Demise Of A Goose

Lights go off in an RMG factory,
Leaving jobless and worry for industry.
Reasons unearthed for its demise,
Miss out the one,unpleasant to surmise.

Closure of one of Bangladesh's biggest RMG units augurs ill to the golden goose of Bangladesh economy. Already reeling from safety and poor conditions of work issues at the factory,Corona served further blow to the ailing industry that accounts two-third of the exports of the country. Following the repeated pleas from the exporters, government announced soft credit packages to get rid of Corona related difficulties. However,the assistance did little to help as many misused it by paying back old loans or laundering money abroad. Gravity of the matter even prompted Central Bank to warn the banks about misuse of Covid assistance package.

During the pandemic,one after another major brands in the West shut down their operations.Closure of Opex added another bad news. In its successful years,annual turnover reached $500 million. One of its factories is located at the neighbourhood I grew up and live. I witnessed first hand how such factories helped local economy. House rent ,grocery business and thriving kitchen market swelled the local economy. Nowadays, the brand made lots of headlines for workers' agitation. Angry workers often blocked the key Dhaka-Chattogram highway,lifeline of Bangladesh's economy. Many put forward the reasons behind the closure as housing the 45,000 workers at one place,successor issue,loosing orders,mismanagement etc. But it once again reveals the ugly truth that our conglomerates cannot stay long in the business. Lifespan of most of our conglomerates does not last long.

Few years ago I read a feature that revealed the top 10 companies of Bangladesh in each of the 4 decades. I discovered that companies dominated in a decade or better to say under a regime did not manage to continue the domination in the subsequent decades. Many just shrunk or wound down businesses in the face of odds. This shed some light on the prevailing business environment in Bangladesh.

Most of businesses started their journey under a favorable regime. In addition,the era of permit raj,quota,licence etc that involve lots of bureaucratic operations witnessed the crony businesses to grow. Later many of the groups splintered or dropped from the race when the tide turned against them.

Opex started its journey back in 1984.A former military officer hailing from a family that has a firm footing in myriad sectors set up the conglomerate. As it was the trend then many members of the family became MPs and ministers, and obviously the group gained a lot from the influences of the power grab. Quota was still in play and certain ministries were responsible for its distribution. And those close to the power corridors grabbed the opportunity.

I find some of the reasons put forward hard to swallow. Adverse situations that it faced over the last 10 years could also be a reason for its demise. Recurrence of workers agitation at factory premises that had reputation for clearing payments in line with the image of a top conglomerate not only hampered the operations of the factory but also strangulated Dhaka-Chattogram highway,lifeline of Bangladesh economy.

Furthermore, it is not clear whether it received ample government assistance to keep the factory floating. Many upstart and fake factory received assistance with little effort since this government assumed power. According to a news report,banks discontinue back-to-back LC facility sensing its troubles. A company with $500 million turnover a decade ago ended up in such a sorry state.

Look at the banks that invested here. A bad patch on a good company,once shined under a favorable regime, rendered their money bad. And closure of factory means wiping out of 45,000 jobs. Another example of what crony capitalism does to an economy.

Fate of Citycell,Opex is the inevitable flaws in industrialization and doing business in Bangladesh,pretty common where governance is weak,rule of law is subjective and business is mingled with politics. It is dead wrong to put forward only business and economic reasons as sole factors for demise of a factory.

Notes And References:

1 “Opex:Businesses Will Think Twice Before Building Such Large Factory Units”,Saddam Hossain, Dhaka Tribune,October 28,2021Link here

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

(22 octobre --- 29 octobre)

Selon un reportage, un ferry plein de 17 véhicules et 100 passagers a fait chavirer à Paturia,Manikganj.

Selon un reportage, presque 85 plaintes ont été déposées contre 24000 personnes dans les incidents de vandalisme au milieu de Durga Puja à travers du pays.

Selon un reportage, violence dans les élections municipales a tué 2 personnes et laissé 52 blessées dans 8 villes.

Scars In Celebration

Rumor mills cause mayhem unprecedented,
Uncivilized minds fall prey to plan of groups regimented.
Spending more on development of human resources
Could stem the attack planned by evil forces.

Another bout of communal attack against the minority community amid Durga Puja celebration has severely challenged the communal harmony and social fabric of Bangladesh. It happened at a time when Bangladesh is celebrating its 50th anniversary of independence and boasting its achievement in infrastructure projects that even a decade ago none would believe achievable.

What marred the mood of celebration is the negligence of law-enforcement agencies. This year this is second such communal violence that did damage to property and lives and made international headlines. If one googles 50th anniversary celebration of independence of Bangladesh ,one will see news and pictures of agitators pelting stones towards police or seminary students attacking Brahmanbaria rail station in protest of Indian PM's official visit to Bangladesh ,certainly not the celebration news reports Bangladeshis expected in world media. A damaging publicity to brand Bangladesh.

When we have this kind of crowd who are susceptible to agitate on slightest instance of disinformation or custom-made stories then it is indeed hard to create a cohesive and inclusive society, vital for a nation to prosper and set example for others.

This latest bout is different from other incidents as Police played a controversial role and feared such attack amid Durga Puja celebration. And vandalism spread others parts long after the first occurrence at a Puja celebration spot in Cumilla. The culprits behind the Cumilla incident have been arrested. But who are behind them is still being investigated. Here are my observations¹:

1. Long before the latest bout of vandalism, a group of youtubers preached hatred towards Hindus particularly ISKCON.A former Major of Bangladesh Army now staying in Canada in an interview with a Bangladeshi journalist who is now in exile in USA did not hide his antagonism towards ISKCON and claimed former BJP governor to Tripura on a train trip through Bangladesh told his entourage: “these were all Hindu temples once and converted into mosques",pointing the mosques dotted the landscape. The major claimed former governor had requested PM Hasina to transform them into temple again. This kind of disinformation was spread unabated through social media.

2. Former secretary to the Minister of Labor and Immigrants Welfare was charged by Police for the corruption allegations made against him.This personal secretary was known as Mr 15% in Gopalganj. Minister was former Father-in-law of the PM's daughter. He was part of the faction that attacked houses of District General Secretary of ruling party, a Hindu,and his fault was he failed to attend an iftar party.His cases made way to the arrest of ruling party goons,loyalists to ruling party minister.This is a serious development as such high political figure has never been implicated before.

3. Current Police Chief, who had earlier been DG of RAB, in a press conference feared that there might have been attack in Hindu interests during Durga Puja. The information divulged in the wake of Boat Club controversy where a film star was detained for causing troubles at the club where Police Chief is the president, a post not to be held by public servant. Later, embarrassing photographs of a Police officer and the star severely tarnished image of Police. The star's mentor was also grilled in Police custody.

During his term as RAB DG, encounter of a ruling party counselor in Cox's Bazar by a RAB personnel created lots of controversy at home and abroad. He did not do any probe there. In addition, as RAB DG he had also witnessed the worst terror incident in Bangladesh's history. Government did not replace him. Later Police in an announcement said there had been no threat to Durga Puja. Only Ansars,however, deployed to provide security to the Puja Mondops.

4. A Police inspector implicated in the controversy of an e-commerce platform was detained by BSF while he was on his way to Nepal through India for intrusion. He was later handed down to West Bengal Police. Despite repeated request of repatriation, Indian Police turned deaf to Bangladesh Police's call.

5. A Bangladeshi Court recently cleared the way for ensuring Hindu widow's rights over the property of her husband. Many groups objected such radical changes in the law. In addition, corruption verdict of a former Chief Justice,who had left Dhaka under ruling party threat, was scheduled to be held in the middle of October. But the hearing was delayed further following the communal attack.

6. A high-profile Rohingya leader was shot dead at a camp in Cox's Bazar. He was successful to mobilize crowds to observe Rohingya genocide day and helped to prepare evidence against Myanmar Army Chief in Rohingya genocide case. He even met President Donald Trump. In many YouTube channels his killing was portrayed as an act by Indian and Myanmar spy agencies.

7. Recently BNP consulted with leaders and loyalists of various districts and planned to launch a movement to electoral reforms and fresh election.

8. PM is about to set off an official visit to Europe where she may conclude several defense deals. European governments are less reluctant to sell weapons to countries with poor human rights records.

A British Navy ship HMS Kent arrived in an official visit to Bangladesh when the vandalism unfolded.

Thawing relations between Bangladesh and India witnessed boom in RMG export to India and Indian credit line including defense sector for defense purchase. India even offered its credit line to purchase an European fighter that it is currently using. Such communal tension may wipe out such offer from the table and makes way for others.

These incidents and things in part or full contributed to the recent vandalism. Subsequent investigations may shed further light.

But many here tried to portray the rise of nationalistic force across the border a threat to Bangladesh. It is indeed wrong to tag BJP and Sangha Paribar with other dogmatic groups in the region in the same category. We often forget the ruling party in India often sorted many political disputes through legal battle in the court, not through vandalism or muscle power. Here is part of my take on improving relationship and making a lasting bond with the spiritual group behind BJP:

As Bangladesh turned 50, regional connectivity and cooperation echoed in the messages and speeches of leaders of this region. Being the big country of this subcontinent, no scheme would come to fruition without the right kind of support from India. And the group Modi represents holds significant leverage in power corridor, politics, security establishment, corporate India, strategic community and society in India. Unless the group throws its weight around any regional connectivity plan, it will be difficult for the countries to connect the region and accelerate economic activities.

During his stay in Bangladesh, Modi paid visit and offered prayers to two ancient temples: one in Satkhira dated back to the era of Lakshman Sen and the other one in Gopalganj belonging to a community known as "Motua" who holds considerable influence in the politics of West Bengal and other Indian states. There is no doubt after Modiji's visit the two ancient temples will draw bigger crowds in the coming years. Time has come that Bangladesh embarks on a campaign to attract foreign tourists in these sites.

Similarly, Bangladesh government could offer land to spiritual group Modiji represents to set up an institution that will spread the ethos, teachings and the concept of "Hindutya" or "India" to people representing other faith groups.

Bangladesh could be the ideal place for such institution for two reasons. First, Bangladesh is a Muslim majority country and the Muslims are presented in the media as rival to the spiritual group. People from all around the world subscribe to this institution and get an idea of their lessons and visions. Second, it will help removing any ambiguity and dispel propaganda about their pacific beliefs. Bangladesh will have advantage making lasting bond with this group.

Moreover, India shows respect and attaches great importance to the relationship with Bangladesh. In recent years, envoys sent by India as High Commissioners to Bangladesh rose to superior positions in the country's Foreign Ministry. From those positions, they hold leverage to clear and implement any initiative that will bring the countries closer and improve common people's lives. Except few other countries, no other countries show this kind of respect towards Bangladesh.

In that light, inviting Modiji in the celebration of Independence day was right and judicious one. His presence not only bolstered ties but paved the paths for trouble-free future cooperation. Recently World Bank did a study and revealed that regional connectivity would augment Bangladesh's GDP by 17% and India's by 7%. While other nations collaborate on sending missions to Mars and moon and production on vaccine, our region could not emerge from poverty,communal hatred, ignorance, corruption and parochialism.Trivial issues still lead to spilling of blood and destruction of property. These are encumbrances towards forming a common market.

To stem recurrence of communal attack, we need to change the change textbooks and include history,anecdotes and literature on riots, holocaust so that students at tender age understand evil of such hatred and have a negative impression to such heinous acts. On the part of concrete actions, Bangladesh could outlaw such hatred and raised the penalty for such crimes. In addition, Bangladesh could also secure the interests of minority groups by amending the constitution. At the same time, Bangladesh and India could ink special deal to contain the risk emanating from nature or human-made disaster. Under the light of such deal, specialized forces may jointly conduct cross border operations like arrest,investigation,rescue, relief etc that forces of a particular country cannot do because of religious and personal reasons.

Disinformation continues unabated. Many spread falshood in the social media that such attack paved the path for future intervention of Indian Army,which will march down the Dhaka street in near future. Back in August this year,Bangladesh Army units took part in the march past of Indian Independence Day celebration in Delhi. On 16 December, Indian Army along with Russian and Mexican Army will take part in the march past on national parade square on the occasion of 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s victory.

There is no denying that to fight such disinformation we have to develop our human resources. So we have to invest a lot in this sector. And to get rid of the rumor mill, there is no alternative to a free press. Before spending billions on purchasing arms, it is more sensible to spend few millions on building institutions to make good citizens. This step at least will not put us into shame when we will celebrate 100th anniversary of our independence.

Notes And References:

1 “Connecting Communities “,Rezaul Hoque,https://hoquestake.blogspot.com,March 27,2021Link here

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

(15 octobre --- 22 octobre)

Selon un reportage, cadavre d’une personne a été trouvé d’une côté d'un temple hindou à Chowmohuni,Noakhali. Une autre blessé a succombé à la mort à Cumilla,selon un autre reportage.

Selon un reportage, des maisons hindous ont été ciblées à Rangpur le dimanche.Le vandalisme continuait 30 minutes.

Selon un reportage, police a appréhendé le coupable qui avait mis le Koran au pied d'une idole à Cumilla.

Selon un reportage, 7 Rohingyas ont été tués pendant un attentat visant un séminaire koranique dans un campe à Cox's Bazar.

Covid Vaccination Program

Slow pace in vaccination
Delays process of restoration.
A vaccine for the poors
Wins the next pandemic’s rigors.

Covid vaccination program in Bangladesh is going on smoothly and slowly. Bangladesh is perhaps one of the few countries in the developing world that started mass-vaccination program pretty early. Detection rate rose to 32% back in July 2021; in October it came down to below 2%.¹However, in terms of number people vaccinated, Bangladesh lags behind many countries in South and South East Asia. It is slightly ahead than Myanmar.

Source:Data credit internet.Infographics credit Rezaul Hoque

Restriction on ingredient ban,financing and logistics challenges delayed the mass vaccination program, causing woes to general people and embarrassment to government. But financial support came in thick and fast.

Vaccine commitment was reneged following news reports divulging nitty-gritty of the deal. Government took credit from multilateral donor agencies to finance this vast vaccination program.

Free donation of vaccines by few developed countries contributed little to mitigate the vaccine shortage as the demand is huge. So government cut some sort of deal with several vaccine producers that got WHO approval to procure the vaccine.

But students, migrant workers and others faced obstacles to get the required vaccine. Migrant workers could not go back to the Middle Eastern countries as the countries did not allow Chinese or Russian vvaccineThe issue was settled when they relaxed the condition. But later lack of RT PCR machines at Bangladeshi airports further obstructed migrant worker’s scheduled travel to UAE and other countries. It increased their ordeals.

Many schoolgoers and university students also had troubles to get vaccine. Government decided to give them special NID card to let them avail the vaccine.

Initially, the response from the people was mute. When Delta started to wreck havoc this year, registration for the vaccine spiked. As there was little supply ,government could not carry out the vaccination at the scale it had earlier anticipated. Many waited months to get the first shot.

Government first vaccinated frontline workers and the higher risk groups who are susceptible to catch Covid. Later the condition was relaxed and schoolgoers were included in the list.

Long queues before the vaccination centers indicated how eager people were to get a vaccine.

I would like to share my own experience here. I registered for vaccine back in July. Meanwhile, I fell victim to dengue. I did not do any test. But symptoms hinted to dengue: high fever at regular intervals, fatigue, head ache,muscle pain , pain at knee and elbow etc.Last year, in April, I also had Covid-like symptoms: fever, head ache,loss of smell and taste,measles like rash etc. It was mild and it was in the midst of first lockdown so I did not bother to do the test. Last year in November or December, I also experienced those mild Covid-like symptoms. I got recovered pretty soon. Dengue experience made me a little nervous and the delay made me worried. Having waited more than two months, I called both IEDCR and MIS department of Ministry of Health. IEDCR advised me to contact the center I chose during registration while MIS department told me to wait as the software was designed to sort the priority and fixing the date for vaccination. I listened to MIS. Exactly, two months and twenty two days later I got an SMS for the first dose. The queue was long for the first dose seekers. Everyone had to bring their vaccine card. I got Vero Cell,manufactured by SinoPharm. The queue disappeared within hours of commencement of vaccination. Now I wait second dose for the vaccine.

Back in July in the wake of Delta variant spread ,I wrote a piece titled “Delta Wrecks Havoc”. I share some parts here:

Commitment to finance vaccination program is plenty. But it is not clear how many doses one individual requires as variant after variant doing their damage. For poorer countries it is not possible to purchase additional booster shot that costs more than $ 10 . Local production could be a solution as cost will be reduced significantly. Despite repeated pleas of calling the vaccine a global public good and relaxing the TRIPS laws, no progress has been made. This will give fresh fuel to protectionism and globalization will receive another blow. Moreover, critics of globalization will point out that it is a one way track and in terms of crisis this globalization does not work for poorer countries. So a vaccine for the poor is a must. As deadly variants loom large and new bout of wave may wreck havoc, an ideal vaccine should not cost more than couple of dollars ( under $5 ). As there is no alternative to mass vaccination, cheap credit and grant should be made available to poorer countries so that they can continue the vaccination program at ease.²

Government has created a facility to produce vaccine locally. However, as the intellectual property right is not relaxed ,no vaccine production is anticipated in near future.But there is no denying that to be prepared for next pandemic we have to augment our capacity to produce vaccine locally which we did four decades ago. It is indeed a good news that government mobilized Tk 100 crore for such research activities. Government has to make sure that research projects from Medical Universities and institutes, genuine research physicians, medical equipment manufacturing projects vie for such fund. For policy and socioeconomic research on health issues ,there are ample of funding institutions like Ministry of Planning,corporate NGOs and other public health organizations at home and abroad. There is no need to allocate fund from Tk 100 crore on policy research.

Government intends to vaccinate 80% 0f the population by 2022. In this regard,govt has to increase the procurement process and to speed up the vaccination program. Current detection rate is not convincible as a large part of the population stays outside vaccination and many have tendency not to do a screening test with the arrival of vaccine. That is why many countries still put us into red list. To make the Covid related stat convincible, government should allow other organization to keep a tab on COVID related records.

Notes And References:

1 “Covid: Deshe Shonakto Dine 300er Niche,Mrityo Nemechhey 6 e(Covid: Detection Below 300 Persons Per Day,Number of Death Below 6)”,bdnews24.com,October 16,2021 Link here

2 “Delta Wrecks Havoc”,Rezaul Hoque,July 02,2021,https://hoquedtake.blogspot.com,Link here

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

(08 octobre --- 15 octobre)

Selon un reportage, un homme d’affaires a accusé un policier de torture pendant interpellation dans une tenue de presse.

Selon un reportage, une série d’attaque contre lieux de vénérations de l’Hindou a été montée dans 10 villes à travers du pays. Police a appréhendé centaines de personnes dont un coupable qui avait diffusé une vidéo de diffamation présumée de Koran dans un temple de l’Hindou au Facebook. A Chandpur où situation a rendu pire,4 ont été tués par balles pendant que des agresseurs tentaient d’attaquer des temples de l’Hindou. Vendredi après les prières hebdomadaires, des temples ont été ciblés à Noakhali, à Chattogram.

Selon un reportage, police a arrêté un ancien secrétaire privé d'un ancien ministre,connu comme Monsieur 15% dans sa ville.

Selon un reportage, une cour américaine a trouvé un Américain, originaire de Bangladesh, coupable d’avoir tenté joindre les Talibans au Afghanistan pour lutter contre les États-Unis.

Weak Passport Belies Success

Weak passport belies trumpeted success,
Multiple streams in education offer little access.
Vigor and enthusiasm shown in doing project,
Absent in creating institution to reduce poverty abject.

Once again Henley & Partners has weakened Bangladeshi passport. Bangladesh is ranked 108th among 116 countries, only ahead of Nepal,Pakistan and Afghanistan in the subcontinent.¹ This is something we should not be proud of and it belies the achievements government trumpets on every occasion.

The weakening of our passport has been going on for the last seven years. In 2013,our passport was ranked at 85 in Henley Passport Index(HPI). In 2017,the green passport was slides down by 10 places. In 2019,its rank worsened further to 99.In 2020, it was ranked 101st. Perhaps not all the countries are buying our success stories.⁴

Recently, European Union published a list of asylum seekers in EU where they entered illegally by crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Bangladesh ranked second in the list.

This week Lafarge Holcim cement announced that it would sell its operations in Bangladesh.²

E-commerce debacle left a serious blot on reputation of the government. One after another e-commerce platform that follows multilevel marketing model failed to meet customers’ need and many simply swindled money. What could have been the success story of govt's digital economy turned out to be an embarrassing point for the government.

It has been reported that government might have avoided this incident had it been stricter to malpractices.

Meanwhile, remittances shows a downward spiral following a remarkable growth last year.

In September 2021-22,Bangladesh received remittances worth $1726.29 million whereas the sum was $2171.03 million in May this year.³However, rising oil price could break the downward spiral as construction boom may resume in the Middle Eastern countries, riding on the high oil price.

Back in April this year,I wrote a piece titled “Falling Ranking,Fading Identity” in the wake of unrevised HPI. I would like to share some part of it again:

Education is the area where we fall behind our neighbors. In Global Knowledge Index, Bangladesh held the lowest rank in South Asia. Its position was 112th among 138 countries.Even Pakistan and Nepal were placed ahead of us (Source: Daily Star, December 12 , 2020).

In Innovation Index, Bangladesh was far behind than its South Asian neighbors. Among the 131 economies, Bangladesh occupied 116th position. It perched on that position for three consecutive years (Source: The Financial Express, September 14, 2020).

In recent years, school drop out rate, number of child marriage have also increased. I cannot figure out how we can continue our achievements in economic and development sectors with such a sorry state in education and innovation.

What complicated the matter is the presence of three different streams of education. A greater section of the population are not at the same wavelength while reading a particular event or situation and are not behaving in the right way at a crucial occasion or circumstances.

Our 14 years of schooling is not as good as others. It is casting a shadow over our overseas development markets. In middle eastern countries where our nationals mostly took up the jobs of housemaid, drivers, agricultural workers etc , Bangladeshis find themselves in awkward situation for failing to communicate in a proper manner. It is affecting their livelihoods there. Many even fall victims to deception and cheating. In Kuwait a Bangladeshi MP in connivance with Kuwaiti officials ran a human trafficking network. Thousands of Bangladeshis were lured into there traps, losing millions of Taka and risking their lives. The issue remains a sore point in the relationship between two countries and engenders overseas employment of Bangladesh in Kuwait.

Reuters last year carried a report divulging dilapidated conditions of stranded Bangladeshis , victims of human trafficking, in Bosnian jungles.

Like those cheated Bangladeshis abroad, state of our health sector does not vouch safe for our economic success story. COVID-19 laid bare the anarchy going on in this sector. Fake screening program ran by some politically-blessed quarter alarmed us about quality of our health professionals. Poorly equipped hospitals and dearth of health professionals brought us foreign grant and support in thick and fast. To our dismay, we watched that oxygen system and 300 ventilators bought with foreign credit were locked in warehouses of Dhaka International Airport for ten months. They are meant to equip the public hospitals. Meanwhile, deteriorating condition at home led to ban flights towards countries from where most of our remittances come.

With great enthusiasm and effort, Bangladesh implements infrastructure and development projects, very few turn out to be beneficial in the end. However, same vigor and enthusiasm are not displayed while creating social institutions that aim to develop human resources at the grassroot level. Tribal nature of our politics , tendency to set a yeoman at every organization are widely seen as encumbrance to developing such institution. For the last three decades, a moribund growth has been being observed on institutions that work on youth, discrimination, literacy,digital divide, communal harmony,folklore,hygiene,rural-urban migration, inclusion of new technology, charity, music and culture. These institutions in the past played key roles in churning out quality nationals. It does not mean they have to depend on foreign fund for their operations. Community, individual and government should step in so that they can function without any trouble. COVID-19 bluntly laid it bare that our health system is not working and one fine morning we will discover, to our surprise, that our country becomes an unlivable prison. And HPI and QNI may coshare positions with other doomed countries.⁴

Notes And References:

1 “Bangladeshi passport now 9 th weakest globally”,The Business Standard,October 05,2021Link here

2 “Bangladesh Theke Babsha Gutiye Nichhey Lafarge HolCim(Lafarge Winds Down Bangladesh Operations)”,Sylhet Today 24,October 06,2021Link here

3 Bangladesh Bank

4 “Falling Ranking,Fading Identity “,Rezaul Hoque,April 19,2021Link Here