Bangladesh could have attained its desired goals in all the socio-economic fields within 10 years of the country’s independence had Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman remained alive and carried on with his economic farsightedness.
“The Father of the Nation laid the foundation of the country’s development in just three and a half years of the independence through his courageous steps in rebuilding a war-ravaged country,” said Dr Shamsul Alam (Senior Secretary), General Economic Division (GED) member of the Planning Commission.
Talking to BSS, Prof Alam said Bangabandhu within just a short period of time from the Independence had constituted a very strong and farsighted five-member Planning Commission with Prof Nurul Islam as its first Deputy Chairman with the rank of a cabinet minister along with four other highly-qualified members.
He said considering the future development journey of a war-hit country, Bangabandhu had been able to award the country’s first five-year plan before the nation alongside undertaking various reform initiatives in different sectors to reenergize the economy since the state coffer was almost zero after the War of Liberation.
Dr, Shamsul Alam, who was very much involved in formulating the country’s first Perspective Plan, Sixth Five Year Plan and the ongoing Seventh Five-Year Plan, noted that Banganbandhu had reenergized the country’s agriculture sector through undertaking various initiatives.
He said during that tenure of only three and a half years of Bangabandhu, before a group of disgruntled army officers assassinated the great leader of the nation on August 15, 1975, had made hefty allocations in the agriculture sector, transformed a jute research laboratory into an institute side by side established and reformed the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture, BADC, BARI, BRRI, Cotton Development Board.
“It was only Bangabandhu who had laid the foundation of the country’s huge successes in agriculture,” he added.
Prof Alam said had Bangabandhu remained alive, it would have been possible to materialize the goal of the country of becoming a developed nation within 10 years of the independence.
He alleged that after the assassination of Bangabandhu, the nation had to pay a big price and it lagged behind in all fields since the anti-liberation forces were in power.
After the AL-led grand alliance government assumed office on January 6, 2009, the nation was reenergized in all fields including in socio-economic fields, in diplomatic relations and in science and technology.
“With the level of successes that we have attained over the last 10 years, we will really be able to turn Bangladesh into a developed country by 2041 through implementing next four to five five-year plans,” he hoped.
Alam went on saying, “It’s very much possible and the current government of Sheikh Hasina will be able to steer ahead the nation towards materializing the Vision 2041. This current pro-liberation force will be able to further lead the nation towards prosperity and there should not be any doubt and hesitation,”
He also expressed his firm resolve that as long as the spirit of the War of Liberation will remain alive and the pro-liberation force will remain in power, the country will witness continued advancement, democratization while there will be sustainable development.
Bangladesh has pursued the path of planned development since independence. The First Five Year Plan was launched in 1973, while the Fifth Five Year Plan was concluded in 2002.
Basically, the Four-Party Alliance Government (2001-2006) under the donors’ pressure introduced the three-year Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) program scraping the Five Year Plan and they finalized it on October 2005.
