Victory Day and the future of Bangladesh

The replication of successful models and innovation will keep us going strong and certainly put us in a stronger position to become an upper middle income country within the golden jubilee of our independence

This year marks the 45th anniversary of independence of our beloved motherland Bangladesh. With the sacrifice of three million martyrs and many more injured along with the sacrifice of more than two hundred thousand of women, we got our beloved identity of nationality. The barbarism of the Pakistan army, one of the most lethal armed forces during those days destroyed the infrastructure of our country. Henry Kissinger termed us as bottomless basket case!! How we have proved this gentleman wrong and went ahead with fulfilling the dreams of Golden Bangladesh can be a study material for any politics or business students indeed. The mass population need the security related to food and energy along with proper law and order situation. We as a nation got a major setback in 1975 with the saddest episode of losing our Father of Nation along with the family members. The country went through the challenging period since 1975 to 1990 when we went through successive extra constitutional governance. 

Food Security is a situation related to the supply of food, and individuals' access to it. Concerns over food security have existed throughout history. There is evidence of storage granaries being in use over 10,000 years ago, with central authorities in civilisations in ancient Turkey, China and Egypt being known to release food from storage in times of famine. "Food security" was first used in 1974 and was defined with an emphasis on supply. Food security, they said, is the "availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices". Later definitions added demand and access issues to the definition. The final report of the 1996 World Food Summit states that food security "exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life". Bangladesh has successfully achieved self sufficiency in food production. Agriculture is the largest employment sector in Bangladesh.  As of 2016, it employs 47% of the total labor force and comprises 16% of the country's GDP. The performance of this sector has an overwhelming impact on major macroeconomic objectives like employment generation, poverty alleviation, human resources development and food security .A plurality of Bangladeshis earn their living from agriculture. Although rice and jute are the primary crops, wheat is assuming greater importance. Tea is grown in the northeast. Because of Bangladesh's fertile soil  and normally ample water supply, rice can be grown and harvested three times a year in many areas. Due to a number of factors, Bangladesh's labor-intensive agriculture has achieved steady increases in food grain production despite the often unfavourable weather conditions. These include better flood control and irrigation, a generally more efficient use of fertilisers, and the establishment of better distribution and rural credit networks. With 35.8 million metric tons produced in 2000, rice is Bangladesh's principal crop. National sales of the classes of insecticides used on rice, including granular carbofuran, synthetic pyrethroids, and malathion exceeded 13,000 tons of formulated product in 2003.The insecticides not only represent an environmental threat, but are a significant expenditure to poor rice farmers. The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI)?is working with various international organisations and non governmental organisations  to reduce insecticide use in rice. Although Rice,Wheat,Mango and jute are the primary crops,and rice and wheat are mostly main crops or food crops of some countries. Due to the expansion of irrigation networks, some wheat producers have switched to cultivation of maize which is used mostly as poultry feed. Tea is grown in the northeast. Because of Bangladesh's fertile soil and normally ample water supply, rice can be grown and harvested three times a year in many areas. Due to a number of factors, Bangladesh's labor-intensive agriculture has achieved steady increases in food grain production despite the often unfavourable weather conditions. These include better flood control and irrigation,a generally more efficient use of fertilisers, and the establishment of better distribution and rural credit networks. 
Energy Security is the association between national security  and the availability of natural resources  for energy consumption. Access to cheap energy  has become essential to the functioning of modern economies. However, the uneven distribution of energy supplies among countries has led to significant vulnerabilities. Renewable  resources and significant opportunities for energy efficiency exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast to other energy sources, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and technological diversification of energy sources, would result in significant energy security and economic benefits. The per capita energy consumption  in Bangladesh is one of the lowest (321 KWH) in the world. Noncommercial energy sources, such as wood, animal waste and crop residues are estimated to account for over half of the country's energy consumption. Bangladesh has small reserves of oil and coal, but very large natural gas resources. Commercial energy consumption is mostly based on natural gas (around 66%), followed by furnace oil, hydropower and coal.  Electricity is the major source of power for most of the country's economic activities. Bangladesh's installed electric generation capacity was 10289 MW in January, 2014; only three-fourth of which is considered to be ‘available’. Only 62% of the population has access to electricity with a per capita availability of 321 kWh per annum. Problems in the Bangladesh's electric power sector include corruption in administration, high system losses, delays in completion of new plants, low plant efficiency, erratic power supply, electricity theft, blackouts, and shortages of funds for power plant maintenance. Overall, the country's generation plants have been unable to meet system demand over the past decade.
And the government’s ambition is quite ambitious but achievable. In 2012, according to World Bank figures, roughly 40 percent of the population was still without electricity. The Energy Ministry claims that, over the next decade, all those households will be connected to the national grid, and by 2022, a series of new power plants will almost triple the country’s capacity. In the meantime, a small solar-powered revolution is happening quietly in the background. Last year, the government announced that it would become  the world’s “first solar nation.” In partnership with the World Bank, it has fitted 15 million households with solar power and plans to set up six million more by 2017. The program is extremely popular: High demand has made  it the fastest-growing domestic solar-power project anywhere, with 40,000 to 50,000 new installations every month. Solar still accounts for only a fraction (about 200 megawatts) of the total power supply. But the impact on rural households is profound, with ripple effects from education to agriculture and health care. Solar panels installed on houses mean not only a zero-emissions solution for rural electrification, but also homesteads no longer relying on the national grid for their domestic needs. A solar-powered home will never suffer from load-shedding. 
Proactive approach on ensuring the environmental balances is not only the job of the government but also on us, the people of Bangladesh. The active involvement in curbing the use of pesticides and formalin is mandatory for the environment as well as human health. On the other hand, the renewable energy like solar power will help us reduce the dependancy on fossil fuel. This will keep our environment clean and also make the sustainable supply base of power. The replication of successful model and innovation will keep us going strong and certainly put us in a stronger position to become member of the upper middle income country within the golden jubilee of our independence. 

The writer, a banker by profession, has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positionss

Victory Day and the future of Bangladesh

The replication of successful models and innovation will keep us going strong and certainly put us in a stronger position to become an upper middle income country within the golden jubilee of our independence

This year marks the 45th anniversary of independence of our beloved motherland Bangladesh. With the sacrifice of three million martyrs and many more injured along with the sacrifice of more than two hundred thousand of women, we got our beloved identity of nationality. The barbarism of the Pakistan army, one of the most lethal armed forces during those days destroyed the infrastructure of our country. Henry Kissinger termed us as bottomless basket case!! How we have proved this gentleman wrong and went ahead with fulfilling the dreams of Golden Bangladesh can be a study material for any politics or business students indeed. The mass population need the security related to food and energy along with proper law and order situation. We as a nation got a major setback in 1975 with the saddest episode of losing our Father of Nation along with the family members. The country went through the challenging period since 1975 to 1990 when we went through successive extra constitutional governance. Food Security is a situation related to the supply of food, and individuals access to it. Concerns over food security have existed throughout history. There is evidence of storage granaries being in use over 10,000 years ago, with central authorities in civilisations in ancient Turkey, China and Egypt being known to release food from storage in times of famine. Food security was first used in 1974 and was defined with an emphasis on supply. Food security, they said, is the availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices. Later definitions added demand and access issues to the definition. The final report of the 1996 World Food Summit states that food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Bangladesh has successfully achieved self sufficiency in food production. Agriculture is the largest employment sector in Bangladesh. As of 2016, it employs 47% of the total labor force and comprises 16% of the countrys GDP. The performance of this sector has an overwhelming impact on major macroeconomic objectives like employment generation, poverty alleviation, human resources development and food security .A plurality of Bangladeshis earn their living from agriculture. Although rice and jute are the primary crops, wheat is assuming greater importance. Tea is grown in the northeast. Because of Bangladeshs fertile soil and normally ample water supply, rice can be grown and harvested three times a year in many areas. Due to a number of factors, Bangladeshs labor-intensive agriculture has achieved steady increases in food grain production despite the often unfavourable weather conditions. These include better flood control and irrigation, a generally more efficient use of fertilisers, and the establishment of better distribution and rural credit networks. With 35.8 million metric tons produced in 2000, rice is Bangladeshs principal crop. National sales of the classes of insecticides used on rice, including granular carbofuran, synthetic pyrethroids, and malathion exceeded 13,000 tons of formulated product in 2003.The insecticides not only represent an environmental threat, but are a significant expenditure to poor rice farmers. The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI)?is working with various international organisations and non governmental organisations to reduce insecticide use in rice. Although Rice,Wheat,Mango and jute are the primary crops,and rice and wheat are mostly main crops or food crops of some countries. Due to the expansion of irrigation networks, some wheat producers have switched to cultivation of maize which is used mostly as poultry feed. Tea is grown in the northeast. Because of Bangladeshs fertile soil and normally ample water supply, rice can be grown and harvested three times a year in many areas. Due to a number of factors, Bangladeshs labor-intensive agriculture has achieved steady increases in food grain production despite the often unfavourable weather conditions. These include better flood control and irrigation,a generally more efficient use of fertilisers, and the establishment of better distribution and rural credit networks. Energy Security is the association between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption. Access to cheap energy has become essential to the functioning of modern economies. However, the uneven distribution of energy supplies among countries has led to significant vulnerabilities. Renewable resources and significant opportunities for energy efficiency exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast to other energy sources, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and technological diversification of energy sources, would result in significant energy security and economic benefits. The per capita energy consumption in Bangladesh is one of the lowest (321 KWH) in the world. Noncommercial energy sources, such as wood, animal waste and crop residues are estimated to account for over half of the countrys energy consumption. Bangladesh has small reserves of oil and coal, but very large natural gas resources. Commercial energy consumption is mostly based on natural gas (around 66%), followed by furnace oil, hydropower and coal. Electricity is the major source of power for most of the countrys economic activities. Bangladeshs installed electric generation capacity was 10289 MW in January, 2014; only three-fourth of which is considered to be available. Only 62% of the population has access to electricity with a per capita availability of 321 kWh per annum. Problems in the Bangladeshs electric power sector include corruption in administration, high system losses, delays in completion of new plants, low plant efficiency, erratic power supply, electricity theft, blackouts, and shortages of funds for power plant maintenance. Overall, the countrys generation plants have been unable to meet system demand over the past decade. And the governments ambition is quite ambitious but achievable. In 2012, according to World Bank figures, roughly 40 percent of the population was still without electricity. The Energy Ministry claims that, over the next decade, all those households will be connected to the national grid, and by 2022, a series of new power plants will almost triple the countrys capacity. In the meantime, a small solar-powered revolution is happening quietly in the background. Last year, the government announced that it would become the worlds first solar nation. In partnership with the World Bank, it has fitted 15 million households with solar power and plans to set up six million more by 2017. The program is extremely popular: High demand has made it the fastest-growing domestic solar-power project anywhere, with 40,000 to 50,000 new installations every month. Solar still accounts for only a fraction (about 200 megawatts) of the total power supply. But the impact on rural households is profound, with ripple effects from education to agriculture and health care. Solar panels installed on houses mean not only a zero-emissions solution for rural electrification, but also homesteads no longer relying on the national grid for their domestic needs. A solar-powered home will never suffer from load-shedding. Proactive approach on ensuring the environmental balances is not only the job of the government but also on us, the people of Bangladesh. The active involvement in curbing the use of pesticides and formalin is mandatory for the environment as well as human health. On the other hand, the renewable energy like solar power will help us reduce the dependancy on fossil fuel. This will keep our environment clean and also make the sustainable supply base of power. The replication of successful model and innovation will keep us going strong and certainly put us in a stronger position to become member of the upper middle income country within the golden jubilee of our independence. The writer, a banker by profession, has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positionss