagers in a cost effective way.

Banks have to provide, hassle free loans to rural enterprises and those who
have creative ideas. Banks have to assist them with venture
capital.  Existing agriculture and agro processing credits have to be
increased so that agriculture communities are empowered for enhancing
the productivity of agricultural produce, food processing and marketing.

The Tsunami has caused severe damage to our coastal regions and islands. Our
fishermen and others living in these areas have lost their dwellings and
livelihood. While planning the reconstruction of homes it is important to
take the task as an integrated PURA complex for promoting the prosperity of
the coastal region. This can include infrastructure for fish storage and
chilling plants, sea food processing and marketing centres, boat and fishing
net maintenance centres, schools, hospitals, water sources and other small
scale industrial units.

In our country we have experiences in certain government departments in the
field of defence, space, nuclear, agriculture and metro railway
in executing mission mode projects, which has resulted in the empowerment of
the programme and removal of normal administrative delays through an
empowered management structure. Major programmes of the country should use
this mission mode management for employment generation schemes.

Since broadband fiber connectivity has reached beyond the block level in
districts and our satellite communication density has also increased this is
the time for all our Information Technology,  R&D and ICT industrial
establishments to reach out to rural areas.  The e-governance GRID should be
established between the State Governments and the Central Governments with
the National ID as the primary database, linking all parts of the country
for providing Government to Government, Government to Citizen Access and
extending tele-education, tele-medicine services to people in rural areas.

Small Scale Industries are widespread in our country with tremendous
employment potential. For a dynamic and competitive performance the
technological upgradation of these units is essential in national planning.

The media is indeed a dynamic and a creative system in our democracy and all
the more it is important that media constituents reach out to
six hundred thousand villages of the country and be active partners in rural
development. Artists have a great role to play in societal transformation.

The youth have to create a movement of making their own homes righteous,
make their environment clean and excel in their studies and
their tasks.

The national parliamentary system should become the role model for the
nation; in legislative performance, in clean and progressive
administration and nobility and speedy judiciary.


Conclusion

A new situation is emerging in the national scene in the year 2005. In
Indian history, very rarely we have come across a situation, all at a
time, an ascending economic trajectory, continuously rising foreign exchange
reserves, global recognition of technological competence, emergence of our
540 million youth, both men and women, as a dynamic positive force  for
national development, umbilical connectivities of 20 million people of
Indian origin in various parts of the planet and the interest shown by many
developed countries to invest in our engineers and scientists including the
setting up of new R&D centres. This is the time the Nation should launch
series of missions in the five areas i.e. Agriculture and Food Processing,
Education and Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology,
Infrastructure Development and self reliance in critical technologies
leading to transforming India into a developed nation by 2020.

Dear Citizens, let us rededicate ourselves on this occasion of the 56th
Republic Day to build our nation as a nation which provides employment to
all, leading to economic prosperity and a nation of civilisational heritage
with a value system.

May God bless you.
Year 2005

Jai Hind."

People who elevate the thought, through constant reflection and be steadfast
in their action, will positively  achieve, what they originally thought.

 - Thirukkural (200 BC)  666

60

ICT / ICT in Disaster Management

« on: October 19, 2011, 10:58:39 AM »

By Shahidul K K Shuvra

The National ICT Policy of the country hasn't ignored the role of Information and Communication Technologies in managing and mitigating impacts of disasters like floods, cyclones, earthquakes etc. Recommendations of the policy are to save the citizens from the disaster zones by using the info-tech innovatively. The policy is yet to be implemented thoroughly and according to the policy paper the government is supposed to spend 5 per cent ADP and 2 per cent of the revenue budget for jazzing up digital infrastructures and requirements of every sector.
Few organizations in the country based on Information Communication Technology for Development, ICT4D, are experimenting with the digital devices to alert the people about imminent disasters. Years ago while cyclone Sidr was claiming the lives of 5000 to 10000 people, the organisations tried to use ICTs in managing the disaster.
Recently ferocious hurricane Irene battered New York City with a potential devastation like Katrina's on New Orleans. Two weeks ago several states of US were reported to have suffered damage during the hurricane Irene. Till posting the article people of the affected areas are facing the consequences with the aftermath of massive flooding and thousands of households are yet to get power connection again.
Before the attack of Irene, to track its paths, Google had rolled out an online map to provide useful information about the status of the storm formation. The online map had carried on forecasts to upgrade people about the hurricane; it also informed about evacuation routes and which coastal areas were in the danger of facing the attack. The search engine has another web rescuing option named `Person Finder' to locate and reunite victims of floods, earthquakes, storm etc.
Such hurricane attacks in the US increased urgency in chasing all kind of disasters with digital gadgets. We found the victims were looking for lost children and siblings on the Net. There are many online albums for missing children. Relatives were posting photos with particulars on the websites to locate their beloved persons.
Benefiting from telecommunication technology is not a new concept, but web-based applications used in rescuing Katrina victims were remarkable. Radio and TV have always played a role in informing costal people before the attacks. In 2005, after hurricane Katrina's attack, it was said that the importance of keeping a radio had revived.
In 2010, the Water Satellite of Europe provided photos of the flood zones in Pakistan; satellite data have been frequently analysed to distribute relief goods. In response to Pakistan's flood, the world's satellite fleets were mobilised to provide space-borne information under the International Charter on Space and Disasters.
ITU, International Telecommunication Union, increased effort for the reconstruction of Haiti's telecommunications and ICT infrastructure after the earthquake of 12 January, 2010. For the sake of strengthening rescue operations, it assisted Haiti to re-establish basic communication links and coordinate search and rescue operations; the communication solutions range from satellite terminals and WiMAX broadband to a mobile base station for wireless communications.
Online data base system can be one of the solutions in distributing relief among the victims. Significantly, it will boost monitoring the distribution process by the elected people's representatives and consequently, misuse of funds and relief goods will be checked.
We know that mobile phones couldn't spread to every corner of the country because all the mobile phone companies are backed by multinational companies; they are deeply involved in profit generation, so they wouldn't dare to go to backward places for lack of subscribers and technology installation cost is too high in the coastal and hilly regions compared to those in a crowded flat city like Dhaka. Therefore, besides telecommunication regulations, a government should run a part of the telecommunication sector to connect the rural people even with subsidy.
Digital mapping is a must for a modern country. In a country that possesses up-to-date mapping of a region, a rescue worker would be able to locate a victim by simply using a palmtop and a mobile phone. Digital mapping is extremely useful in finding victims in a zone where an accident occurs. Whenever a mishap takes place, rescuers can identify the place of occurrence by clicking on a handheld device. Digital mapping is a useful tool in the search for scattered people after a disaster like cyclone, hurricane and flood.
Remote sensing has taken a new turn with the installation of satellite equipment, which allows observation from a distant location and produces images to analyse what is going on exactly. Images are taken from the surface of the Earth and the photos are projected on computer monitors for zoom in.
Still we are far off from the latest remote sensing facilities. The space equipment of the remote sensing organisation, Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organisation (SPARRSO), is not enough. It is associated with some satellite establishments of other countries and images from those satellites help them to carry out remote sensing operation.
A country, whether rich or not, needs donation and help from all over the world during a natural calamity. Other governments and international organisations can send donations to the victims, but general people normally face a hassle in donating money from other parts of the world; there is even a limitation in some particular countries about sending money instantly and directly. Bangladesh Bank has opened the gateway for online payment which will facilitate collecting donations and sending money to a victim directly.
More effectively IT and telecommunication experts of some developed countries could minimize some effects of disaster if they concentrated on digital device focused disaster management. Unfortunately these countries have developed IT sector for commercial use and making war technology; after the attack of 9/11 they have been developing cyber monitoring technology, which is built for cracking down on terrorists; not for dealing with calamities.
Still the government is uttering its election winning magic word `Digital Bangladesh'; according to the government, a lot of work is under way. But the last budget couldn't allot significant money for IT, telecommunication sectors, as well as for the disaster management with the digital devices. According to the current ICT infrastructure of the country, especially in the costal belt, such digital rescue operation is a myth, away from the reality.

http://www.theindependentdigital.com/all.php?opt=view&page=43&date=2011-09-09

http://www.theindependentbd.com/weekly-independent/69252-ict-in-disaster-management.html