Republic Of Plunderers And Parasites-II

What an spectacle of independence!
Inequality,discrimination bury its essence.
There is growing sign of parasitism.
Citizens see no sign of optimism.
As cruel toddler treats its pet,
Smart elites flee abroad to secure their fate.

Back in December 19,2020,I penned a piece titled “Republic Of Plunderers And Parasites” on this site(https://hoquestake.blogspot.com/2020/12/republic-of-plunderers-parasites.html?m=1).Reproducing it again as Bangladesh celebrates its independence day.

As Bangladesh steps towards celebrating its 50th anniversary next year, dissimilarities, discrimination, injustice and inequality it fought 50 years ago become more shockingly visible. Cheerleading for overpriced infrastructure projects, where contributions of Bangladeshi companies are infinitesimal and whose implementation are dominated by foreign companies, boasts jingoistic attitude that has little impact on vernacular life of common people. Embryonic zeal of self-determination has turned into parasitism. No short of excuses to misappropriate public money. From private companies to individuals,all depend on government money for survival. This trend could be found from social security expenditures to incentives for business. Even parasitism has become endemic in individual life. A rent-seeking class has emerged, exploiting others' hard earned income. Land grabbing, forest grabbing, extortion, squeezing father-in-law (sometimes brother/sister-in-law or in-laws in general) whenever odd situation strikes have become common practice in order to prosper in personal life.(Nowadays stealing someone's creative work, article, plagiarism are also becoming pretty common; another indication of growing sign of parasitism). Four decades ago ,these things could be viewed as taboo and criminal act. Now they become integral part of Bengali's DNA.Even a decade ago , extortion in the name of " Mukh Mithai"(Sweetening Mouth) was seen as serious transgression. Now everyone gets used to it!

No government spokesman, partisan expert, government statistical pocket book will ever publish this unpleasant truth. Unfortunately this is the reality stands before us in 2020.

There has been delay in publication of Household Income Expenditures Report, which has little credibility. I personally found data mismatches in annual report of Bangladesh Bank and on website of Board of Investment. I also found anomalies in PDF versions of statistical pocket books. Why does a successful and confident government want to hide and fidget data?

Today's Bangladesh contravenes breaking up of Pakistani feudal structure. In fact, feudalism is consolidated in Bangladesh. Wealth has amassed into the hands of few people. Bangladesh outperforms other countries in generating super rich. From DTH service to COVID vaccination program, all are being done by powerful cronies. During the lockdown, I took notice of a news item that revealed that family members of a former minister and businessman left Bangladesh for London on a chartered plane. Former opposition party minister turned out to be relative of ruling party crony through the marriage of their son and daughter.Months after months staffs of former minister's cell phone company demonstrated on the streets for their dues after the company had been incapacitated by lack of bank credit and government cooperation. The former minister and his son already laundered huge money in Singapore. In my earlier piece, I elaborated how mismanagement and corruption in the banks contributed to piling up of Non Performing Loans (NPL).

In rural village, poor people sell their meagre land to loan sharks or local elites in order to go abroad to make a fortune. Policy change, deception, international crisis often lead them to lose their land. Rural land, due to presence of erroneous land dispute settlement, are concentrated into the hands of few powerful people.

Five decades ago, when we got liberated from Pakistan, we owe to Pakistan around $ 5 billion. Now more than $ 5 billion , some estimates put the figure somewhere around $15 billion, are laundered from Bangladesh every year. So Bangladeshis outdid the Pakistanis exploiting the local economy and laundering wealth abroad.Sense of insecurity and hopelessness have increased in magnitude in five decades. Where is the progress in independent Bangladesh?

Three or four decades ago Bangladeshi constructors and engineers built roads and utility lines in Middle East and Maghreb.Now Libyan coast is washed away with Bangladeshi migrants who are desperate to take a perilous boat ride to Europe. Just couple of months ago, Reuters carried out a special story on stranded Bangladeshi in Bosnian jungles.Even in Pakistani period, when poverty was so abject, people did not flee the country in drove. Why are so many people fleeing abroad clandestinely from independent and prosperous country?

Business malpractices also reach worrying level. Earlier adulterating milk with water was prevalent. Now no business is without malpractice. Digital weighing scale is deliberately tempered to give less amount of goods to consumers. Mobile data pack and other services often do not yield the promised amount. Since it is hard to fathom the true consumed value, such malpractices often go unnoticed. Bus fare, auto fare are artificially hiked to whiten black money.

During the colonial time our educational institutions produced brightest minds and there was liberty in freedom of expression.Had there been no freedom of expression, Bengali language would not get the status as it is enjoying now and our struggle to independence would not culminate into full blown armed struggle.

There had been skirmishes and assault on teachers. But now students and teachers both lost their lives in campus. Even teachers cannot speak their minds in campus. Prof Ajoy Roy who taught several decades at Dhaka University despite repeated pleas from relatives in Kolkata to settle there had to bear the news of his son's killing at the university premises. Prof Humayun Azad, one of the brilliant linguists both Bengals ever produced, was attacked with machete at the university. His son on several occasions was also assaulted at the university.They were attacked for expressing their views and speaking their minds.

Same kind of incidents were purported in other universities.

In the Pakistani period, even undergraduate of a mofussil town knew three languages--- Urdu, English, Bengali--- and wrote impeccable English. From the autobiography of historian Tapan Raychaudhuri I came to learn that a library in Borishal even ordered French book from foreign publishers because there were readers in that village¹. We do not have that kind of libraries or independent book shop now.

Back then university produced graduates whose ideas and innovation found global platform and audience. Composite material that was used to build F-15 fighter jet, a reliable platform for many Air Forces, was the brain child of a Dhaka University chemistry graduate. Quantum statistics, which revolutionized scientific analysis, was born at the Curzon Hall in Dhaka University.

Now Pakistani universities assemble their own satellite, excel in reverse engineering , build jet prototypes.

Where are we now? Is there really any intellectual advancement in Bangladesh?

I do not understand why in a well functioning economy there is a silent invasion of drugs. Today yaba or methamphetamine market in Bangladesh is worth $5 billion. The autobiography of veteran journalist Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury shed some light on the tobacco related business in the Pakistani period. Back then 1 million people were employed in "Tendu Pata"(tobacco leaf) related business². Now hardly any business or vocation left where drug money is not invested.

The whole real estate sector is thriving on undocumented money. Government does not question origin of the money invested in real estate sector. Buying and selling flat have become popular mode of legalizing black money as less paperwork is required.Politics has become more violent as black money finds safe sanctuary in politics. Back in pre-independence days , this was unthinkable. Seasoned politicians had some principles back then.

Last leg of Pakistani period witnessed a boom in setting up educational institutions across Bangladesh. Now we see a contest to set up religious seminaries across Bangladesh on empty government lands. Such seminaries guarantee steady stream of revenues from devotees and government does not ask for any explanation how the donation money is spent. In addition, setting up such seminaries brings lucrative donations from Middle Eastern countries. So there is a rat race to become member of the management committee of religious seminaries.

Now there is no public service job quota for women. Stipend program for women is slashed. Minimum marriage age for woman is lowered. Literary works by writers of other faiths are taken off from school text books. Where are we heading ten years later?Should there be any reason to remain complacent?

Bangladeshi rulers have proved that they are the worst rulers than the English and the Pakistanis. Compared to the Bengalis, they were farsighted and compassionate. That was why they built institutions. Bengali rulers treat their citizens like a sadistic toddler treats its pet.All their efforts end up making the country a nightmarish hell.Smart ones among the ruling elites purchase foreign identity. And for the commoners, there is no escape from this republic of sadistic plunderers and parasites.

Notes And References:

1 “Bangalnama”,Tapan Raychaudhuri, P-74,Ananda Publishers Limited,May 2007.

2 “Dhirey Bohey Buriganga(Gently Flows The Buriganga -First Part)”, Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury,P-63, Josna Publishers,February 2000.

Doc, Quality Delivery & Experimentation

Increased health spending raises the number of caregivers.
Does it raise the quality of service delivery at the health centers?
In the face of threat tank, APC get NBC suit.
Health facilities need the same to stand resolute.
Bring back the bygone era enterprising class,
To instill values of experimentation among the mass.

1.

During this lockdown, I finished reading “Dhire Bohe Buriganga"( Gently Flows The Buriganga), the memoir of veteran journalist, political commentator and lyricist Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury. He is known to Bangladeshis and the world as the lyricist of Ekushey anthem written after the shooting incident of language movement. The book is unputdownable and packed with anecdotes unraveling the times of late 40s, Pakistan , infant stages of Bangladesh and its early years of democratic period. This gentleman has strong eyes to see subtle social changes and brought to fore many unpleasant truths. Everyone should read it.

From this book, I came to learn that prior to the tumultuous years of partition in the late 40s Savar, a countryside on the outskirts of Dhaka , housed a class of “Kabiraj” or traditional healers whose herbal medicines earned them reputation across India. The violent partition severely weakened the traditional medical practices. I also met some of them during my childhood. Unlike the present ones who promised to cure cancer and AIDS, my childhood “Kabiraj” sold medicines to cure fever, sore throat, headache, back pain, acidity, attention deficit. And they also had tonics to build a strong body, to increase memory power. The medicines were prepared based on some formula. Some of the formula books were printed and published in Kolkata, maybe by those migrated “Kabiraj”. These formula based medicines had great demand. I was specially attracted to one particular type called “Chawanprash”, a sticky mixture that promises good health. It tasted really good. In my native village in Chittagong, neighbor of my paternal grandfather practiced this kind of herbal medicine based on the formula book printed in Kolkata. They spent nights and days with their ingredients to prepare those mixtures. They made it really good as those were sold thousands of examples as far as Akiyab in Myanmar. If they had a good season, “Guda Dada"(Young Grandfather), as I used to call the neighbor, took me to have breakfast in the village bazaar. We ordered molten dalda (made of animal fat )draped parathas and downgraded version of Havshi halwa. I preferred to have my parathas dipped into thick milk tea where the dalda floated like “premer mora jole dobe na"(unsuccessful lover’s body never drowns) and refused to settle at the bottom of tea cup.

Dalda, another example of colonial rule, destroyed the market of local mustard oil and ghee(clarified butter made of cow milk). Gaffar Chowdhury’s book offered an account of it.

The point is prior to Pakistan period, we had these vibrant enterprising classes of professionals who experimented with local herbs and made traditional medicines. Though after Pakistan came into being, Kundeshwari, Sadhana, Hamdard, AP did remarkably well but turbulent time of liberation war broke that ecosystem. The glorious days of herbal medicine never returned. Research and experimentation not only in herbal medicine but in the health sector in general are conspicuously absent.

2.

Govt has taken plan to increase its health spending manifold in the next budget. Now it is time to see how it will spend this money. Coronavirus unveiled that many of our government health facilities do not have enough ICUs and specialized beds in the ICU across the country. This pandemic may be over in future but it proved how vulnerable and less equipped our health system is. We spend more on APC, Tanks and defense facilities to make them NBC(Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) compliant. Time has come to replicate the process in health sector as threat of another pandemic or chemical or incendiary disaster looms large. We need to build NBC compliant ICUs, doctor’s chamber, patient’s ward across the health facilities of Bangladesh. Most importantly, we have to train and churn out health providers. I tried to build a model with data available in BER2018, Henley Nationality Index and Odhikar to see what influences producing doctors in Bangladesh. The period chosen was 2006-2017. For constructing the perfect model I chose Leamer’s extreme bound analysis (EBA) approach. I picked up number of registered doctors (Doc), number of beds in government hospitals and dispensaries(Bed), number of medical colleges(Med), number of dental colleges(Den), ADP spending on health, population and family welfare (ADP) and victims of political violence(Pol). The idea was that with number of increased hospital beds we need more doctors. Number of Medical colleges obviously influences churning out doctors. So does the number of dental colleges. Increasing health expenditure could also play role a role in delivering health professionals. I was eager to see whether governance could shape churning out doctors. A lagged variable was chosen in this regard as political turbulence this year could delay graduation of doctors in future. However, I treated this variable as a doubtful one and considered Bed and Med as free.

First, I regressed Doc on Bed. Then I regressed Doc on Bed and Med. After that I regressed Doc on Bed, Med and Den. Later I regressed Doc on Bed, Med, Den and ADP. Then Doc on Bed, Med, Den, ADP and Pol(1-period lag). Subsequent stages of regression increased both the R² and Adj R². We have five coefficient estimates for Bed, 4 for Med , 3 estimates for Den and 2 for ADP. The coefficient of Bed oscillated between 0.13 and 0.377. That of Med varied between -0.186 and 4.4. The coefficient of Den ranged between -0.2 and 43.56. The coefficient of ADP moved between 10.9 and 11.38.

I put my trust on Bed, Med and ADP as inclusion of other variables did not produce fragile estimates of their coefficients. I also noticed that inclusion of Pol(lagged) variable yielded wrong sign for Med variable which is contrary to the conviction that increasing number of medical colleges produces more doctors. So I went for other variable to measure the governance. I went for Kälin- Kochenov Quality of Nationality Index (QNI). QNI ranks qualities of nationalities. Each nationality receives an aggregate score based on economic strength, human development, ease of travel, political stability and overseas employment opportunities for citizens. So I thought QNI could be a better measure for governance. But data were available for 2011-2018. So I ran the regression for this period. After the regression, I found that Med produced opposite sign. So I discarded this variable too and my attempt to see role of governance in making doctors turned out to be damp squib.

And I finally rested my trust on the following model:

Doc_t = a + b Bed_t + c Med_t + d ADP_t

The result was:

Doc_t = 20088.07 + 0.16 Bed_t + 0.37 Med_t + 9.87ADP_t
(t = 3.86, p=0.00 , se=5194.24) (t=2.25, p=0.05, se=0.069) (t=0.16, p=0.87, se=2.35) (t=2.54, p=0.034, se=3.88)
(F=49.33, p=0.00)

The model fit well. However intercept demonstrated a huge standard error and coefficient for Med turned out to be insignificant. It appeared ADP expenditures on health and number of hospital beds in govt hospitals play the big role on the number of registered doctors. In my model, an increase in 1 crore taka in ADP on health led to churning out around 10 registered doctors every year in the given period. Though Bed turned out to be significant, its coefficient is less than one.

3.

Increasing health expenditures may lead to raise the number of healthcare provider. But I do not know whether it is enough to raise the quality of service delivery. Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury in that memoir shared an anecdote of service delivery at Dhaka Medical College Hospital in 1953. In the general patient ward, paratyphoid patient Gaffar was staying few more days to get cured. As in those days, the patients who managed to buy medication for paratyphoid had better chance of survival. Those who could not mange to buy medicine were succumbed to death. Medical authority could not do more. A well-to-do leukemia patient was also admitted to the same ward. He did not know his days were numbered. One day the patient died. Relatives came and engaged in an altercation with the medical staff as the naked dead body was draped in white bed cover and his silk Punjabi, moneybag, golden necklace were missing. 67 years later one may still call into question the improvement of service delivery in our health facilities. Increase in health spending may increase the number of healthcare providers, but whether it may ensure quality service delivery and spur research activities in the health sector is a subject of another scrutiny.