Bangladesh at 2058- The Transition from Dream to Reality

History: Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a tiny country in

South Asia with a total land area of about 55,500 Sq. miles. It is bordered by India on all
sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal
to the south. The borders of present-day Bangladesh were established with the partition of
Bengal and India in 1947, when the region became the eastern wing of the newly-formed
Pakistan. Political and linguistic discrimination as well as economic neglect led to
popular agitations against West Pakistan, which led to the war for independence in 1971
and the establishment of Bangladesh.

Introduction: We live in Bangladesh, call ourselves Bangladeshis. Every year go to

national memorial or the “Shaheed Minar” (many of us only once every year) to show
respect to the martyrs. But what is it being a Bangladeshi? Is it only an expression? Of
course not. It has its roots buried deep inside the heart of all the patriots, who wants
nothing but to see Bangladesh shine, see it climb out of the hole, which was, and still is
being dug by the handful of people devoid of love or passion for their country. Wherever
we cast our eyes on these days, we see only despair, corruption, poverty, anguish and
above all helplessness. We have seen the brave freedom fighters perish in extreme
poverty for want of basic health care, we have seen politicians abuse their power and
become obscenely rich, we have witnessed our dear country to be always called a country
of “immense possibilities”, but never quite fulfill on its promises. This poor country has
been thrashed around helplessly by floods and cyclones, as we stood dumbfounded, with
prayers as our only refuge. We have even gotten accustomed to watching our players
(Vis-à-vis –our cricketers) break our hearts, after lighting a flicker of hope after a long
wait. But still we hope, still we dream. We dream of a Bangladesh where the basic needs
of the common Bangladeshis will not go unnoticed, where corruption will be a thing of
the past and where we will be able to leave our children a Bangladesh better than we
found. But how long will it take to fulfill these dreams of ours? How long before we can
shrug off this sense of disappointment and start on a new path that leads to a newer,
brighter future. Let’s try fifty years, shall we?

For me, the most important change I want to see is in the mentality, as well the judgment
of the people of my country. I feel in many ways we are still not used to the civilized way
of life. We still don’t believe in standing in queues patiently, which is evident from the
way we run after buses! We still spit by the side of the road, still stare shamelessly at a
passing girl or a woman, still show intolerance to other faiths and still choose our leaders
imprudently, most of the time on a whim or being influenced by a handful of money. Of
course there are other considerations, such as illiteracy and scarcity of resources, but still
I would want to see my countrymen and women more prudent, selfless and patient fifty
years from now.
Next comes the political scenario of our country, which certainly is a corrupt and broken
one. We need some good honest people in the national assembly to talk on behalf on us,
to convey our problems and pleas to the highest authority. One of the ways we can ensure
that is by encouraging young, meritorious and passionate student to join politics. While
limited student politics can be allowed, the present trend of student violence on the
campuses should be dejected. I want to young intelligent people with fresh ideas to have
the run of the country, not some old people with backdated mentality.

One of the biggest problems to hold Bangladesh back is its soaring population, the rate of
which is the highest in the world. We say that population can be a resource, not a burden,
but for a relatively small country like ours, a population of over 150 million is nothing
but weighing us down. I would like to see our population to come down to close to 120
million, which still is quite high. But that won’t come easily. We have to adopt stern
policies, like one family one child, if we want our population to come down. If the
population is managed, our life will become that much easier.

Population control brings me to my next part of the dream, which is having a cleaner and
healthier Bangladesh, especially Dhaka. More strong steps, like banning of polyethylene
and introducing CNG run taxies in Dhaka are needed. I want the river Buriganga to be
free from waste and pollution, so that I can finally go on a peaceful cruise on board a ship
on the Buriganga. Also I want the garments and other manufacturing factories to abide by
the laws of the land, so that our environment is not poisoned anymore. We need the
collective effort of our people as well as the government to pull it off.

As we need our people to be socially educated, I want dramatic improvement in our

institutional education system. We have to ensure at least primary education for at least
80% of our children. It is such a shame that almost 50% of our population lives the life of
an illiterate. More government run institutes, like colleges and universities are needed, as
they will be cheaper. As it won’t be possible for government to provide education to all,
private intervention is most welcome. The quality control, of course, will be done by the
Government. But I also don’t want millions of highly educated jobless youths burdening
our countries economy. So I want our education system to be more a practically based
one, which will ensure at least a moderate job to an educated or skilled person to take
care of his/her family with dignity.

My next part of the dream will, I guess, be the easiest to fulfill. I want to see Bangladesh
to win the cricket world cup at least 5 times in the next fifty years. I have high hopes
about the future of our cricket team and I do hope Bangladesh will no longer break all our
hearts by winning one match and losing the next ten in a row. I hope the same for our
other sectors of sports as well, but cricket seems to be the only one which has any
realistic chance of fulfilling.

I have high hopes to see my country as a self reliant one, which no longer has to fill up its
budget deficit by begging for money from the rich countries; but in course of becoming
an economically independent country, we can’t forget our agricultural sector either. I
don’t want my people to suffer any more because of high prices of food; I want it to be
self sufficient in food production. Meanwhile, I want my garments sector to flourish as
well as our IT business to expand it’s reach dramatically. Right now our neighbour India
is doing 15 Billion dollars worth of IT business every year. There is no reason why we
can’t do that also. A financially sovereign Bangladesh, with self sufficiency in food
production should really be the pinnacle of my dreams coming true.

Finally, I guess what I want the most is a visionary leader, someone who can reach across
the isle, break the boundaries of partisanship and power the country through during its
moment of need. I hope 50 years from now, Bangladesh will be blessed with a leader
with the patience of Mahatma Gandhi, the defiance of Nelson Mandela, the fore sight of
Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad and the fierce love for his motherland of Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He, or may be she, will be able to keep our country together
and help us embark on our journey towards the challenges to come.

Reference:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh