Bangladesh: Can we Hope for a Future? | Papri Sri Raman

Pashaner bhangale ghum
ke tumi sonar choa
 What is the golden touch that has awakened the stone.
— -Kazi Nazrul Islam 





AS ONE TRAVELS by road from Saidpur towards Rangpur (the largest city in northwestern Bangladesh) one cannot miss the SUV-size sweatshops lining the roadside. This was the progress that came to Bangladesh in the 1990s, in the form of Athleisure clothing by Nike, Adidas and many others. Cheap textiles and cheaper labour which meant jobs for thousands. Remember the 40 rupees shirts? Before that, in the streets of Kolkata and Mumbai, as in London and Paris, the fine lace and crochet white skull caps meant Bangladesh. People needed ready cash and these handstitched prayer caps did not symbolise the delicate craftmanship of the men and women who shaped these but their labour.

What is Bangladesh? It is a land in the eastern end of the greater Indian subcontinent. Once known as East Pakistan, it is today an independent nation state that holds elections and chooses its leaders; has a parliament for its 175 million people. The World Bank is heavily invested in it and says, its Gross Domestic Product was 46,020.13 crores USD in 2022 and the GDP growth is at 7 per cent. The WB says, its CO2 emissions per capita is just 0.51 metric tons (2020), its electricity consumption per capita is 317.25 kWh (2014) and its energy use per capita is 227.13 kg of oil equivalent (2014), very much like other very poor countries in the world. Yet most US universities today have teachers who are from Bangladesh, and students of course.

Bangladesh is a country of medium human development, ranked 140th in the United Nations 2007 Human Development Index. The adult illiteracy rate is 47.5%. Eighty-four per cent of the population live on less than $2 per day. Life expectancy at birth is 63.1 years (ADB sources).

In 1971, the independence war resulted in about 3 million deaths and a similar number of refugees fleeing Bangladesh for India. In 1974, famine killed another 3 million. Floods and droughts destroyed, on average, 1.7 million tons of food crops per year in the 1970s, and 1.46 million tons per year throughout the 1980s. The civil society response to these events was phenomenal.

The median age in Bangladesh is 25.7 years, younger than India. It is a country of young people. Not surprising, that it rejects the 76-year-old Sheikh Hasina, ruling since 2008, on the strength of her father’s charisma. Hasina is credited with Bangladesh’s economic transformation, but how long can people remain poverty-stricken, working in sweatshop economies? The educated Bangladeshi wants something more. People want dignity jobs… and something more than basic sustenance.

There are many of us who think, the eastern Bengalis were more courageous, more artistic, more sensitive. India’s freedom struggle was converted into an armed struggle by people like Rashbehari Bose and Surya Sen and the thousand other young Bengalis who believed in giving the colonial masters a fight in the then eastern districts. And in modern times, one just has to read the stories in a modern book like, The Demoness: The Best Bangladesh Stories, 1971-2021, that contains Nazrul’s Demoness, the Raincoat by Akhtaruzzaman Elias, Hasan Azizul Huq’s Nameless and Casteless where an unnamed protagonist accidentally witnesses the hidden horrors of war, and Syed Haq’s Pagli, a sharp commentary on madness and trauma; the fine volume edited by Niaz Zaman. Bangladesh: A Literary Journey Through 50 Short Stories, edited by Rifat Munim, is yet another example of excellent writing. All the online Bangla nursery rhyme, and there are plenty, music and artwork are done by Bangladeshi artists.

Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh is the first Bangladeshi encyclopedia. It is available in both Bengali and English. The print version comprises fourteen 500-page volumes, a feat Bengalis of India have not been able to achieve. It is the most important source now on everything Bengali. Poetry and music does not only mean Tagore in Bengal. Durga Puja is not just band baja and barat. It’s a whole industry and experience. Maach and Mishti doi is more than a cuisine, it is a skill. Tigers don’t need passports yet. Bangladesh’s Sundarban conservation efforts better India’s any day and half the credit of Project Tiger’s success can go to Bangladesh too. So, what happens to Bangladesh and in Bangladesh is not only of contextual significance, but it is also a contemporary historical narrative.

Bangladesh’s textile and garment industry attracted $3.5 billion in foreign direct investment in 2021. By 2026, the sector’s exports are expected to reach US $56 billion (World Fashion Export data). The Bangladesh Textile Manufacturing Market size is estimated at USD 19.04 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach USD 25.25 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 5.81% during the forecast period (2024-2029). Bangladesh’s textile and garment industry is a major contributor to the country’s economy, and it is a vital player in the global textile and apparel market. In the fiscal year 2021-2022, Bangladesh exported garments worth US $42.613 billion, making it the second-largest apparel exporter in the world (Export Promotion Bureau data). The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) reported that in the first eight months of 2022, BD ready-made garment (RMG) exports totaled $29.825 billion, up by 38.39% compared to the same period in the previous year.

The United States is the largest export destination for Bangladeshi garments, accounting for around 21.50% of total exports. The European Union (namely Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and Netherlands) is the second-largest export destination for BD apparel, followed by UK and Canada. Bangladesh’s monthly apparel export is $3.5-3.8 billion and has a high double-digit share in the European Union and the United Kingdom and a 10 per cent market share in the United States.  Bangladesh’s garment exports to India surged 69.58% to $715.41 million in 2021-2022. The exit of Sheikh Hasina from Bangladesh will affect the textile industry, experts say. India’s gain will be just $300-400 million per month, if manufacturers leave Bangladesh and move to India, fearing unrest. However, reality is, it is China that will gain from the textile business slump most.

There is a huge difference in the job market in E par Bangla, O par Bangla (this bank of the river and that), an epic song by Kalikaprasad Bhattacharya. The border between the two Banglas is such that one can literary walk through the ‘enclave’ areas into Bangladesh across the north-south flowing Teesta river that comes from the Pauhunri Mountain in Indian Sikkim. The Teesta dam is a huge matter of contention between India and Bangladesh, when the dam is opened, the floodwaters drown Bangladesh.

The ‘enclaves’, known as chitmahals, are no man’s land, between Bangladesh and West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Historically, they were part of a treaty between the kingdom of Coochbihar and the Mughals in 1713, where without wars, territories were obtained. The Maharaja of Rangpur continued the practice. There were 102 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh, which means 37,334 Indian pockets of people in Bangladesh; and 21 Bangladeshi enclaves in India which means 14,215 Bangladesh pockets of people in India. No doubt, the border is porus; so porus that just walk across and buy cheap morphine and any other generic drug at half the cost.

There was a Land Boundary Agreement between the two countries in 1974. It was ratified only in 2015, forty years later – one of the 14 deals crafted between Bangladesh and India during the Modi rule. Enclaves were exchanged and India lost 40sq km to Bangladesh.

The wind changes direction in Bangladesh and Indian authorities are worried. Long before the recent anti-Sheikh Hasina protests began, India’s Home Minister Amit Shah in 2018 called immigrants from Bangladesh ‘like termites’. Next year he said, these immigrants should be thrown into the Bay of Bengal. Yet, in the 1990s of Delhi, I did have a Bengali lady from Bangladesh who had adopted a Hindu name and cooked for me, some beautiful food, I must admit. In the 2000s, in Mumbai, Bablu the electrician was from Bangladesh, real name Faisal, a good electrician thrilled to hear me speak Bengali. And I had a media friend in Chennai, an old man from Myanmar with roots in Bangladesh.

People don’t want to believe me when I say, being ‘Bengali’ is not about religion, its about the language, the culture, the poetry, the music, the art and craft, the sensitivity and sentiment. This scares people. The Indian Defense Research website reports that the powerful Noth-East Students’ Organisation (NESO), that Shah uses effectively to spread the ruling party’s hate-view, has urged the Home Minister ‘not to let a single immigrant from Bangladesh entre India’, notwithstanding the current economic crises in the neighbouring nation. Yet, in Parliament, Foreign Minister Jaishankar admitted just a few days ago, ‘There are an estimated 19,000 Indian nationals there, of which about 9,000 are students. The bulk of the students have already returned to India in the month of July on the advice of the High Commission’. No one, of course, wants to know why so many Indians are in Bangladesh, especially students? Cost of a medical degree is less in Bangladesh; its medical colleges, though few, are renowned. India’s National Medical Commission (NMC) has approved seven universities in Bangladesh. The WHO also recognises these universities for their quality curricula and pedagogy. Ten thousand Indians work in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh’s textile industry is sought after. All kinds of textiles and products are made here dirt cheap. So are medicines for every kind of illness. One is reminded of the exquisite film, Shankhocheel (Brahmini kite). It is the story of a simple Bangladeshi couple who come to Taki, an Indian border town for the treatment of their ailing daughter named Rupsha. It’s a Goutam Ghosh directed film of 2016, a Indo-Bangladesh joint venture. Shankhocheel is an example of how beautiful the Bangladesh countryside is, and how much scope there is for collaboration.There is a small film market too, Bengalis in India love to watch these Bangladeshi films, shown often in Bangla channels like Hoi Choi. My film expert friend Shoma Chatterji, though says, the jv film on Sheikh Mujib was dull, both India and Bangladesh wanting to avoid all controversies and criticisms. The film was just to please the authorities.

The Bangladesh pharma industry employs about five million people. In 2019, Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical market was valued at USD 3.1bn. This market is dominated primarily by generic drugs which account for 71.4% of the total sales, says the Indian pharma industry. This is followed by over-the-counter drug sales, which account for 21.3%, while patented drugs make up a small segment of the total market at 7.3%. By 2023 imports touched $2945 million with a CAGR of 7.4%. Leading drug import sources in 2015 include Denmark (27% of total imports), Belgium (11%), Switzerland (11%), Germany (8%), India (7%), the US (7%) and France (5%). Bangladesh also exports medicines of more than $ 50 million annually. As patented products imported into Bangladesh are priced much lower when compared to many other countries, due to its status, these products are re-exported to other developed nations. Bangladesh also exports APIs. It also exports medicines and raw materials to over 150 countries.

Bangladesh manufactures more than 450 generic drugs for 5,300 registered brands, which have 8,300 different forms of dosages and strengths. Prices of pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh are among the lowest in the world for four main reasons. First, under the WTO’s TRIPS accord, the country has not been obliged to grant patents, which has meant that any innovative molecule can be lawfully re-engineered and sold legitimately. Second, given this loophole, many generic manufacturers are constantly engaged in a pricing war. Third, owing to low per capita income, branding has yet to make a significant impact in Bangladesh, which again forces down prices owing to the similarity of products. Finally, the country’s flat terrain and extremely high population density mean that all of the top 20 manufacturers have extensive distribution networks, enabling them to supply pharmacies directly, which retain the margins and allow further price cuts.

The exit of Hasina saw the rapid fall in share prices of performing-well Marico, the Indian company that is famous for its Parachute hair oil. Marico also produces general pharmaceutical products and obtains it base components from Bangladesh. There are several other pharma giants in India who are constrained by the exit of Hasina, as are the US ones. A regime change always worries businesses that have grown since the 1990s.

No one wants Hasina dead. Everyone knows how traumatising the killing of Bangobondhu Mujib and his family was. That Hasina had escaped was chance. No one wants that kind of a bloodbath and the Indian decision to let Raw engineer her escape was in a way wise. Yet, if truth be told, Mujib in his later years, basking in the success of freedom, had become a dictator in his attempt to prove to the world he was a strongman. Hasina inherited the same streak of dictatorship and her police action against the protestors shows her iron fist, she believed. Her close friend is Prime Minister Modi and she perhaps thought, she could solve her problem by putting the opposition in jail, like Modi, especially after she and her Awami League won the general elections, like Modi in India. What was the last straw on the camel’s back was her calling the protesters ‘Razakars’. In a tense situation, this was perhaps one of recent histrory’s most politically incorrect words. When the Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to be a part of Pakistan, he brought Razakars, a band of mercenaries into India. The invasion of Kashmir in 1947 was Razakar-led. The 1971 war had Pakistan use its Razakar Regiment against its own Bengali people, and the brutalities and torture they perpetrated are still fresh in Bangladesh’s mind. Thirty per cent reservation for Awami League members in education and jobs is just one of the many festering wounds. Someone like Hasina, who could have been a mother-figure, cannot use such language.
Not the Bengali protesters in distant Australia jumping in joy, ‘polay giyeche, polay giyeche, ran away, ran away’, nor anyone in Pakistan, want her killed, though Hasina’s son, who now appears to have become her spokesperson, claims, the student protest against her is a Pakistani conspiracy. Others say, it was an American engineered ouster. Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus was helped in ousting Hasina with the help of the CIA and the Democrats who include the Clintons, Dewitts and several others who are special friends of Yunus. Yunus has for long wanted to hold political power in Bangladesh. He could not, accused as he was, along with 13 others, of  embezzling money. He was indicted by a Bangladesh court on charges of embezzlement of 252.2 million taka ($2 million) from the workers’ welfare fund of his telecoms company. Yunus is famous for his Grameen Bank that offered soft loans to people.

There are about 26,000 NGOs registered with the NGO Affairs Bureau, among these Yunus’s NGOs. Numerous international NGOs carry out operations in Bangladesh. Among the more important are ActionAid Bangladesh, Care, Caritas Bangladesh, Concern Bangladesh, Concern Universal, Damien Foundation, Handicap International, Helen Keller International, Leprosy Mission International, Pathfinder International, Plan International Bangladesh, Practical Action, Save the Children USA, Save the Children UK, Save the Children, Sight Savers Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind, Swedish Free Mission, and Terre Des Hommes. Many of these are supported by Democrats.

In 1972, Fazle Hasan Abed founded the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (now known as BRAC) to resettle returning refugees who had fled to India during the independence war. Agricultural cooperatives and agri-development organisations formed a consultative group called the Agricultural Development Association of Bangladesh, which later transformed itself into the Association of Development Agencies in Bangladesh (ADAB). Among the cooperatives operating in the country are the Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union, Cooperative Bank, and Didar Cooperative.

In 1976 Prof Muhammed Yunus, head of the rural economics program at the University of Chittagong, set up the Grameen Bank. There are now more than two dozen organizations within the Grameen family of enterprises, including the replication and research activities of Grameen Trust, handloom enterprises of Grameen Uddog, and fisheries pond management by Grameen Motsho (the Fisheries Foundation). The Grameen Bank claims it aims to extend banking facilities to poor men and women, eliminate the exploitation of the poor by money lenders, create opportunities for self-employment for the vast multitude of unemployed people in rural Bangladesh, and bring the disadvantaged – mostly the women from the poorest households – within the fold of an organisational format. The lending rates of the bank is very high, those opposed to Yunus allege.

So, whether the 5 August Student revolt is a ‘Bangla Spring’ or not, Yunus, with all his warts, is a positive choice. The aging stone that Bangladesh was becoming, needed a warm young touch, even if many say, the youth are misguided in ousting Hasina. They are just bringing in the USA. They may be right, but can we hope for economic facilitation, jobs, higher living standards, better healthcare? After all, it is Bangladesh, home to economists lauded the world over and a beacon for South Asia with its progressive thinking since the eighteenth century.