USA Bureau

The former head of the United Nations Economic Research Team and the Visiting Professor of the Asian Growth Institute of Japan, the world-renowned economist Dr. Nazrul Islam presented his long researched 10-point program with the intention of building a non-discriminatory, humane democratic state, the main aspiration of the students-community in the victory of the recent popular uprising in an auditorium in Jackson Heights, New York City on Saturday ( August 30).

in a welcoming speech at the seminar organized by the Progressive Forum, the General Secretary of the Forum, Golam Mortuza, said that there is uncertainty about how the aspirations of the people’s revolution will be realized. Attempts are being made to sidestep the students’ aspirations for a non-discrimination society and use the August 5 victory as a means of changing power. A conscious attempt is being made to use the misdeeds of the previous government to downplay the victory of the Great Liberation War of 1971 and deny the role of Bangabandhu in the establishment of independent Bangladesh. Ghulam Mortuza pointed out that reactionary communal forces are trying to take advantage of the situation. In view of that, the Progressive Forum wants to see a successful end to the self-sacrifice of the young student-society through such discussions, the negotiators commented.

Dr. Nazrul Islam presented the main paper of the seminar which are: (1) Reducing economic disparity (2) Achieving good governance (3) Promoting democracy and introducing proportional electoral system (4) Protecting the environment and tackling climate change (5) Forming village councils (6) Ending geographical disparities (7) Social cohesion (8) giving special attention to women, children, youth and the elderly (9) introducing universal military education and (10) strengthening sovereignty and pursuing a neutral foreign policy.

Dr. Nazrul mentioned during the detailed discussion on his 10-point plan/sub-programme, the relevance of this 10-point program has increased in view of the final outcome of the student uprising on August 5. Because we can start with the Declaration of Independence. It is written there declaring Bangladesh a sovereign people’s republic for the purpose of establishing equality, human dignity and social justice. That is why it is now called anti-discrimination, but it is mentioned in the beginning of the Declaration of Independence. But in the next 50/52 years, Bangladesh has not established that equality. It is also difficult to say how much social justice has been achieved. That is why this social aspiration was reflected during the student uprising. The movement started with the quota reform but later it was called as anti-discrimination movement and through it there was a lot of student involvement.

In the light of research on the global economy, Bangladeshi economist Dr. Nazrul said that there is no clear statement about what is meant by non-discrimination society, what is its economy, what is its society, what is politics. Now the discussion is going on. Different people are talking different things. Perhaps we can hope that through these discussions things can come to some fruition. But to what extent it will get, and what kind of events will guide it later, whether the goal of equality, human dignity and justice will be achieved is still uncertain. In general, it is not clear what should be done in the wake of this popular uprising.
Dr. Nazrul said, it is a matter of happiness for me that the actions which I developed or formulated long ago are also very useful to fulfill the aspirations of this anti-discrimination society. Because I don’t know that anything specific has been decided yet. I think today’s discussion and speeches will be very important to fill that void.

Dr. Nazrul said, reduction of economic inequality is the first of my 10-point program. Everyone knows that society and politics depend on economy. That is why the discussion begins with the discrimination of the economy. At number two is the achievement of good governance. You know that the administrative situation in our country has reached a very deplorable state. It was very necessary to come up from there. Number three is the political aspect and you all don’t know, there has been a crisis of democracy going on for decades and we have not reached a permanent or stable democracy. It is for that purpose that the quality of democracy and introduction of proportional election system has been mentioned here. This demand has been made earlier by various progressive political parties.

Here I explained extensively. Number four is protecting the environment and tackling climate change. Dr. Nazrul said, today we are sitting in such a time where a large area in the eastern part of Bangladesh is flooded, the number of deaths is also increasing day by day. It is visible that our country Bangladesh has fallen into a very critical situation from the point of view of environment and climate change.

Bangladesh is one of the countries most affected by climate change. How we can get rid of such a terrible situation, protect the environment, move the country from the face of climate change is also a big challenge. I don’t think the talks are very effective in terms of current trends. Some say, flood forecast should be received from India earlier. But number one in terms of forecasting is that what would you have done if you had received it earlier? What will India forecast? You can know where, when and how much rain will happen by going to the website. But no one is saying much about the impact of that amount of rain—what steps to take in terms of how to deal with it.

He said, since 1950, there has been talk about flood damage etc. but I have not heard about taking appropriate steps to deal with it, nor do I know about the method. That is why I have said that a revolutionary change is needed in the water system of Bangladesh.

Dr. Nazrul further said, number 5 is the formation of village council. Its background is that historically in Bangladesh and that subcontinent the unit of society was the village, with Bangladesh a village-based administrative structure prevailed in the Indian subcontinent. 6. Ending geographical discrimination. Increase in social cohesion at number 7.

Due to economic disparity we also see disparity in education. Education in Bangladesh is divided into three parts here. One is English medium education for the very rich. Another is the medium type ie Bengali medium. Another is Madrasa for the very poor, Qawmi Madrasa etc. where boys and girls go. This is how the education system has become trifurcated. Thus it becomes a discriminatory system with negative consequences. It goes without saying that there are many ethnic groups apart from Bengalis and these ethnic groups were not recognized in the Bangladeshi constitution after independence. It wasn’t quite right. In particular, Bangladesh became independent through the struggle for national self-determination, how did the government deny the right to self-determination of the small ethnic groups in that country ?

Dr. Nazrul said, the eighth point includes giving special attention to women, children, young and old. The issue of women is that women have progressed a lot in our country. The main part of the labor force here is women. Women now occupy important positions in the economy and social administration. Even with such progress and achievements there are many downsides. There is a lot of talk against women’s education. In many cases, they are discouraged. In other words, we see a dual situation in the deep observation of women in our country. So there is a lot to do. Here too there is disparity in the situation of women dying in childbirth, in other areas. Gen G statistics in our country are very pathetic. A large part of the graduates from 150/160 universities in Bangladesh are unemployed. They don’t get jobs. Many of them are applying for some posts that require SSC pass. But graduation or masters degree holders are also applying there. As a result, the talent of the highly educated young community cannot be properly utilized. Enthusiasm, passion is getting lost. What is the benefit if SSC passers have to join jobs after completing four year course in college/varsity?

Dr. Nazrul said, in number nine, I talked about the introduction of universal military education. Many may not like it, or like it. The idea is that wherever the youth of Bangladesh pass HSC, at the age of 18/19 they will all go for 9 months of military training.

After completion of training they will go to university for higher degree. This should be done for 6 reasons. As mentioned earlier about social and economic disparity, it is very necessary to promote social cohesion by paving the way for its end. If young boys, rich or poor, millionaires’ sons, farmers’ sons, rickshaw pullers’ sons – if they all live in a camp for 9 months, take training, eat together, as a result, the bond that will be formed between them, after the training, in their respective education or workplace. But that network will remain intact and it will bridge the huge gap between the rich and the poor in our society. Second: Many aspects of our military training are very good. If they get it at a young age, its influence will invigorate the rest of their lives.

Dr. Nazrul said, the last number 10 is the strengthening of sovereignty and the pursuit of a neutral foreign policy. In this era of globalization, the internal resources of the country are being used, but the foreign influence comes. We will extract and use the gas of our country – this is natural. But it is not possible to do that. Foreigners pressurize, point fingers on exports. I also want in the case of coal. Foreigners are saying that they will extract and export. Will talk about paying 6% royalty.

There is nothing you can do against such influence of foreign power. Apart from foreign policy, they are unable to use their own resources while maintaining national sovereignty. The question is, how to do it? Recently, we have seen that India is pulling on one side, Russia is pulling on the other side. China is pulling on one side, the United States is pulling on the other.

How do you do the right thing in so much tension? And here we see, the newly departed government tried to adopt different strategies. I gave some to one, gave to him, balance etc. But in the end we saw that this strategy did not work in Akhe. We have seen a lot of talk about Teesta water. India, China etc. In the end, I was disappointed to see China-Tao. So there has to be a principled stance here, not a tactical one. Don’t be tactful. This policy must be made clear to those who want to influence the country to use resources, as well as to the people of the country. As a result, the countrymen will know why a project has been entrusted to a foreign company. As a result, if there is any problem in that project, then the entire population will take a stand in favor of the government. .

These tasks are related to each other. As such, good governance is necessary to reduce economic inequality, and achieving good governance will be easier if inequality in the economy is reduced. Meanwhile, proportional elections are necessary for good governance and social cohesion. Again, social cohesion is needed to strengthen the country’s sovereignty. Therefore, the main course of action suggested in the above list is not inviolable. What is important is a proper understanding of the interrelationship between them. More notably, multiple sub-tasks can be identified within each task. It will emerge from the discussion of various paragraphs of this discussion. From that point of view the mentioned to-dos can be thought of as a rough bullet list.

Zakir Hossain Bachchu, an officials of the organizing organization, stated that it is very important and the need of the hour to clarify what kind of socio-economic political program is necessary to make the aspirations of the students and the democratic state without discrimination a reality. The president of the organization Hafizul Haque presided over the seminar and Forum Adviser Nasimunnahar Nini and heroic freedom fighter Khorshedul Islam also participated in the discussion.