DEVELOPMENT
This is purely an academic discussion. These days this issue is widely discussed in Bangladesh. I looked inward and thought about it.
Development generally means economic and financial progress. In the context of the political environment in Bangladesh, some new ideas about development came to my mind. I think development should include human rights, social rights, political rights, civil rights, democratic rights, freedom, liberty, and constitutional rights.
When people of any country cannot enjoy these rights, they cannot be happy and peaceful. Economic progress is not enough. To enjoy a happy and peaceful life, people need to enjoy the rights I have mentioned above.
I have internet in my home. I can work on Facebook, I can operate YouTube but I have no freedom of speech. I cannot say what I want to say. I am afraid of the black laws. I am always in fear. Internet facility is a sign of material progress, but the material progress must be combined with mental peace. My ego and self-respect are shattered every moment. I cannot enjoy self-respect and self-esteem. I feel devastated, insulted, abused, depressed, sad, and humiliated. We are prisoners in our own country. I am afraid of being arrested. I may be arrested for writing this article. My heart and brain are under the chain. I am afraid of remand and extrajudicial killing. As per the law of the land, remand does not mean torture. According to the constitution of Bangladesh, no person can be tortured on any piece of Bangladeshi land, but there is a clear violation of the existing law. People are brutally tortured in the name of remand.
Development is a positive term, but if the basket of development is full of the poisonous snakes, should I call it a basket of development? Don't we find any inconsistency in it? That is why I suggest comprising human rights, social rights, democratic rights, political rights, civil rights, freedom of speech, liberty and constitutional rights while defining development.
The constitution of Bangladesh is an ideal document that promotes social welfare and human welfare in Bangladesh. Our rights as citizens of Bangladesh are stipulated in the constitution of Bangladesh, but people are deprived of enjoying these rights, they are denied their constitutional rights. The concept of development must be incompatible with such a situation.
Do we want development? Yes, we would like to be developed. Do we want freedom? Yes, we love freedom. We want both, but which one is our priority? Do we want development by surrendering our human rights, democratic rights, political rights, social rights, civil rights and, constitutional rights? No! Never! We never want that. First of all, we want to enjoy our rights as stipulated in the constitution of Bangladesh. Secondly, we want development. If development comes first, then why did we become independent from the British? Didn't They bring development to India? The railway network all over India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh were established by the British. They established the schools, colleges, and universities in undivided India. They abolished some brutal practices in India. They made laws to stop Satidaha. Satidaha was a system that the wives were burnt alive with their dead husbands. Wasn’t it extreme cruelty? In many other ways, the British contributed to the development of the then India. Even then, we valued freedom above all.
We enjoyed our rights much better during the British period than we are having it today. In that time, we struggled hard for our independence and freedom.
Could we achieve freedom? I don’t think so. I do not feel that I am a citizen of a free country. I eat, sleep, do household work, but I am a prisoner in my own country. I have no freedom of speech, no voting rights. On 30 December 2018 Bangladesh was murdered and raped.
Mrs Parul Begum of Subornochar, Noakhali, is a mother of four children. She was gang raped for the offence of casting her ballot paper in favour of BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party). Our ballot papers should be kept secret. How did they know that she voted for BNP? In reality, there was absolutely no election. People were tortured and murdered. Eighteen people died on the Election Day. I think there are many unknown deaths and rapes too.
A lot of our hard earned money was spent on a fake election. We were betrayed terribly.
We wanted to be independent of the British because we wanted to feel respected. Freedom is a symbol of self-respect and self-esteem. We wanted to feel that we were not ruled by another country. We wanted to live with dignity and honour. This was the issue of ego satisfaction. Our ego wanted to be proud of their own country. The same way we want to be free and independent now. We feel that we are colonized by India. We do not want any puppet Government.
Development is nothing special for a particular country. All the countries in the world are having development. There was a time when Europe was poor. They started to develop rapidly after the industrial revolution.
Development mainly takes place for discoveries and innovations of the scientists and researchers. The discovery of steam engine boost development manifold. Discovery of computer and internet-facilitated communication brought development to the world as a whole. The humans put their physical labour and applied their intellectual abilities to the industrial revolution and other kinds of development.
I searched for the list of the countries for GDP (PPP)-Wikipedia. In 2017, Bangladesh had the rank of 31 out of the 190 countries. All the 190 countries have their own ranks. It shows that all the countries in the world are developing. We notice that 30 countries are above Bangladesh. I found that South Africa, Nigeria, China, India, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, etc. countries are above Bangladesh.
The so-called Government of Bangladesh boasts of development. I feel that the Government has nothing to do with development. The Government of any country may facilitate the process of development, but sometimes they create hindrances. The businessmen, industrialists, investors, and others complain that they need to bribe the people in the Government sector and the corrupt political leaders. This way they are compelled to lower the quality of work by reducing the cost because they set aside money to bribe the political leaders and the people in the Govt. sector. Our banks and the share markets are struggling for survival because of the corrupt practices of the political leaders.
Development takes place for the hard work of our people, but not for the Government and the political parties. Our farmers, factory workers, workers in the garment industries, investors, businessmen, exporters, industrialists, engineers, doctors, researchers, teachers and others working in the service sector are contributing continuously to the process of our development. We have two main sources of earning foreign currency. One is our garment industries wherein our poor girls have been working very hard with a very low salary. Our workers are working hard abroad who send valuable foreign currency into Bangladesh. Look at our farmers! They are putting manual labour to our agriculture. In Bangladesh, agriculture is not mechanized. They are ill-paid and ill-fed. They are compelled to sell their products cheap. They are feeding the entire nation. The factory workers are producing manufactured goods. Most of our employees are in the private sector. The businessmen generate revenues. The people pay taxes, the proper use of which is always doubtful.
After independence, we received large amounts of foreign aid. The rich countries are interested in global development because it helps both the rich and the poor. If the poor do not become rich, who will buy their goods and services? The rich countries buy less, but sell more and that is why they are rich. Selling brings money in and buying takes money to others. The poor are not developed enough to buy less and sell more.
This article would remain incomplete if I don’t say anything about the election in Bangladesh on 30 December 2018. There was no election at all. People were beaten, raped and killed. In the district of Noakhali, a woman of 35 years, named Parul Akhter, who has four children, was brutally raped by a gang of the ruling party for the offence that she voted for BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party). The criminals fastened her husband and children with a tree before committing this heinous crime. She should cast her ballot paper in a secret room. Our ballots are secret and sacred. The members of the ruling party opened our ballot papers against our wills and tore it into pieces if we voted for BNP or any other opposition party. The polling agents of the opposition parties were not allowed to enter the polling centres. In my polling centre (Purana Paltan, Girls College, Dhaka), I saw no pooling agents of the opposition parties. All the ballot boxes were filled in on the previous day of the election. On account of this election, 18 people died. I think there are unknown deaths and rapes too. We feel sad, depressed, humiliated, insulted, abused and, tortured. All this was carried out with our money. We want to know why our hard earned money was spent on a fake election? In effect, Bangladesh was murdered and raped on 30 December 2018.
I think the concept of development should be redefined taking into consideration the human factors.
