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BANKING CAREER IN BANGLADESH

FREE H ND WRITING FOR B NK JOBS

HEM L J MIUL H S N

“LIFE IS SHORT, TIME IS LIMITED. ONLY WAY OF LIVING

A LONG LIFE IS TO VALUE THE EVERY MOMENT OF LIFE”

[HEMAL JAMIUL HASAN]



Free Hand Writing For Bank Jobs

Hemal Jamiul Hasan

Copyright © https://www.facebook.com/himurajbari88/

1

Hemal’s Speech…………….. 16.o6.2015

‘In the name of ALLAH the infinitely Com passionate and Merciful’

At first I want to say Happy Birthday to my beloved Group ‘BCB- Banking Career in Bangladesh’……….. On

this special day I am very glad to publish my E-Book named ‘Free Hand W riting for Bank Jobs’

. I know, you

are eagerly waiting for being surprised and I am very much confident that you definitely will

be…………………………….!!!

Actually, this book is not only a book of some information, some procedures, some messages, but also a

friendship of heart with you. I always believe, “To help others is the best way of being happy”. We can’t make

a better world without cooperation, without loving each other. BCB is the Group where we helps our

competitors, we pray for our competitors, we be happy with the success of our competitors! It’s amazing!!!!!

And this is the only reason why I love BCB, Why I am here………………..!!!!!!

It’s my limitation that I can’t make the ‘Free Hand W riting for Bank Jobs’ flawless. Extremely sorry for that!

If you find any discrepancy, please inform me.

Wishing success in your life………

Wishing a better Banking Systems in Bangladesh……….

Md. Jamiul Hasan

MBA & BBA (AIS), RU

Admin, BCB

Probationary Officer

Union Bank Limited




Hemal Jamiul Hasan


2

Panthapath Branch

BysurfingInternetIfoundagroupwherebankinginformationwereavailable.Thegroupwas

'BankingCareerinBangladesh'&itwasjustachildof5months.Gradually'BankingCareer in

Bangladesh'became'BCB'tome. Itisjustlikealittlewindowofmyroom.Icanseetheskyby

onlylogin,candream,andcanseetheshuttleofdear&nearone.25hoursoutof24hoursof

adayispassedwiththisbelovedgroup.ActuallyFacebookmeansBCB.IfIwishIonlystay

someminutes,butIcan'tunderstandhowIcanpasssomanyhours!!!Ithink, itis reality

because 'BCB'isonlycomparableto'BankingCareerinBangladesh'. It'snotpossibletobe

creativebyComparingwithothers,byfollowingothers.Thelevelofprogressislower,butlevel

offrustrationbecomeshigher.Comparingwithself-daybydaymakesyoumorecompetent

thanbefore.TherearemanypostsinBCB,allareimportant!Onepostisn’tlessormore

importantthananother.Aftergettingthedesiredjobofanymembers,thegroup'swallisfilled upwithgreathappiness.Whohasn'tgetdesiredjobbecomes moreenthusiastictobe

successful.Wishingtodefeatthetiredness&unsuccessfulness,allthemembersgoaheadby

helpingeachotherandthiswillneverstop.Congratulationstoallmembersincludingmeonthe

very specialdayof3rdAnniversary.

Mou Shaila

16.06.2015

Almosteachgraduate& post-graduatedreamsoftouchingthevastskyofsuccess.AndBCBis

suchaplatformthathelpstheexuberantyouthsweavesomesuchdreams&materializethe

dreamsthatareweavedmeticulously.Itissuchanarenathathelpsustomakeourselveswell-

preparedforsnatchingthemuchexpectedvictory.MayBCBbetheworldofalladroitbankersof

Bangladeshoneday………….HappyBirthday!!

Arif Chowdhury

16.06.2015




Hemal Jamiul Hasan


3

Part One:

1Update

Information

In exam hall, you will be given a limited time or limited space for writing. So, there is no need to memories a big

essay. You can only remember some points about the related topics.

For Example:

If the given essay topic is 'Traffic Jam in Dhaka City', I think it is very easy to write about traffic jam because

more or less we all have the experience of it. But to cut a good figure or justify your writing you can add thefollowing sentence: 'A city must have minimum 25% of its area as road but for Dhaka city it is only 8%. Even all

kinds of vehicles can pass only through 2%.' This short information can help you to make your writing moreeffective. Or if the essay topics is 'Violence against Women', you can use the information that 91.3% of

girls/women are victims of eve teasing at least once or around 42% of women are victims of physical violenceby their husband.

So it is matter of remembering one or two important points to make your writing more strong but not memorizingall kinds of information.




Hemal Jamiul Hasan


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2

Correlation

among Different

Topics

The name of essay does not matter, there are strong correlations among various topics. If you have updatedinformation about some major topics, you can write very well whether the name of topics is common or not....

For example: If you know some information about RMG Sector, you can use it in:

1. RMG in Bangladesh2. Women empowerment in Bangladesh

3. Economic growth/conditions of Bangladesh4. Rana plaza tragedy

5. Workers' safety in Bangladesh6. GSP

7. Contribution of export to economy8. Branding Bangladesh

9. Cheap Labour 10. How can you develop RMG sector

Or if you know about the GDP (size of GDP, GDP Growth, Per Capita GDP Investment to GDP ratio,Contribution of various sectors to GDP etc.), you can use it in:

1. Economic Challenges

2. Steps towards Middle Income Country3. Vision 20214. Investment Environment

5. Industrialization6. Contribution or Problems of Industry, Services & Agriculture sectors.7. Economic Slowdown8. Achievement of Bangladesh

9. Budget Analysis10. Sustainable development of Bangladesh etc.

Or If you have some information about Mobile Banking, you can use i t in:

1. Mobile Banking2. Financial Inclusion3. Digital Bangladesh

4. Contribution of Telecommunications sector 5. Role of Banking sector 6. Achievement of Bangladesh

7. Employment Opportunities etc.

Now, you have to develop your common sense to use the information at right place....




Hemal Jamiul Hasan


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3CommonProblems

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS:

1. Lacking of Good Governance

2. Political Instability3. Global recession4. Inflation

5. Unemployment problem6. High interest rate7. Backdated Revenue Collection Policy8. Inadequate Infrastructure

9. Load Shedding10. Lack of power supply11. Traffic jam12. Inadequate Telecommunication

13. Weak Monitoring & Controlling14. Corruption15. Lack of Governmental Incentive

16. Poverty17. Awkward leadership

18. Foreign Policy19. Lack of Deep Seaport

20. Hoarding

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS:

1. Greenhouse Effect2. Population Problem3. River Filling Up

3. Waste and Garbage of Factories4. Air Pollution

5. Water Pollution6. Deforestation

7. Unplanned Urbanization8. Fragmentation of Land

9. Natural Calamity10. Toxic Preservative

11. Chemical Fertilizer 12. Inadequate Drainage System

13. Noise Pollution

PERSONAL PROBLEMS:

1. Illiteracy2. Malnutrition3. Lack of Awareness

4. Superstition5. Lack of ethics

6. Lack of perseverance

OTHERS:

1. Student Politics

2. Eve teasing3. Fundamentalism




Hemal Jamiul Hasan


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4Common

Positive Sides

1. Continuous 6%+ GDP Growth

2. 16 million population3. Power of Youth

4. SME5. Financial Inclusion

6. RMG Sector 7. Natural Beauty

8. Women Empowerment9. Primary Education10. Digital Bangladesh

11. Geographical Location12. Remittance13. Foreign Reserve14. Blue Economy

15. Controlled Inflation16. Hospitality

17. Private Sector 18. Cricket

19. Media20. MDGs Achievement

21. Agriculture

22. Services Sector

5Common

Remedies

1. Good Governance

2. Political Stability3. Enforcement of Law4. Higher Education

5. Training6. Private Sector Investment

7. Better Business Environment8. Development Friendly Tax Rate, Interest Rate etc.

9. Sufficient Infrastructure10. Zero Tolerance for Corruption

11. Increase of Awareness12. Social Business

13. Self-Employment14. Stop of Yellow Journalism15. Unity of Nations

16. Effective Diplomacy17. Friendship with Neighbor Countries

18. Patriotism19. Research & Innovation

20. Cooperation




Hemal Jamiul Hasan


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Part Two:

1Economic

Challenges

According to CPD, political unrest from January to mid-March of the current year has caused a gross domesticproduct (GDP) loss of 0.55 per cent or Tk 49 billion. Bangladesh economy suffered a loss of $2.2 billion (nearlyTk180 billions) due to recent political troubles, according to the World Bank. This came after the CPD finding.

World Bank also projected a slide in economic growth to 5.6 per cent in the current fiscal. The impact on directproduction loss could be equivalent to around 1.0 per cent of the GDP. The monthly update of April 2015

presents a critical analysis of the ten major economic challenges relating to growth in GDP, revenue collection,government expenditure, budget deficit, foreign aid, private sector credit, export, inflation, non-performing

loan, and saving-investment gap which the economy has underwent during the FY 2014-15 and should betaken into account for the upcoming budget for FY 2015-16.

2Workers’ Safety

in Bangladesh

Name Of Industry Real Scenario Of Death 112 workers RMG perished in the Tazreen fire last November

'2012, 65 workers died in the Spectrum tragedy in 2005, 7 lost their lives in the January 2013 Smart

Fashion Tragedy, and in Savar tragedy over 1100 garment workers died in 2013. Ship Breaking During theyears 200911, 31 labours were killed in accident and the actual numbers may be much higher.

Construction According to ‘Safety and Right Society’ there were 149 deaths in 2012, 183 deaths in 2011,73 in 2010, 56 in 2009, 100 deaths in Transport 2008 According to the report of the Bangladesh Institute

of Labour Studies (BILS), the highest number of workplace accident deaths occurred in the transportsector in 2012. It says at least 249 workers died in transport sector.

3

Women

Empowerment

in Bangladesh

the Prime Minister and Leader of Opposition, speaker of parliament. While it is imperative to ensure

reserved seats for women in the national parliament, female MPs have voiced their concerns on thelack of election financing and overall party support. We find similar stories of work place discrimination

from female officers, holding various posts in the government. They are working hand in hand with menin all spheres of work i.e. from garments workers to pilots, doctors, engineers, teachers, administrators

etc. 85% of 4 million workers of RMG that i s account for 76% export earnings are women. A total of

46,230 Bangladeshi women went abroad for jobs till October last year, up by nearly 24 percent fromthe same period of 2012, The Ministry of Education and The Ministry of Primary And Mass Educationapply a quota system for recruiting women teachers: 30% for government higher secondary schools.

40% for private higher secondary schools, madrasas and colleges within pourashava, 20% for institutionsoutside pourashava, and 60% for primary school teachers. Women account for 46% of the healthworkforce, including 26% of doctors and 90% of nurses. The position of nurse has been upgraded fromclass 3 to class 2 in 2009 and nurses are currently being recruited for 2,500 vacant posts In Ministry OfCommerce, 20.5% of the ov

4Violence

Against Women

Occurrence of domestic violence varies little in terms of urban-rural divide. A ICDDR,B study shows that

among ever-married women, 40% of those in the urban area and 42% in the rural area reportedphysical violence by their husband (ICDDR,B,2006). However, sexual violence by husband is more prevalent

in rural areas (50%) than urban areas (37%), according to the study. According to an another study ofICDDR,B conducted in 2011, 89% male in rural area and 83% male in urban area think that they havethe right to beat up their wives for betterment of family. 98% male in rural area and 93% male in

urban area think that to be manly, they must be rigorous. And 65% male in rural area and 50% malein urban area think that to continue marital relationship, women must endure the violence againstthem.

5UnemploymentProblem of

Bangladesh

Unemployment is a great concern in Bangladesh. Every year hundreds of thousands student are comingout from college and universities. According to BBS, the unemployment rate in Bangladesh stood at

4.5%, which approx 26 lacks as per the report from the survey. According to a survey on South Asiaby Intelligence unit of The Economist, at present 47% of graduate in Bangladesh is unemployed. Whereasin Afghanistan- 65%, India- 33% and Pakistan- 28%. According to World Bank, unemployment rate in BD

is 14.2%. If employment rate is increased by 2%, the GDP growth rate can be increased to 8% and asa result we can be medium income country by 2021. According to Bangladesh Economy Society, every

year 22 lac people enter into job market for job but only 7 lac get job. According to ILO, now totalunemployment in BD is 3 crore. If this rate continues, by 2015 it will be 6 crore. Among 20 countries

experiencing uplifting trend of unemployment, Bangladesh is 12th.




Hemal Jamiul Hasan


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6Tourism Industry

in Bangladesh

There is a great potential to promote sports tourism in Bangladesh. We can develop venues andinfrastructure in the country. Some cricket venues have already been developed. But, more venuesneed to be established in various places of the country like Cox’s Bazar (the world’s longest sea

beach), Kuakata, Comilla, Barisal, Dinjapur etc. For the development of sports tourism we can seek both local and foreign investment. This way we shall be able to reap benefits. Also, by developingsports tourism we can help develop many backward linkage sectors in the country. Besides, this will

help the creation of many informal jobs like tea vendors, food corners, betel shops, hawkers etc. Apolicy framework is necessary to be developed, and strong coordination amongst the concerneddepartments is required. Bangladesh should also take initiatives for eco-tourism development in thecountry especially in the naturally and culturally rich areas. Sylhet and Chittagong Hill T ract (CHT) regions

of Bangladesh are paradises for eco-tourism activities. On the other hand, Sundarbans is the gold minefor ecotourism. It is the single largest mangrove forest in the world. It has been designated as a worldheritage site since 1997. The world’s second largest mangrove forest is Mastang in Malaysia, which isonly one-tenth the size of the Sundarbans. To develop eco-tourism in the Sundarbans, we can install

some world class cruise vessels to take tourists to the forest. But we should keep in mind that the eco-system of the Subdarbans is not disturbed. We can also develop eco-tourism at St. Martin’s island whichwill help protection of the island. Eco-tourism development will help us preserve our rich cultural heritage

for the benefit of our future generations. Different policy approaches are required in this regard. Controlsof visitors, enforcement of tourist movement guidelines and waste management facilities are required

for eco-tourism development.

7The Spirit of

Liberation War

March 25 is a black day in the history of Bangladesh. On that night the army began to attack in theunarmed people of Bangladesh. Sheik Mujib was arrested and taken to West Pakistan. The independenceof Bangladesh was declared. As the l iberation war started, freedom fighters took birth overnight and

faced the well-trained occupying forces to Pakistan fearlessly. At Mujib Nagar the government of thepeople republic of Bangladesh was formed on 17th April, 1971. But the Pakistan went on committinggenocide to horror of the world. Women were raped and killed. The world press believed the atrocityof the of the occupying forces exceeded all limits. Millions of innocent Bengalese fled across the border

in fear of their loves. So when their crimes were full, the Pakistanis came under direct attack of thecombined forces of India and Bangladesh. The 16th December: The final stage of the war took acouple of days only. On the glorious day of 16th December, the Pakistani army surrendered. Our victoryday confirmed the birth of Bangladesh on the world map. the spirit of the liberation war is adequately

captured in the four principles which have guided our constitution: Democracy, Nationalism, Secularismand Socialism (which has later been elaborated to mean social justice).

8

The Annual

Development

Programme

The Annual Development Programme (ADP) is an organised list of projects in different sectors and

allocations for them for a year as prepared in line with the government's development policies,programmes and investment plan. The ADP is prepared on the basis of the year's development budgetapproved by the parliament. The Planning Commission prepares the li st of ADP projects of the

government of Bangladesh in the light of basic objectives and goals of Five Year Plans. The draft is

then placed before the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for its approval.While preparing an ADP, fields and projects related to national economic development get morepriority. Funds are allocated to implement the development projects included in the ADP.

9Suspension of

GSP

On June 27th, the US suspended Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for Bangladesh. The suspension

does not directly affect the country’s multi-billion-dollar clothing exports to the US, because they do notcome under GSP. However it affects nearly other 5,000 products which Bangladesh can export to theUS without duties, such as golf equipment, plastic bags, bone china, porcelain kitchenware, headgears,

spectacles and tents. Bangladesh earned from such exports $35 million in 2012. The suspension is not somuch of an adverse effect on Bangladesh total exports which stands at about $25 billion. It is less

than 1% of Bangladesh’s exports to the US ($4.9 billion). However it is the image of Bangladesh tointernational community which is being damaged. Although EU has expressed that i t may not follow the

US, the EU Trade Commissioner has convened a meeting in Geneva on 8th July to know what stepsBangladesh government and other stakeholders (BGMEA & BKMEA) will take to take care of safety and

improved working conditions of workers. It is noted the garment industry employs some 4 million peoplein Bangladesh, 80 percent of them women, thus empowering young women in the country.

10Students Politics

& Bangladesh

Education is the backbone of a nation. But most of the time our political leaders forget this truth. They

favour their rough political game over education. Instead of pens, they favour guns for students. Thus,today our educational institutions are oriented not to education and talent rather guns and gatherings.However, our students have a glorious history when they played leading part in making the nation free

from foreign occupation, repression and in establishing the rights of the people. Then studentorganisations were oriented to students ' interests as well as the greater welfare of the nation. But with

the passage of time, they became the front associations of the political parties. Today our politicalleaders are playing double game. When in government they want the students to keep themselves

aloof from politics. When in opposition, on the other hand, they want them to take a leading part inpolitics. The present controversy over banning students' organisations/institutions is also the result of the

double standard of our politicians.




Hemal Jamiul Hasan


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11

Measure to

Improve

Bangladesh

Cricket

It is acknowledged that, better coaching is the important factor to upgrade, gear up, improve andenrich a team. In this competitive cricket world, it is must to have specialized coaches in every partof cricket game. Cricket teams at various levels must have specialized batting, fielding, fast bowling

and spin bowling coaches. By the touch of specialized coaches cricketers can enhance their cricketingskills. For this, Bangladesh will have to manage some best coaches of the world anyhow. Besides qualitycoaches even psychologist can be appointed for the cricketers for building their mental strengths, as

sometimes it is said cricket is more a game of mental ability than skills. Moreover, it is also necessaryto make more training schools like BKSP (Bangladesh Krira Shiksha Protishthan). At least 7 branches ofBKSP should be urgently established in 7 divisions where 7 under 13, under 15, under 17 and under 19teams will take regular training. This process will generate more skillful and talented players. Besides,

regular age level tournament should be organized regularly where these players will have the opportunityto test their skills. This process is seemed to be fruitful for Bangladesh cricket since players like ShakibAl Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mashrafee Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal and so on have come into action fromthis.

12Social Safety

Net Program

Social safety nets, or "socioeconomic safety nets", are non-contributory transfer programs seeking to preventthe poor or those vulnerable to shocks and poverty from falling below a certain poverty level. Safety

net programs can be provided by the public sector (the state and aid donors) or by the private sector (NGOs, private firms, charities, and informal household transfers). Safety net transfers include: •Cashtransfers • Food-based programs such as supplementary feeding programs and food stamps, vouchers,and coupons • In-kind transfers such as school supplies and uniforms • Conditional cash transfers • Price

subsidies for food, electricity, or public transport • Public works • Fee waivers and exemptions for healthcare, schooling and utilities On average, spending on safety nets accounts for 1 to 2 percent of GDPacross developing and transition countries, though sometimes much less or much more. In the last

decade, a visible growing expertise in various areas of safety nets has taken place.

13Share Market

Crush

The 2010-12 Bangladesh share market scam is part of the ongoing share market turmoil in the twostock exchanges – the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE). The

crash is deemed to be a scam aggravated by government failure. The stock market was in turbulencethroughout much of 2009, with the long bullish trend starting to turn grim. An abrupt crash of the share

market in 2011 had sparked violent protests from the investors. It was the biggest one-day fall in theBangladesh stock market's 55-year history. It is estimated that over 3.5 million people – many of them

small-scale individual investors - had lost their money because of the sharp plunge in share prices. Whenthere is more than 10 per cent loss within a few days in the market, it is called stock market crash.

"Stock market crash is a sharp and unexpected decline of the market prices for a very short period oftime, usually accompanied by the decline of many other assets' prices." It causes significant capital

losses to investors and speculators. The market participants become panicked which leads to morelosses.

14Shadow of

Communalism

Despite religious, cultural and economic differences, the Hindus and Muslims, along with a tiny Buddhistand Christian minority, had been living in harmony and peace for centuries in Bangladesh. However,

communal harmony started deteriorating rapidly by the third decade of the 20th century with theIndian National Congress represented largely by the Hindus and the Muslim League (ML) demanding a

separate homeland for the Muslims. The British, through i ts insidious policy of divide and rule, widenedthe gulf between the two major religious communities. The migration process intensified with the partition

in August 1947. It may be recalled here that according to census in 1941, minorities, mostly Hindus,were almost 30% of the population of what now constitutes Bangladesh. The percentage kept decliningin every census; they were down to 23% by 1951, 19.6% by 1961 and 14.6% by 1974 when the first

census of Bangladesh took place. The trend continues even today; in the census of 2001 the minoritieswere 10.3% and in 2011 census they were down to 9.4%. The decline of percentage of minority

population indicates that there is an outward migration. Most of the elite Bengali Hindus have leftBangladesh over the last 60 years, leaving a sense of hopelessness prevailing among the minority

community.

15Ruppur Nuclear

Power Plant

The nuclear power plant will be built at Ruppur, on the banks of the Padma River, in the Ishwardisubdistrict of Pabna, in the northwest of the country. The RNPP is estimated to cost up to US$2 billion,

and start operating by 2021. Although hopeful the plant would help curtail the country’s power shortage,many were confused about how the plant would develop. The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP)

will be constructed within a kilometer of the Lalon Shaha Bridge on the River Padma. The project sitefalls under the Pakshi union, and the plant authority has acquired around 260 acre of land. RNPP mightcause health issues likes skin diseases for the locals, or in the case of natural calamities such as an

earthquake, it might blow up altogether. A power plant like this might give job opportunities to thepeople of the area. It will also provide better electricity supply, which will be a great thing for local

residents.




Hemal Jamiul Hasan


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16RMG Sector of

Bangladesh

The RMG industry has been Bangladesh’s key export industry and a main source of foreign exchangefor the last 25 years. As a result of an insulated market guaranteed by Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) ofGeneral Agreement Tariff and Trade (GATT) and supportive policies of the Government of Bangladesh

(GoB), it attained a high profile in terms of foreign exchange earnings, exports, industrialization andcontribution to the GDP within a short period. In less than a decade it increased i ts exports, foreignexchange earnings, and contribution to the GDP by 4.39 %. In 2011-12 Bangladesh was the world’s

second largest exporter of apparel and registered $19.1 billion of ready-made garments exports, a totalwhich accounted for 16% of the country’s GDP. The industry currently provides employment for anestimated 4 million people. United States of America is the largest importer of Bangladeshi RMG products,followed by Germany, United Kingdom, France and other European Union countries.

17Public Private

Partnership

Public-Private-Partnership is relatively a new concept for Bangladesh. During its first forty years, the

country has gone through rigorous nationalization followed by vigorous privatization. With taking power by the new government that bel ieves in “Change” or “Din Bodol”, time has come to try the third

dimension, the Public-Private-Partnership. Public Private Partnership is a business relationship between aprivate-sector company and a government agency for the purpose of completing a project that willserve the public. These schemes are sometimes referred to as PPP, P3 or P3. Under the PPP initiative

the government and public pay contracted prices or fees to the private sector for purchasing servicesof the infrastructure that is financed, built, managed, and maintained by the private sector with theapproval and support from the government.

18Real Scenario of

Corruption

The National Household Survey 2012 released on December 28, by Transparency International Bangladesh(TIB) showed that 63.7% of the surveyed households have been victims of corruption in one or other

selected sector of service delivery. Most important service delivery sectors affecting people's lives suchas law enforcement, land administration, justice, health, education and local government, remain gravely

affected by corruption.

19Remittance Flow

to Bangladesh

Non-resident Bangladeshis sent home $1.32 billion in May, according to Bangladesh Bank. The country received$1.32 billion in remittance last month against $1.29 billion in March 2015, as stated in Bangladesh Bank datareleased today. The amount is 1.69 percent more than the previous month. With May’s receipts, the fiscal year's

total reaches $13.87 billion so far (in 11 months).

20

Parliamentary

Democracy in

Bangladesh

Four parliaments 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th were elected through popular voting under non partisan caretaker govt. System and another short lived parliament, the 6th one, was elected amidst boycott by all

mainstream political parties and very low votes turnout. During the lives of Fifth, Seventh, Eighth andNine Parliaments, the Opposition, which is an indispensable component of the system, led by Awami

League (AL), Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), respectively have missed 34%, 43%, 60% and 83.38% of

the working days of parliamentary sessions by boycotting i t (CPD-CMI Work Paper-2 and TIB’s ParliamentEvaluation Report).

21Mobile Banking

in Bangladesh

There are 2.5 crore mobile bank account holders (almost one-sixth of the total population) and the number is

increasing every day. On an average Tk 350 crore is being transacted every day through mobile banking. TwoMFS providers have emerged as early leaders: bKash of BRAC Bank and Dutch Bangla-Bank mobile banking.

Launched in 2011, bKash, initially a joint venture of BRAC Bank and the US based company Money in Motion,has emerged as the market leader with more than 15 million customers. Following IFC's investment, Bill &

Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in the world, also made an equity investmentin 2014. The service provider has around 105,000 agent points nationwide to facilitate cash-in and cash-out

services at every corner of Bangladesh. Besides money transfer, a bKash account holder can also use his or her mobile wallet for availing other services such as mobile phone top up, salary disbursement and payment for shopping.

22Financial

Inclusion

There are 2.5 crore mobile bank account holders (almost one-sixth of the total population) and the number isincreasing every day. On an average Tk 350 crore is being transacted every day through mobile banking.Another 1 crore Tk 10 farmers' accounts exist in state banks. Nearly 8 lakh students have bank accounts now.

In addition, there are around 5.5 crore formal bank accounts in the country. Altogether, the total number ofbank accounts now stand at around 9 crore or over 56 percent of the total 16 crore population. If only theadult population is taken into account, nearly 90 percent people have bank accounts, which is a remarkableachievement for Bangladesh compared to the least developed and developing countries. There are around

9,000 bank branches along with about 18,000 branches of NGO-MFIs, 1,200 thousands post offices and 183,000

co-operative outlets totalling about 2.1 lakh branches/outlets for the 56.6 million economically activepopulation - generating at least one financial service point per 270 people.

23MDGs and

Bangladesh

Bangladesh is among the 20 countries which have satisfied millennium development goal no.1 (knownas mdg-1), to halve the proportion of hungry people. Their progress was measured between 1990-92and 2010-2012, against benchmarks established by the international community at the UN General

Assembly in 2000. Bangladesh is among the 16 countries which had earlier received UN recognitionfor being on track to achieve MDG- 4 by significantly reducing prevalence of child mortality. In attainingMDG-2 (that i s achieving universal primary education), Bangladesh already achieved 95 percent interms of primary school enrolment back in 2011. As far as MDG-3 (promoting gender equali ty and

empowering women) is concerned, Bangladesh also achieved gender parity in primary and secondaryeducation, and remains on track with respect to percentage of women employed in agriculture sector.




Hemal Jamiul Hasan


11

On MDG-5 (improving maternal health), a un agency report in 2011 highlighted that by scaling downmaternal mortality rate at 194 per lakh, Bangladesh showed a major turnaround, and was steadilymoving ahead to achieve the goal by 2015

24 TICFA

Bangladesh and the United States nailed down the Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement(Ticfa) in 2013 aiming to foster trade and investment between the two countries. Bangladesh enjoys duty-free

access for 97 percent of its products to the US market, but the country's main export earning garment sector isexcluded from the benefit. Around 95 percent of Bangladesh's exports to the US are garment products, for

which 15.30 percent duty has to be paid.In 2012, Bangladesh paid $746 million as duty to the US government for exporting a little above $5 billion worth

of garment products.

25Land Boundary

Agreement

The LBA has three components. One is un-demarcated land boundary of approximately 6.1 km in three sectorsin Bangladesh's Nilphamari and India's West Bengal, Muhuri River in Bangladesh's Feni and Belonia in India'sTripura, and Lathitila-Dumabari in Bangladesh's Moulvibazar and India's Assam. The other two are exchange of

162 enclaves and over 5,000 acres of adversely possessed land. India will transfer 111 enclaves with 17,158acres of land and a population of 37,369. The enclaves are spread across four districts in Bangladesh -- 12 in

Kurigram, 59 in Lalmonirhat, four in Nilphamari and 36 in Panchagarh. The 51 Bangladeshi enclaves, all locatedin Cooch Behar of West Bengal, have 7,110 acres of land and population of 14,215. In respect of adversely

possessed land, India will get 2,777.038 acres and transfer 2,267.682 acres to Bangladesh.

26Nepal

Earthquake

The recent earthquake of 7.8 seismic magnitude that devastated central Nepal and the Kathmandu Valley inthe last week of April drew world's attention once again to the terrible consequences that are faced by those

who have survived but have been affected by such a cataclysmic event. The death toll from this latest naturaldisaster has exceeded 7,500. It has also left more than 12,000 injured and, in one way or the other, left its imprinton nearly 9.0 per cent of Nepal's population - a majority of them homeless.

27ICC World Cup

2015

Bangladesh Cricket Team performed exceptionally well in the World Cup 2015 but largely compared to its own

past performances. Its major achievement was the fact that it stamped its arrival in the group of the "bluebloods" in international cricket and that too by condemning the bluest of the "blue bloods", namely the English

team representing the country that gave birth to cricket itself. In the group of cricket's "blue bloods", or preciselyin the knock-out stage of the World Cup 2015, Bangladesh lost to India in what was the quarter-final game.

28

Good

Governance in

Bangladesh

Good governance is one of the key components of developing a country within the stipulated time set by thepolitical government. Good governance is certainly a combination of sincerity, commitment and corruption-free belief among government officials. To achieve desired development committed by the political

government to the nation, the aim of government administrative machinery should be establishment of goodgovernance in public offices.

29 Globalization

An important aspect of economic globalisation is the globalisation of the process of production. With the

gradual dismantling of trade barriers, and capital flows becoming easier, globalisation of the process ofproduction has also become easier. It is no longer necessary to produce goods in one location. Even thougha product may bear the mark of being produced in a particular country, its components may have been

produced in different locations. Bangladesh, as a least developed country (LDC), has been enjoying duty and

quota-free access to many advanced countries including member-states of the European Union (EU).Bangladesh's trade with the rest of the world now stands at nearly 38 per cent as its export-import volume hassoared to around US$66 billion.

30 RMG Challenges

Undoubtedly the most rejoicing matter after the independence of the country is the success story of

ready-made garment (RMG) sector which could uplift the fates of millions of Bangladeshi people over three decades. The journey of the sector which started in early 80′s of the last century is still on its full

momentum for a steep growth. Broadly, the sector could make thousands of successful entrepreneurs,millions of skilled workers and the sector helped put the economy on a footing through contributing 80percent in the national export basket. Having such a steady and robust export growth, grabbing more

market pie globally the World Trade Organization (WTO) declared Bangladesh as the second largestapparel supplying country worldwide in 2010. Bangladesh now claims 4.8 percent of the global RMG

trade of $412 billion. According to McKinsey & Company, an international management consulting firm,Bangladesh’s apparel exports will reach $36 billion by 2020. But the sector is still facing some challenges.

Some of the major challenges as follows:




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31 Formalin in Food

Formalin, a 37 percent water solution of formaldehyde, is poisonous and can cause cancer. Tradersuse this chemical as a preservative and to make fruits and vegetables look fresh for longer periods.Formaldehyde is a naturally occurring substance in the environment made of carbon, hydrogen and

oxygen. Natural processes in the upper atmosphere may contribute up to 90 percent of the totalformaldehyde in the environment. A study has found excessive formalin in seasonal fruits like mango,litchi and blackberry sold at shops in different areas of the capital. Even shops with signboards reading

“chemical-free fruits” sell fruits soaked in formalin. Save the Environment Movement (SEM) revealed thefindings of the study, after running formalin tests on fruits from shops in 26 areas on June 1-10, 2013. I tfound that around 94 percent of the mangoes and 100 percent blackberries and li tchis areformalintainted. Litchi orchard owners use 20 times more pesticide than required. They also use a

hormone to make litchis bigger. Both of these are harmful to human health. After using pesticide, fruitsor vegetable should be sold 15 days apart for safety. But traders sell them immediately. Meanwhile,the environmental group Paribesh Bachao Andolan (PABA) disclosed horrific findings last month on theuse of formalin, after collecting 263 samples of fruit and traditional iftar items from different parts in

Dhaka. The group found 100% of vermicelli and citrus fruit, 95% of grapes, 91% of bananas and 90%of noodles were contaminated with formalin and other harmful chemical preservatives, as well as 82%of mangoes, 77% of dates, 75% of tomatoes, 60% of eggplant, 59% of apples and 20% of cucumbers.

The Pure Food Ordinance, 1959 and the Consumer Rights Protection Act, 2009 prohibit putting chemicalsin foods.

32 Food Waste

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), every year 1.3 billion tons of food is

wasted. This is equivalent to the same amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. At thesame time, 1 in every 7 people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die daily from hunger. Approximately 98% of the world’s hungry live in developing nations.

Food, food waste and the environment are inextricably linked. Food that is thrown away when it couldhave been sold or eaten is wasted. But it is more than just the food itself. It is also a waste of all thenatural resources that are used to produce, harvest, transport, process, and package and distribute thefood product. When wasted food is thrown away and breaks down in landfill, together with organic

materials, it becomes the main contributor to generation of methane a gas, 25 times stronger thancarbon dioxide at trapping heat in atmosphere. Bangladesh being an agrarian economy should bemore proactive in handling pre-consumption food wastage as food system represents a great part ofour carbon footprint. According to Waste Database of Bangladesh (published by Waste Concern), food

and vegetable waste comprises approximately 67.75% of urban solid waste.

33Food Security

and Bangladesh

Availability of food depends on both domestic production and imports. Major items of food production in

Bangladesh include rice, wheat, potato, pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane and vegetables. These food itemsaccount for almost 80 per cent of total calorie and protein intake. Of these, rice and wheat alone contributeto 74 percent and 57 percent of total per capita calorie and protein intake respectively. The Bangladesh

economy has made respectable progress in rice, tripping production from 11 million tons in 1971 to 33 million in2012. The per capita rice production has increased substantially over the level at independence because of

higher yielding crop varieties. Bangladesh used to receive substantial amount of wheat, the secondary staplefood, as food aid from developed countries. Commercial import of wheat has however increased despite

growth in domestic production. The import has recently exceeded 3 million tons

34 Global Warming

Global warming can be defined simply as a rise in the average land temperature around the earth.Currently, average temperature of the earth is roughly 13.89 degrees celsius. Since the late 1800's theaverage temperature has increased about 0.3 to 0.8 degree celsius. There are three main categories

in which these rising temperature have an effect: glacial melting and water levels, plant life, andhuman and animal health. Leading scientists assert that rise of 3 degrees temperatures would cause

famine and threaten millions of lives. It would also cause a worldwide drop in crops of between20 and400 million tons, threatening400 million more people with famine and put up to 3 billion people at risk

of flooding and without access to fresh water supplies. The United Nations Intergovernmental panel onClimate Change (IPCC) projects a rise in average global temperature of about 1 to 3.5 degrees Celsius

by 2100. A 1% rise in surface temperature could cause major disruptions in weather patterns that couldproduce flash floods and unexpected droughts.

35 Earthquake Risk

The location of Bangladesh in a technically active area at the delta basin facing Bay of Bengal is

strategic for all types of natural calamities like cyclone, tsunami, and earthquake. Despite not beingmuch bigger than England, Bangladesh is home to over 160 million people, and around 16 million livein Dhaka, the capital. In terms of natural hazards, Bangladesh is typically associated with destructive,

sometimes devastating, cyclones and floods. The last major storm to affect the region was cyclone SIDRin November 2007, which killed as many as 10,000 people. According to a seismic zoning map prepared

by BUET, 43% areas in Bangladesh are rated high risk, 41% moderate and 16% low. High risk groupincludes zones of Chittagong, Dhaka, Rangpur, Bogra, Mymensing, Comilla, Rajshahi, Sylhet. According

to a report of the UNDP- funded comprehensive disaster management programme, some 72,000 buildingsmay collapse in dhaka city in an earthquake of 7 to 8 intensi ty scale, as happened in 1897.




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36 Social Media

The cyber-sphere today can lead self-motivated people to achieve a common goal with a collective vision.This is done by sharing information through Tweets, Facebook and e-mail. Sharing a political message or videocreates a personal connection with the issue and closes the credibility gap since people are more likely to

support an issue if they see their friends endorse or post it online. This act of sharing information may persuadesocial network contacts to consider taking a posi tion on the issue. Thus, activism on social media increases therelevance and credibility of the issue, while influencing people towards a particular discourse.

37 Deep Sea Port

Bangladesh has been trying to build a deep-sea port for the last few years to cope with its growing pace of

cargo movement as the country's port usage is growing 12 per cent a year. Building a regional shipping hubfor transit trade through the bay is also a part of this government's plan. The project Sonadia Deep Sea Port will

be executed in 3 phases -- Phase 1 will cater to the shipping demands till 2020, Phase 2 till 2030, and Phase 3 till2055. Initially, the CHEC will execute the Phase 1 of the deep-sea port. The major task of the company will be

engineering (including detailed investigation and design), procurement, construction and operation.

38Higher

Education in Bd

Higher education, particularly in science and technology, is the most important prerequisite of economic

development. In fact, it is the prerequisite of all other developments, namely, political, social and cultural etc.It is to be noted that economic development includes industrial, agricultural, technological and all service

sectors development. The graduates produced by both public and private universities and colleges under National University (assuming that they get high quality and relevant education and training) work as powerful

engines of economic development. The graduates of world class universities can provide the most importantingredients of development, namely, required knowledge, skills, leadership, innovation and changes. The

higher the quality of education, the better is the performance of the graduates at job situation. The universitiesand other institutions of higher learning are established to impart top quality education and produce top quality

graduates who stand out as professional leaders in their respective fields.

39 Hartal

The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) conducted a sector-wise survey this year to estimate

the cost of hartals. DCCI estimated that one day of shutdown causes a loss of Tk.1,600 crore ($200 million). Atotal of 52 shutdowns this year imply that losses have been equivalent to approximately 8% of GDP in fiscal2013.

40 Political Unrest

According to CPD, political unrest from January to mid-March of the current year has caused a gross domesticproduct (GDP) loss of 0.55 per cent or Tk 49 billions. Bangladesh economy suffered a loss of $2.2 billion (nearly

Tk180 billions) due to recent political troubles, according to the World Bank. This came after the CPD finding.World Bank also projected a slide in economic growth to 5.6 per cent in the current fiscal. The impact on direct

production loss could be equivalent to around 1.0 per cent of the GDP.

41 School Banking

School banking which has been introduced to encourage students to develop a savings habit from the earlyage, over 800,000 students have already opened bank accounts and their savings stood at Tk 7 billion (Tk 700crore).

42 Foreign Reserve

Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves reached a record high of $24 billion yesterday, said Kazi Saidur Rahman, general manager of Bangladesh Bank. The amount is enough to meet the country's import bills for more than six months. The reserves first crossed the $23-billion mark on February 26 this year. A stable flow of

remittances and export earnings, coupled with satisfactory foreign direct investment and foreign currency

borrowing by the private sector, contributed to the rise, the official said. Currently Bangladesh ranks second inSouth Asia in forex reserves, right behind India, which has $339.99 billion.

43Human

Trafficking

A UNICEF report says that approximately 400 women and children in Bangladesh are victims of trafficking eachmonth. Another study reports that approximately 300,000 Bangladeshi children and women between the agegroup of 12-30 were trafficked to India alone in the last ten years. The annual report of a Pakistan-based

organisation, Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid, reveals that nearly 200,000 Bangladeshi girls and womenwere sold in Pakistan. All these statistics indicate the magnitude of the problem of human trafficking from

Bangladesh.

44 Outsourcing

Bangladesh has been recognised by a US company as the 26th best destination for IT outsourcing globally.Currently, the country has around 5.5 lakh freelancers registered with different freelance marketplaces. Elance-

oDesk has 4.5 lakh registered users in Bangladesh.

45 Social Business

Social business is a cause-driven business and seeks to alleviate social problems, including all forms of poverty.

In a social business, investors eventually get back only the money they initially invested and they can't take anydividend beyond that point. Profits are reinvested in the business rather than funneled back to shareholders.Since its inception in January 2013, the lab has approved over 1,000 social business projects in the areas of

agriculture, environment, power and infrastructure, fashion and fabrics, handicrafts, healthcare and nutrition,information technology and retail business. A vast majority of the approved projects have been launched byyoung entrepreneurs, who are running their businesses and creating jobs for others instead of becoming jobseekers. Of them, 730 have already received financing and are running well. Each year, the world marksJune 28 as Social Business Day, to coincide with the birthday of Yunus, the microcredit and social business

pioneer. But it has been brought forwarded by a month this year as it falls in the month of Ramadan. The firstSocial Business Day took place in Dhaka on June 28, 2010.




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46Media of

Bangladesh

Today, news and media in general play a very important role for every single one of us. In fact, it is the mediathat defines much of how we perceive the world around us. Without news and media groups, we will beconstantly left out in the blue on a lot of information for both the important ones and the silly ones that we enjoy

reading anyway. For this very reason alone, news and media groups carry an immense amount of responsibilityto deliver unadulterated information to the general public. In a world where information is acquired through asimple click of a button, the dangers of the misuse of news and media loom even bigger. Every day, we see

countless numbers of rumours and false news are circulated over the Internet. This is an even greater danger since the Internet is accessible to virtually everyone who means that false news and rumours are given a veryhuge audience - many of which do not know how to dissect the truths from the rumors. This problem however is not without a cure, but the cure is no easy one.

47Rana Plaza

Tragedy

2013 Savar building collapse or Rana Plaza collapse was a structural failure that occurred on 24 April 2013 in

the Savar Upazila of Dhaka, Bangladesh where an eight-story commercial building named Rana Plaza,collapsed. The search for the dead ended on 13 May 2013 with a death toll of 1,129. Approximately 2,515

injured people were rescued from the building alive. It is considered the deadliest garment-factory accidentin history, as well as the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history.

48 GDP

Now the size of the country's economy at current prices has stood at Tk 15,135.99 billion (nearly US$194 billion)in the current FY2015. In the last FY2014, the GDP size of the country was Tk 13,436.74 billion (US$172 billion) at

current prices. Mr Mustafa Kamal said the share of the industrial sector to the GDP has increased to 27.98 per cent in the current FY2015 from that of 27.61 per cent in the last FY2014. The contribution of the service sector

has also risen to 56.42 per cent in the current fiscal from 56.28 per cent in last FY2014. However, the contributionof agriculture sector to the GDP has dropped to 15.59 per cent in the current fiscal from that of 16.11 per cent

in the last FY, the minister said quoting the BBS data.

49Climate Change

and Bangladesh

It is projected that, by 2020, from 500 to 750 million people will be affected by water stress caused by

climate change around the world. Low-lying coastal regions, such as Bangladesh, are vulnerable to sealevel rise and increased occurrence of intense, extreme weather conditions such as the cyclones from2007–2009. In most countries like Bangladesh, yields from rainfed agriculture could be reduced to 50%by 2020. For a country with increasing population and hunger, this will have an extremely adverse

effect on food security. Although effects of climate change are highly variable, by 2030, South Asiacould lose 10% of rice and maize yields, while neighbouring states like Pakistan could experience a 50%reduction in crop yield. Forests, home to two thirds of al l species, temper climate and capture andstore water. They store 40% of terrestrial carbon and can slow down build-up of carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere. As a region loses its forests, it also loses its ability to trap and absorb water, and so run -off from the denuded woodland worsens the natural process of soil erosion. The result-- the world wearsaway 24 billion tons of topsoil a year. Research reports made public in the year 2002 indicated that

36,000 sq km in Bangladesh out of 1, 47,570 sq km face an uncertain and grim future. This includesthe Sundarbans and sea beach in Cox's Bazar. The stark fact is that about 14,000 sq km in the coastal

zone is just one metre above sea level. One meter's sea level rise could displace nearly 15 millionpeople in Bangladesh.

50Economic

Slowdown

The Centre for Policy Dialogue found that a single day’s shutdown shaves around 0.9 percent off thegross domestic product a year at market price. The study, which quantifies the economic loss from aday’s shutdown, also found that it causes exports to drop 2.4 percent and imports 0.8 percent. The

government also stands to lose 0.7 percent in revenue and its deficit would widen by 7.1 percent. Theemployment of labor declines by 0.9 percent, fixed investment 0.1 percent and household consumption0.8 percent, it says. A day of shutdown causes a loss of Tk 1,600 crore. The country faces, on average,

40 days of shutdown a year, which means the financial losses stand at Tk 64,000 crore or 6.5 percentof the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.Secondly, Bangladesh is an agricultural dependent country; the sector is not developing remarkably. Inthe financial year 2012-2013, according to a Bangladesh economic report, agricultural contribution to

GDP is 19.07%, whereas it slumped to 16.69% in the next fiscal year, because there was a little investmentin this sector.

51

Disabled People

and Our

Economy

In Bangladesh, the number of people with disability is 15 to 20 million, and the number is increasing

day by day. Recurrent incidents of road accident and factory fire are making the situation worse. Wehave to think about the employment of the persons with disability, seriously. It is assumed that only 5%

people are employed. Therefore, we need a proper planning to create employment for them. Theyobviously need training. We have to coordinate our training modules with existing market demands.

Based on an assessment of the available figures and estimates by WHO and World Bank for developingcountries, an overall disability prevalence of about 10% of the population remains a valid workingestimate. There are many talented people among disable and they could be mainstreamed with some

vocational training and close follow up. The govt had declared 10% quota for persons with disabilitiesalong with the orphans. But the 10% quota is not applicable for the entire govt sector except for the3rd and 4th class jobs only. So, the declared quota mast be adequately practiced in all kinds ofrecruitment. RMG sector is one of the main wheels in our economy engine employing around 3.6 million

people. There are the larger opportunities at the RMG sector.




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52Digital

Bangladesh

A few examples of available digital services are: registration for admission to academic institutions, publicationof results of examinations, registration for jobs abroad, registration of pilgrimage, collection of official forms,online submission of tax returns, online tendering, etc. Online banking systems have sped up the financial

activities of the country. SMS services for lodging complaints to police stations, online bill payments for utilityservices, instant communication with persons working abroad, and e-passports are some more examples.Telemedicine services, videoconferencing for the treatment of diseases, and video conferencing for

administrative activities are examples of e-services available to rural Bangladesh. Setting up of nearly fivethousand Union Information Service Canters is a great boost for Digital Bangladesh, especially for rural areas.Turning eight thousand village post offices and approximately five hundred upazila post offices into e-centersand the introduction of mobile money order and postal cash cards are significant achievements in the recent

past. Union Information Centers, District Information Cells, National Information Cell are also revolutionaryadditions.

53 Free Internet

Internet.org was founded on August 21, 2013, to ensure easy access to internet globally. Their slogan is

“Everyone of us, everywhere, connected.” Research shows that for every 10 people who gain access to theinternet, at least one person is lifted out of poverty. This is because the internet brings access to jobs, educationand health information, and valuable communication tools. Bangladesh has more than 170 million people, but

fewer than 10% are connected to the internet.

54 CSR

Concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its practices in Bangladesh have a long history ofphilanthropic activities from time immemorial. Such philanthropic activities included donations to different

charitable organizations, poor people and religious institutions. Until now, most businesses in Bangladeshare family owned and first generation ones. They are involved in community development work in the

form of charity without having any definite policy regarding the expenses or any concrete motive regardingfinancial gains in many instances. CSR – as the concept is understood today i.e. including health & safety,

human rights, child labor, environmental and climate issues is relatively new but there are a number ofsigns that it is becoming increasingly important in Bangladesh – in all businesses but particularlycompanies with international business & export. CSR cannot be ignored because Bangladesh depends

on its export.

55 NGO

A non-governmental organization (NGO) i s a citizen based association that operates independently ofgovernment, usually to deliver resources or serve some social or political purposes. Thus, NGOs are notonly non-governmental but voluntary also. So, it is referred to as any agency that isn't controlled bygovt. can be regarded as an NGO. The government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh has establi shed

Bangladesh NGO Foundation to support the NGOs, with a view to associate the non-governmentalorganization in the process of achieving millennium development goal. The foundation is established for financing NGOs and other voluntary organizations including community based organizations (CBOs) and

providing basic social services such as education, nutrition and health, sanitation support, safe drinkingwater and any other services needed by the poor, women and children and the ethnic minorities.

56 Black Money

The scope for whitening undisclosed money remains in place in the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal

year with only a couple of changes to the provisions. Legalising untaxed incomes by investing in real estate,

which was introduced last year, has been made easier by decreasing the tax rates. Only 205 people whitenedundisclosed money through voluntary disclosure of income in FY 2013-14. Through this, the NBR earned only Tk 18 crore. The data of the current fiscal year was not yet available with the NBR. The history of this controversial

privilege provides an even bleaker picture. Between 1972 and 2013, around Tk 13,808 crore was whitened, withthe NBR receiving taxes worth Tk 1,455 crore, which is less than 1 percent of the revenue target in the proposedbudget for the upcoming fiscal.

57Rampal Power

Plant

The Rampal Power Plant may use approximately 4.5 million MT of coal and produce about 450,000 MT

of coal ash, which is l ikely to be stored in lined ponds and landfills. Coal has also many uses. It canbe used as a substitute for cement in concrete, for building embankments, bricks, and for conversion

of sewage sludge into fertilizer or bio-fuel. The toxins in the coal ash are, however, likely to contaminateboth river water and groundwater in the locality and together with the radioactive elements may cause

serious health hazards to the plant workers and the local population. The radiation level in bottom ashand fly ash can be as high as 7.7 and 9.7 pCi/g (pica Curie per gram) respectively.




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58 Scams in Banks

The vivid and true picture of the dirty game has not yet been unearthed. The amount that has beentaken away by Hallmark has not been correctly mentioned. The amount differs from one media houseto another. Different sums of amount have been mentioned and published in different newspapers. Let

us talk here about the small figure of about Tk 2600.00 crore that has been disbursed alone in thename of Hallmark by Sonali Bank, Ruposhi Bangla branch; but some newspapers published the amountas being Tk 3665.00 crore or above, which includes the amount taken by their sister concerns in the

name of various spinning mills from other banks. According to a Bangladesh Bank report, Bismillah Groupswindled about Tk 11bn from state-run Janata Bank and four private commercial banks – Prime Bank,Shahjalal Bank, Jamuna Bank and Premier Bank – showing fake export documents, taking government’scash incentive to open business firms abroad and with accommodated bills through Letters of Credit

(LCs). The business group swindled Tk3.92bn from Janata Bank, Tk3.06bn from Prime Bank, Tk1.63bn fromJamuna Bank, Tk1.48bn from Shahjalal Bank and Tk629.7m from Premier Bank. A Bangladesh Bank inspection found many irregularities in four branches of state-owned Basic Bank — Motijheel, Shantinagar,Dilkusha and Gulshan branches — that involved loans of nearly Tk 4,424.93 crore between December

2009 and November 2012. Of the amount, Tk 1,594.73 crore was given by the Gulshan branch, andmajority of the loans was issued without proper scrutiny. Different groups to grab money from Bangladeshibanks by showing false paper .They are trying this approximately may 2012. They approached different

banks but failed to collect.They said that they got 200crore pound as remittance and wanted to cashout . I f any branch does not verify their document they may collect this amount.

59 Gender Equality

Women Empowerment and Gender Equity is a core development objective in its own right. Empowering

women as economic, political and social actors can change policy choices and make institutions morerepresentative of a range of voices. Women's empowerment educates and empowers women wi th theskills and confidence necessary to get a job, create a healthy lifestyle and regain a home for themselves

and their children. Empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors is essentialto build stronger economies, achieve internationally agreed goals for development and sustainabilityand improve the quality of life for women, men and their communities. The private sector is a keypartner in efforts to advance gender equality and empower women. The empowerment principles

emphasize 1) Establishing high-level corporate leadership for gender equality 2) Treat all women fairlyat work –respect and support human rights and nondiscrimination 3) Ensure health, safety and well-being of all women workers 4) Promote education, training and professional development for women5) Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women 6)

Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy 7) Measure and publicly report onprogress to achieve gender equality.

60The Padma

Bridge

The Bridges Division has revised the cost of the much-hyped Padma Bridge project by 40 percent, raising the

estimated cost to Tk 28,793 crore. According to the revised estimate, the 6.15km main bridge will now cost Tk 12,133 crore, up from the 2011 estimate of Tk 8,361 crore. As of February, it completed about 1.5 percent of thework and expects to build the main bridge by 2018. Once completed, the 6.15-kilometre bridge is expected to

boost Bangladesh's gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.20 percent and that of the south-western region of the

country by 3.5 percent. The Padma Multipurpose Bridge (PMB) project gets the highest allocation, amountingto Tk 74 billion, in the proposed budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2015-16, like the previous two FYs.

61Inter-Regional

Connectivity

One of the recent initiatives that warrants heightened attention and importance on the part of all concernedstakeholders in Bangladesh is the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC) which

received formal endorsement through the first inter-governmental study group meeting in Kunming held onDecember 18-19, 2013. The BCIM region, inhabited by two-fifths of the world population, and producing one-tenth of the global GDP (gross domestic product), include two of the rising global power-houses of the twenty

first century, India and China. There was a mutuality of interests between these two countries, on the one hand,and Bangladesh and Myanmar, the two Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the group, on the other.

62 Transit

Debate on transit/transhipment intensified in 2010. Bangladesh government formed a core committee in 2011

to prepare an analytical study on the issue of transit involving Bangladesh, India, Bhutan and Nepal. The corecommittee, headed by the then chairman of the Bangladesh Tariff Commission, recommended to invest some$7.0 billion to develop transit infrastructure and also suggested allowing transhipment as interim arrangement.T Four years later, Bangladesh, has actually provided large and wide facilities of connectivity to India along

with Nepal and Bhutan. These facilities go beyond traditional transit/transhipment framework. Bangladesh willallow Indian cargo ships to use Mongla and Chittagong ports. These ships will ferry cargoes from Bangladesh

to the Indian ports instead of routing those via Singapore which will reduce trade cost significantly. Usually, acontainer from Chennai first goes to Singapore before it comes to Chittagong or Mongla. Thus averageshipping cost of a container is US$2000 and it takes 35 days. Coastal shipping will, reportedly, reduce the cost

and time to $400 and 7 days on average.

63Access to

Information

Access to Information (a2i) Programme is an UNDP and USAID supported project (programme) having its officeat the Prime Ministers’ Office. The overall objective of the project i s to provide support in building a digital nationthrough delivering services at the citizen’s doorsteps. The programme aims to improve quality, widen access,and decentralize delivery of public services to ensure responsiveness and transparency.

64 Traffic JamThe cost of traffic jam in the capital city is more than Tk 27,000 crore a year and We lose 32 lakh business hoursevery day, and the cost of fuel that is wasted every year is Tk 11,895 crore. (a study by the Institution of Engineers,




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Bangladesh.) Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) statistics shows that in 2003 there were 303,215registered motorized vehicles in the city. The number of such vehicles rose to 741,547 by 2012, a growth of 145per cent. During the same period, the number of private cars increased by 121 per cent. On an average, 1,304

cars were registered every month. Private cars occupy more than 30 per cent of the city road spaces but carryonly 5.15 per cent of the total passengers. A total of 20,198 buses and minibuses, running on 149 routes, carry30.1 per cent of the total passengers in the city. Auto-rickshaws numbering 21,937 serve only 6.6 per cent of the

passengers while 400,000 rickshaws share 19.8 per cent.

65 Green Banking

Banks in Bangladesh have a commitment to pursue automation, nearly paperless, sustainable and greenbanking operations by making best use of the information technology and related professional skills. Banks'

various ICT-based initiatives on green banking activities are online banking, e-banking, mobile financialservices, ATM, SMS banking, call centres, phone banking, e-recruitment, etc. Banks will have to lend at least 5

percent of their total loans a year to green projects, Bangladesh Bank said in a notice yesterday. The amountwill be 3 percent for nine new banks and 4 percent for non-bank financial institutions.

66Food

Adulteration

The media, particularly the newspapers, have raised the awareness of the people about food adulteration.They have been writing how food grains, vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, milk, bakery products, sweetmeats, ice-

cream and soft drink are being adulterated. Recently, it was published in many dailies that poultry, dairy andfish feed are produced from the waste of tannery factories, which are contaminated with heavy metals like

cadmium, chromium, lead, etc. These harmful heavy metals are entering our body through consumption offish, meat, chicken and egg, which acts on our vital organs causing serious complications. Few months back,

it was disclosed by the Institute of Public Health that 89 per cent powdered milk in the market werecontaminated in many ways, and liquid milk of many dairy farms were found to be contaminated with toxic

Aldrin. In other cases, liquid milk was found adulterated with formalin, hydrogen per-oxide, boric acid, sodiumcarbonate, caustic soda, paint and urea. The government is also committed to stamp out this problem and

has passed a new Safe Food Law-2013 which has become effective from February 01, 2015.According torecent statistics, more than 3,00,000 people in the country are suffering from cancer and health expertscautioned that the number would be double within the next 10 to 15 years, if the present trend of food

adulteration continued. The number of disabled and autistic children in the country is around 1.5 million,according to child health specialists. Access to pure and safe food is a fundamental right of every citizen of

the country but unfortunately adulteration of food with toxic chemicals has reached such a level that pureand safe food is hardly available in the market. Few months back, it was disclosed by the Institute of Public

Health that 89 per cent powdered milk in the market were contaminated in many ways, and liquid milk ofmany dairy farms were found to be contaminated with toxic Aldrin.

67 Energy Crisis

Bangladesh is facing daunting energy challenges. Security concerns over growing fuel imports, limiteddomestic energy resources for power generation and projected demands for electricity will exceed domestic

supply capabilities within a few years. By acknowledging the potential of renewable energy resources, thecountry could possibly meet its mounting energy demand, thus increasing electricity accessibility to all and

securing energy security.

68 Vision 2021

The Vision 2021 contains eight aspirations: (1) democracy and effective parliament, (2) political framework,

decentralisation of power and people's participation, (3) good governance through establishment of the ruleof law and avoiding political partisanship, (4) transformation of political culture, (5) a society free fromcorruption, (6) empowerment and equal rights for women, (7) economic development and initiative: (a)

meeting basic needs, (b) population and labour force, (c ) alleviation of poverty, (d) food and nutrition, (e)healthcare centres, (f) education, (g) industry, (h) energy security, (i) infrastructural development, (j) housing,(k) environment, (l) water resources, and (8) Bangladesh in the global arena: ( a) achievements of liberation,

(b) culture, and (c) foreign policy. At present, India, China, Brazil, etc. are in the category of middle incomecountries. Bangladesh aims to join the club of MICs in 2021 marking the 50 years of its independence. As per the World Bank record on Bangladesh, the per capita gross national income (GNI) as per the atlas method was$ 900 in 2013 and it put the country in the lower income category. As per records of the Bangladesh Bureau of

Statistics (BBS), the per capita income stood at $1,190 in 2014 and it puts Bangladesh in the lower middle incomegroup. Bangladesh is apparently doing well and moving towards the MIC goal. Today many national andforeign experts and institutions forecast Bangladesh as a future leader or rank it among the next eleven in viewof its consistent gross domestic product (GDP) growth of more than 6.0 per cent over the last 10 years. So, the

Vision 2021 is very time-befitting.

69 Blue Economy

The concept of blue economy in Bangladesh can be developed in emerging sectors such as…shipping, portfacilities, seaborne trade, fisheries, coastal tourism, aquaculture, renewable blue energy, bio- technology and

submarine mining etc. Global offshore wind capacity is growing at the incredible rate of 40% per year,production 7100 megawatts of electricity in 2013. From this it can be predicted that the growing demand ofelectricity can be mitigated using wind for producing electricity in Bangladesh. 80% of global trade by volume

and 70% by value is carried out by sea and handled by ports worldwide. According to 2013 edition UNCTAD,global seaborne trade has increased 4.3%, so the three ports- Chittagong, Mongla, Pira have to be developedas transit points. Globally 350 million jobs are linked to marine fisheries with 90% of fishers living in developingcountries, in Bangladesh 500000 people are fully and directly dependent on the sector.




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70Marine Time

Boundary

Dhaka established its sovereign rights through international court verdicts on more than 118,000 sq km ofmaritime territory, 200 nautical miles (NM) of exclusive economic zone, and 354 NM continental shelves fromthe Chittagong coast. There is no doubt that sea-related subjects like expansion of international trade, use of

marine mineral resources for long-term energy security, proper management of marine fish resources andprotecting marine environment and bio-diversity would determine Bangladesh’s future development andeconomic growth. About 1.4 billion people live along the Bay of Bengal coastline. But the crude reality is that

the country lacks skilled manpower to ascertain the availability of, and explore, the resources of the Bay.Besides, there is also lack of proper technology for exploiting deep-sea fishes and seabed resources.

71 Air Pollutn

The WHO has already rated Bangladesh as the fourth among 91 countries with worst urban air quality. The DoE

has set up air quality monitoring stations in eight cities, including Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Rajshahi,Chittagong, Khulna and Sylhet. Though Narayanganj has the highest level of gaseous pollutants, the air of the

northern metropolis Rajshahi contains the highest level of dust particles. Among the gaseous pollutants whichthe DoE measures are carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and ozone (O3),

methane and non-methane pollutants. In the Southeast Asian region, the bulk of it, with 1.7 million prematuredeaths, was attributed to indoor air pollution. The sources for ambient pollution include diesel engines and

industrial emissions. Sixty per cent of these deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases like stroke and heartdisease.

72 Rohingyas

Myanmar's government denies the Rohingya citizenship, making them effectively stateless. It views theestimated 1.3 million Rohingya living in dire conditions in western Rakhine state as illegal migrants fromBangladesh. Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia agree that the key to solving the migrant crisis is addressing "the

root cause" -- which means the situation in Myanmar. It's not an easy task when Myanmar officials are loath toeven utter the word "Rohingya." The US is prepared to take a leading role in resettling the most vulnerable

Rohingya refugees, according to State department spokeswoman Marie Harf.

73 Metro Railway

The Tk 22,000 crore ($2.5 billion) ambitious project is aimed at easing traffic congestion in the capital citythrough an improved, faster, comfortable and time-bound public transportation service. According to projectdirector, a train with six air-conditioned spacious coaches will operate every four minute, enabling a commuter to travel from Uttara to Motijheel in just 38 minutes which now takes around two hours on a normal day. A total

of 24 such trains would carry 60,000 passengers every hour to both directions and drastically cut the number ofprivate cars on the streets, Mofazzel continued. The metro rail will have stations at 16 points of the city --including at Uttara, Pallabi, Mirpur, Kazipara, Shewrapara, Agargaon, Rokeya Sarani, Bijoy Sarani, Farmgate,

Sonargaon Hotel, Shahbagh, Doel Chattar, Topkhana Road and Motijheel.

74Elevated

Expressway

To ease the congestion problem in the city, the authority has undertaken the construction of the massive 26km'Elevated Expressway project in Dhaka involving Tk 8.3 billion. The huge structure will add to the noise and other

pollutants and narrow down the surface traffic by about 50 per cent. Moreover, the planned elevatedexpressway system, in the absence of required traffic redistribution roadways, will only shift the congestion knots.

The elevated expressway seems to overlap the proposed metro network lines. Above all, Dhaka, the finite city,is said to be located in the earthquake zone. In case of a major earthquake, cleaning the debris and rebuilding

roadways will be an impossible task. Thus, the elevated expressway could be the 'last nail in the coffin'.

75 Power of Youth

Some 47.6 million or 30 percent of the total 16 million people in Bangladesh are young (10-24 years), and it willbe between 10 and 19 percent by 2050. Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus called for using the power ofyouth, technology, social business and good governance to create a world free of poverty, unemployment

and carbon emissions.

76

Entrepreneurship

development in

Bangladesh

Entrepreneurship development will have a multidimensional impact in employment generation, GDP growth,increasing export earnings, reducing imports, industrialisation and finally poverty alleviation. Creating a

favourable fiscal policy, tariff structure, customs policy, industrial policy, export and import policies etc. are theprimary means for the government to facilitate employment generation. The population of Bangladesh is 16.20million. About 25 per cent of this population live below poverty line. There are 1.8 million unemployed or under-employed people in Bangladesh. About 2.0 million enter job market every year. Therefore, it is a major

challenge for the government to provide employment to this large number of job seekers.

77 Wind Energy

Among the renewable energy technologies, wind energy is relatively mature and many countries have

resolved cost and technology challenges. Bangladesh is in the midst of a severe energy and power supplycrisis, one of the worst in South Asia. Bangladesh has a 724km long coastline and many small islands in the Bayof Bengal, where strong southwesterly wind and sea breeze blow in the summer months and there is a gentle

northeasterly wind and land breeze in the winter months.

78ManpowerExport

According to a report titled 'International Labour Migration from Bangladesh 2014: Achievement and

Challenges' the country received remittance amounting to $ 14.50 bil lion till the third week of December, 2014.If the inflow continues, the amount will stand at about $ 15 billion at the end of the year, reflecting a 5.3 per cent growth over that of the previous year, the report mentioned. The report said that despite the globally

lower migration trend, inbound remittance has increased because of some initiatives by the Bangladesh Bank,such as -- reduction in transfer rate, road-show in the Middle-Eastern countries, and remittance transfer through

mobile device etc.




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79Population-

Burden or Power

Investment is critical to generate employment opportunities. Every year, around 2.0 million people are addedto our workforce. Massive investment is required to provide jobs for them. A large segment of this workforce,that is almost 700,000 of them, secured employment outside the country in fiscal 2011-12. During next two years,

only 400,000 left to join employment abroad and the remaining 1.6 million were self-employed at home.

80Industrial Safety

in RMG

Though substantial progress has been made in factories to improve workplace safety, there remain critical

areas that are yet to be addressed. However, with more than 8 out of 10 factories surveyed having approvedfactory layouts and more than 90 per cent of the 499 factories inspected possessing updated fire safety

licenses, we are hopeful that the industry is taking steps in the right direction to avert workplace hazard like fireand building mishaps. It was found that about 4 out of 5 factories lack separate emergency exits. And although

87 per cent of factories have direct access to exits, 13 per cent do not.

81FDI inBangladesh

Investment (FDI), especially in developing countries. But a well-crafted policy alone cannot ensure desired levelof FDI. Bangladesh is probably such an example. Despite having a good FDI policy, the inflow of foreigninvestment in the country is still very low. FDI-GDP ratio in Bangladesh is below 2.0 per cent, while export-GDP

ratio is around 18 per cent. Average annual FDI inflow is still below $1.0 billion. In fact, it was in 2008 whenannual FDI inflow had reached $1.08 billion, crossing the $1 billion mark for the first time in Bangladesh. But in

the next year, it dropped to $961 million. In 2011, FDI inflow jumped to $1.13 billion from $913.32 million in 2010.In the next two consecutive years, it continued to increase to $1.3 billion in 2012 and $1.6 billion in 2013 but

declined to $1.53billion in the last year. Inflow of FDI needs to be reviewed in the regional context also. AlthoughBangladesh is now second in South Asia in FDI inflow to the region, it is far behind India. According to UNCTAD

World Investment Report, in 2013 of the total FDI inflow to the region, India alone received around 87 per centwhile the share to Bangladesh and Pakistan stood at 4.9 per cent and 4 per cent respectively. But Pakistan's

share in inward FDI stood at 10 per cent at the end of 2013 while it is only 3 per cent for Bangladesh.

82

New Global

Challenges for

banks

Small economies like Bangladesh are by no means invulnerable to fallouts from global downturns or negative

spill over of policies of large economies and therefore have a strong stake in global stability and economicgrowth. In forums such as the G-20, countries like Bangladesh need to argue forcefully for the same priority instability as recovery, as well as for stability action agenda going beyond addressing symptoms (i.e. lapses in risk management, inadequacies of regulation and supervision) to addressing underlying causes (i.e. lax policies,

non-compliance of prudential and management norms, poor financial reporting, unbridled liquidity expansionthat incubate bubbles.) Good governance in the banking sector is an important agenda of our country,especially in the present context of the crisis in the banking sector. Transparency and accountability haverecently become an issue of greater concern with revitalised importance in the context of public and private

responsibility of managing banks.

83

Constraints to

Industrial

Development

Bangladesh slipped to number 173 among 189 nations on the Doing Business list 2014 of the World Bank, down

from rank 170 a year ago because of slow pace of economic reforms. Bureaucratic control and interferencein business and investment activities should be minimised on a priority basis. The law and order situation needsto be improved. Both the government and private sector need to come forward to invest in infrastructuredevelopment. Despite recent improvements, the efficiency of port services can be further improved and the

custom clearance procedures can be further simplified. Land is one area that constrains the flow of FDI to

Bangladesh. The country does not have enough industrial land. In this case, the government can free upclosed-down and non-functioning state-run enterprises and give the land to foreign investors by declaring themas special economic zones. Foreign investors will be particularly interested about those establishments as they

are ready to use and already have gas and electricity connections, and some of them are located on thebanks of rivers. Strengthening economic and commercial diplomacy is a key factor in attracting FDI in thepresent world characterised by rapid globalisation and increasing competition. Moreover, it is important not

only to improve relations with countries that have already invested in Bangladesh, but also to identify potentialinvestors in other countries and undertake appropriate measures to attract them to invest in the country.Bangladesh must restore political stability, as instability seriously erodes foreign investors' confidence andcreates an economic environment detrimental to long-term planning, which reduces economic growth and

investment opportunities. What is most important for Bangladesh is that it has to put in place an environmentthat is generally supportive of investment because when the climate is favourable for domestic investment, itis likely to be favourable for international investment. Getting FDI has to be made a policy priority.




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84 Eve Teasing

A research suggested that 91.3% women in Bangladesh have suffered some form of eve-teasing, most of whomfall within the age-group of 10 to 18 years. Persistence of such offence ends up being a traumatic experiencefor most women. The unbearable physical and mental humiliation caused by such high degree of eve-teasing

often results in terminal decisions such as suicide. The intolerable offence as well as the added exposure viamedia can often result in adverse consequence and makes matters worse for the victims. In a country likeBangladesh, the younger girls who are victims to such threats are often made to stop their education and be

home-bound. Their families stand strong in favour of saving their lives than continuing education. Child marriageis also an alternative the families instantly opt for, whenever posed with risk. Eve-teasing has been recorded asthe main cause of children's forced marriages and according to UNICEF report of 2009, 64% or more girls werebound to marry before maturity to save them from the clutches of eve-teasers. In other cases, the trauma often

drives the victims as well as the families under prey to mental disorder. The social stigma becomes too horrid tohandle and the entire family dynamics change. The ceaseless blame-game comes off as no help, anddistresses the victims furthermore.

85 SME

Inadequate financing has been considered as a critical bottleneck in the development of SMEs of all types.The SMEs face financing difficulties mainly because of the problems of asymmetric information, inadequateassets and absence of markets. In response to the policy initiatives, some positive changes have taken place

in the area of bank financing to SME sectors of the country. Total SME credits increased from around 20 per cent to 27 per cent of their total credit portfolio in between 2009 and 2013. Environmentally sustainablefinancing to SMEs may also be tagged with green banking initiatives of Bangladesh. The development ofcollaborative and sustainable clusters may be a way to stimulate innovations, manage resources efficiently,

and can help environmental and social challenges. In the area of green financing, a few instances to therenewable energy sector are really encouraging.

86

Role of

Commercial

Bank

According to available information in regard to the facilitation of the trade process, contribution of the private

commercial banks (PCBs) were the most during the calendar years from 2011 to 2014. The most recent reviewof the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) on trade services reveal that 82 per cent exportproceeds entered into the country through PCBs in 2014 that was 71 per cent in 2011. The figures for state-

owned commercial banks (SoCBs) and foreign commercial banks (FCBs) were 12 per cent and 6.0 per centrespectively in 2014. Similar status may be observed in case of import payments, where 74 per cent import

payments flow out of the country through the PCBs. In the year 2011, the figure was 64 per cent. In terms offacilitation of payment flows, the market share of the PCBs increased by over 15 per cent in between 2011 and

2014. However, trade services in the export processing zones (EPZs) are dominated by the offshore bankingunits of FCBs. BIBM survey reveals, major portion of trade finance facilities of the country was offered by the

PCBs that ranges between 56-58 per cent during 2011-2014. PCBs were followed by the SoCBs that offered 38-39 per cent of the total trade finance during the period. The contribution of the FCBs was around 5.0 per cent.

SoCBs were the major contributors in export finance market in Bangladesh with around 55 per cent of the totalfollowed by PCBs. As a bank group, PCBs played the most prominent role during 2011-2014, according to theBangladesh Bank. In 2014, over 65 per cent worker remittances flowed into the country through the PCBs. In

spite of huge branch network of the SoCBs, use of technology and linkages with other entities made it possible

for the PCBs to expand their remittance services to rural Bangladesh.As per Bangladesh Bank guidelines, banks may open different types of foreign currency accounts, these are:Private Foreign Currency Accounts; Non-Resident Foreign Currency Deposit (NFCD) Accounts; Resident Foreign

Currency Deposit (RFCD) Accounts. In terms of the number of foreign currency accounts and volume (both FCand RFCD), PCBs as a group were maintaining the major market share during 2011-2014. Evidences indicatethat, FCBs maintain accounts for a good number of relatively bigger clients (in terms of volume).

87Contribution of

Agriculture

There was a time when agriculture, broadly defined to include crops and horticulture; livestock and poultry;

fisheries and forestry, accounted for the bulk of the economy in all respects, viz., GDP, employment, foodsecurity, foreign exchange earnings, and supply of industrial raw materials. In the early nineteen seventies the

share of agriculture in the total GDP was more or less 60 percent and went down to 48percent by the earlynineteen eighties. By the turn of the century, it had been halved to 24 percent or so. In recent years it has fallen

further to slightly above 16 percent only, with the crop sub-sector contributing about 12-13 points of that. Atleast in terms of availability of rice from domestic production, Bangladeshi farmers have managed to by and

large feed the population which has more than doubled from the 75 million during liberation to above 160million at present.

88

Steps towards

Middle Income

Country

Bangladesh is on the cusp of becoming a middle-income country as its per capita income rose to $1,314 this

fiscal year, meeting the World Bank's criteria. Bangladesh will be recognised as a middle-income nation if itachieves at least an average per capita income of $1,045 for three consecutive years. Per capita income was$1,190 last fiscal year and $1,154 in 2012-13. According to the World Bank's 2012 classification, the income

thresholds are: low income $1,035 or less; lower middle-income $1,036 to $4,085; upper middle-income $4,086to $12,615; and high income $12,616 or more.




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89 Decentralization

Bangladesh is a unitary system of state with the constitutional provision for Local Government Institutions (LGIs)to provide all amenities that people need. In fact, local government institutions should be represented bypeasants, workers and women to ensure its administration and maintain public orders and act for

empowerment and enrichment in quickest possible time. Decentralization and devolution of power to localgovernment institutions is a constitutional obligation and declared priority areas of reformation. Localgovernment is one of most important but sensitive items in the policy and budget making arena in Bangladesh.

Quite surprisingly, it has not been regarded as a core or building block for national development plans eventhough local development and service delivery are critically dependent on efficient and effective localgovernment. As the local government institutions (LGI) remain at arm's length from the citizens, decentraliseddevelopment planning and building administrative capacity of LGIs are essential not only for delivering services

to the grassroots but also for improving effectiveness of the central government and ability of localadministrative units.

90Business

Environment

Competition among countries to attract local or foreign direct investment (FDI) relies heavily on the relative

strengths in business environment, source of raw materials, production facility and market opportunities. TheGlobal Competitiveness Report 2012-13 ranked Bangladesh at the 118th position, a slide by 10 positions fromthe previous year (108th in 2011-12). Countries that advanced from behind are: Dominican Republic,

Nicaragua, Guyana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal and Paraguay. GCI (Global Competitive Index) score ofBangladesh also declined by 2.1 per cent (from 3.73 in 2011 to 3.65 in 2012-13). Scores in basic requirementsuch as institution, macroeconomic stability, and infrastructure dropped to 3.72 from 3.81. Efficiency enhancer i.e., education, market efficiency, financial market and technological advancement experienced a declining

score of 3.62 from 3.69. Innovation and sophistication meaning research and other indicators declined from122nd from 113th, with a reduced score to 2.98 from 3.04. In the coming years, the country will require aconsiderable increase in investment - perhaps worth almost US$50 billion or 40 per cent of the GDP but the

current investment is well below 30 per cent. The additional investment would require resource mobilisation byincreased revenue earnings, larger inflows of foreign aid, and increased foreign and domestic investment. Toattract investment, whether domestic or foreign, the country's policy makers will need to focus on how to createa good investment environment. The World Bank's Doing Business 2013 report, published simultaneously,

revealed that Eastern Europe and Central Asia improved the most, overtaking East Asia and the Pacific as theworld's second most business-friendly regions. Bangladesh's ranking is at the bottom of the list. As reflected inthe ranking on the ease of doing business, the 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulation areSingapore, China, New Zealand, United States, Denmark, Norway, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, Georgia

and Australia. Singapore tops the global ranking for the seventh consecutive year. Bangladesh's rank is 127,while among the neighbours India' ranking is 132 and Bhutan 148. The ranking in starting a business inBangladesh is 95.

91Private Sector

Investment

Over the last two financial years, investment declined to 21.4 per cent from 22.5 per cent of the Gross DomesticProduct (GDP). Even significant reduction in interest rates has failed to induce private investment. The countryis now witnessing almost a negative investment scenario in the private sector. Although overall investment has

not declined because of rise in public spending, this is a bad omen. Public investment, being generally

inefficient and wasteful, does not make proportionate contribution to productivity. However, one good thingabout public investment is that most of it is spent on physical and social infrastructures. Investment insuperstructures produces high social gains, because it helps increase productivity in other sectors. If public

investment is made with efficiency, major expansions in superstructure and productivity are sure to take place.During the first five months of the current fiscal year, personal credit increased by 4.6 per cent while overallcredit increase is only 3.87 per cent. Another major problem that has hit the overall financial sector badly is thehuge amount of classified loans. Several banks, particularly the state-run ones, are in a precarious condition.

Classified loans in these banks have exceeded normal proportions.

92 Water Pollution

Experts identified nine industrial areas in and around the capital city as the primary sources of river pollution:

Tongi, Tejgaon, Hazaribagh, Tarabo, Narayanganj, Savar, Gazipur, Dhaka Export Processing Zone andGhorashal. Most of the industrial units of these areas have no sewage treatment or ETP plants of their own.

Although the Water Act 2013, River Protection Act 2013, the Environment Conservation Rules 1997 haveprovision of punishment, they are evaded by corruption, political muscle and the lackluster role of River

Commission and other authorities. In the capital, everyday 9000 tons of waste is produced; 49% of them arefrom households and the rest from commercial, industrial and medical. Only about 5-6% of the waste is recycled

despite the presence of technology and manpower. Hasin Jahan, program director of Wateraid, Bangladesh

said less than one-fourth of Dhaka city area is currently under the coverage of sewerage network.

93 Online Banking

BB's quarterly report as of June 2014 shows that all 75 branches of foreign banks and 3,632 branches or 99.94percent of private banks have introduced online banking, gaining an edge over the state banks. A mere 858

branches or 24 percent of the total 3,540 branches of state-owned commercial banks offer online coverage.The situation is more depressing with the state-owned development banks; less than nine percent of their

branches have an online facility. Online services are also cost-effective, he said. If a manual transaction costsa bank Tk 10, it is only Tk 0.10 for an online transaction. Pubali Bank has the largest online banking network in

the country with all its 427 branches now offering such services.

94Problem of

Urban Life

More than half of the world's people live in cities where approximately 25 to 30 per cent of Bangladeshpopulation inhabits the urban areas. Over 90 per cent of urban growth has been occurring in the developing




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world with an estimated 70 million new residents to urban areas each year. The water supply management inthe city is more dependent on underground sources than surface water waters. This is making the water supplyprocess more expensive and complicated.

95 Tista Agreement

The Teesta agreement is required to sustain the relationship between India and Bangladesh and to ensurelarger regional gains from this common river. Since there are not such big rivers in the North-Western region of

the country, people from these districts are dependent on this river – the fourth largest trans-boundary river for irrigation and fishing activities. Specially, 1,11,406 hectares of agricultural land under the Teesta Barrage Project

(TBP) is extremely reliant on the water of the Teesta river for surface water based irrigation. When water flow isreduced in Teesta by India, the livelihood and socio-economic circumstances and ecosystem of the entire

region will be terribly affected. In order to provide irrigation facility in the entire irrigable area of TBP, India andBangladesh require 43,905 and 25,714 cusecs water respectively. The virgin or pre-project (1973-1985) flow,

however, was recorded at only 6,984 cusecs in Teesta river during dry seasons. Thus, the total demand of water in the Bangladeshi barrage area cannot be met in dry seasons if we receive the entire volume of the virgin

flow.

96 Noise Pol lution

DHAKA, the capital of Bangladesh, is one of the densely populated cities in the world. Being an overcrowded

city, Dhaka has a high level of noise pollution. The survey report of WBB (Work for Better Bangladesh) highlightsthat 86% inhabitants of Dhaka consider noise pollution is a great problem for them. In fact, noise pollution

affects their lives in various ways and it is considered as a threat to their right to life. Noise Pollution is a veryserious menace that the people are facing. The health hazards of noise pollution can be categorised into

physiological and psychological hazards. While the former includes hearing loss, hypertension, disturbance insleep patterns etc., the later includes problems such as annoyance, aggression and stress. It may cause

interruption of sleep, affect communication, loss of efficiency, hearing loss or deafness, high blood pressure,depression, irritability, fatigue, gastro-intestinal problems, allergy, distraction, mental stress and annoyance etc.

97Ship Breaking

Industry

Ship breaking is an important activity, not only for those involved with it but also for Bangladesh's economy. Itmakes significant contribution to the global conservation of energy and resources. In Bangladesh, almost 100per cent of the materials collected from a ship scraps is recycled. Contribution of ship breaking to inlandshipbuilding in Bangladesh is enormous. However, ship breaking in Bangladesh takes place on sandy beaches

without any satisfactory mechanism to prevent water and soil pollution. Environmental pollution by other domestic industries like tannery, dying, brickfield, inland/coastal vessels and road vehicles are not also lesssevere. Actually, environmental awareness among different industries is still very poor and ship breaking is noexception. Hazardous waste materials, which cannot be recycled, are usually dumped on the spot due to lack

of storage facilities.

98 Road AccidentsMore than 5,000 people were killed and 7,218 injured in road accidents across the country in 2013, says a recentreport of Nirapad Sarak Chai, an organisation campaigning for safe roads over the last two decades.

99 Malnutrition

Bangladesh is a home of around 6.3 million stunted children as of 2010, according to UNICEF. Globally,

malnutrition is responsible for 45 per cent of all child deaths and leaves 161 million children stunted in 2013, a joint survey of UNICEF, WHO and World Bank found. Worldwide, malnutrition cuses 5.9 million child deaths each

year, or more than one in three of all child deaths. Around seven million children suffer from stunting in

Bangladesh and are vulnerable to dying at any given time due to malnutrition. The knock-on effects ofmalnutrition are huge. Socio-economic surveys show clear correlations between poverty and poor nutrition in

early childhood with higher rates of stunting, susceptibility to infections and lower later life chances in educationand employment.

100 Drug Addiction

About half of the five million drug addicts in the country are involved in crimes, said leading anti drug-abuse

campaigner Prof Arup Ratan Choudhury yesterday. Bangladesh stands eighth among the world’s top 10countries of drug abuse, he said at a discussion, adding that 98 percent of the addicts are smokers. Eventhough the government estimates the number of drug addicts to be 50 lakh, non-government organisationsclaim the figure to be 70 lakh, he said. Smoking is the gateway to drug addiction and nicotine in tobacco is

equally harmful as drugs like marijuana, heroin, Phensidyle and yaba, he said. “Yaba is the most dangerousdrug ever produced and poses immense threat to Bangladeshi youths,” said Prof Arup, adding, “Bangladeshis used as a transit for international drug smuggling in India, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Thailand, Nepal and

Pakistan.” Two lakh bottles of Phensidyle enter Bangladesh every day while Tk 220 crore is spent on themannually, he said, adding that consumption of Phensidyle increased 10 times in the last five years.

101 Crossfire

As many as 64 people were killed in custody of law enforcers and so-called crossfire in the first three months of

the year, said rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK). Of them, 46 people were killed in so-called crossfire-- 15 by Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), 24 by police and seven by other law enforcement agencies.

102Political

Violence

During this period of January-March 2015, 122 people died in 556 incidents of political violence. Sixty-nine of

them were burnt to death. Besides, 3,051 people were injured in separate incidents of violence.

103 Petrol Bomb

Petrol bomb attack on citizens a new face of political violence in Bangladesh. At least 76 people have been

killed in these attacks and At least 225 people have been burnt in petrol bomb attacks across the country sinceBNP's

announcement of countrywide blockade on January 5, 2015.

104 SMS BankingAlmost all banking companies provide SMS banking services like Mulitple Account Registration, InternationalPush-Pull Facility, Account Balance, Mini Account Statement and Account Information.




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105 Internet Banking

Many private banks are providing their customers with internet banking services like account balance, accountstatement, transaction summary, fund transfer, mobile recharge, wimax recharge, credit/investment accountstatement, customer-wise liability, mode-wise liability, liability at a glance of party, cost sheet for negotiation,

cost sheet for realisation, cost sheet for retirement.

106 Budget 2015-16

Finance Minister AMA Muhit placed Tk. 2.95 lac crore budget for fiscal 2015-16 as his 7th and 44th of Bangladesh

on June 04, 2014. Foreign investment friendly and business oriented budget 2015-2016 will help to get this highachievement as the government will take initiatives to develop physical infrastructure in the power, energy and

communication sectors. Some Tk 97,000 crore has been earmarked for development expenditure, which is anincrease of 29 percent over the current year. The government proposed a revenue target of Tk 176,370 crore

for fiscal 2015-16, an increase of Tk 40,942 crore over current year. A big portion of the deficit will be met throughhigh-cost internal borrowing, which is around Tk 55,880 crore. Of the amount, Tk 38,380 crore will be borrowed

from the banking system and the remaining from savings instruments.

107Infrastructure

Development

For a developing country seeking to boost economic growth and development, infrastructure plays a decisive

role. The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitive Index (GCI) lists transport and energy infrastructure as akey pillar of competitiveness, highlighting their role as essential elements of the modern production and

distribution processes. With financial constraints in the public sector, private sources were mobilized withimpressive results – the share of private power in terms of installed capacity rose from 30% in 2010 to 44% in 2015.

Even with higher bulk average tariff, the selling price of electricity is considerably less than the average cost ofproduction, resulting in huge financial losses and consequent pressure on the national budget. Electricity

subsidies increased from Taka 12 billion in 2010 to a staggering Taka 61 billion in 2014, with a projected increaseof another Tk 10 billion in 2015 at the time of the previous budget. Moving over to the transport sector, the

progress has been relatively weak compared to that of the energy sector. Against the desired growth rate of7.5% under the Sixth Five Year Plan, the transport sector has grown, on average, by 6.2% over the last five years.

Construction of new roads and road improvements have been marred by slow progress, with capacityconstraints delaying the completion of many projects. The importance of infrastructure to economic growth isreflected not only through infrastructure services entering production as an additional input but also through its

contribution in raising total factor productivity by reducing transaction and other costs, thereby allowing a moreefficient use of conventional inputs. Investing in infrastructure has been a priority for the government. From a

low 1.2% of GDP in 2010, spending on infrastructure has steadily increased to 2.1% of GDP in 2015. Over the pastfew years, the energy sector, which is a key component of infrastructure, has witnessed solid progress in

electricity supply. Total installed power capacity grew at a rate of 18% per year between 2010 and 2015,increasing to 13,540 MW. There has also been remarkable gains in energy efficiency by reducing system loss to

13%.

108ADP Budget

2015-16

The National Economic Council (NEC) yesterday approved Tk 97,000 crore ADP for FY 2015-16, with an

additional Tk 3,997 crore allocation for the autonomous state-owned enterprises, which will implement theprojects through their own financing. This means, the overall development expenditure in the next fiscal year

would stand at Tk 1,00,997 crore.

109

Primary

Education in

Bangladesh

Primary education is like the foundation of a multi-storied building. As a weak foundation brings to the fore the

risk of the entire building collapsing, the lowest tier of our education system is fraught with such a danger today.In 1972, the Kudrate-e-Khuda Education Commission was formed to recommend objectives, strategies andaction plans for creating a modern education system. But the ground realities are far from what the Commission

had envisioned. Another study has unmasked how free our free primary education is as it found that annualspending of primary school students is around Tk 37.34 billion. On paper the primary education is free, but inreality, all households including the poorest among them have to bear several types of expenditure for their

children's education, it said. According to an estimate, there are about 50-60 children enrolled for eachteacher in primary schools. This implies that even if all teachers teach during school hours, the total amount ofteacher-time per child is, on an average, just around one hour a month. A World Bank report has revealed thatmost children who have studied up to Class 5 are unable to read or write. The report showed that only 25 per

cent of the total number of students enrolled acquired desired skill in Bangla and 33 per cent in Arithmetic.English is almost Greek to them during primary schooling. But it is at this stage that familiarity with Englishlanguage should dispel fear of a foreign language. The World Bank report also emphasised that those learninglittle or finding lessons uninteresting in the lower classes are dropping out before completing education up to

Class 5.




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