Asif Hossain and Md. Monirul Islam :
Despite being a key concept lying at the core of nation, development, by definition, tends to be elusive. Different branches of knowledge refer to development differently although the gist indicates a kind of positive change in course of time. What makes matter worse, while referring to economic growth, there is an unfortunate trend to confuse it with economic development whereas, theoretically, the former is only a subset of the latter.
Now, it is beyond question whether Bangladesh is developing as a prompt look at the per capita GDP growth rate from independence in 1971 reveals a picture convincing enough. The whole global community along with the development partners unanimously agrees on, in fact, praises the upward growth spiral that Bangladesh has set as an example. Hence, the real question is, if the betterments in different development indicators, viz., per capita GNI, GDP growth, etc. are a historical inevitability.
Nonetheless, before delving deep into the growth spectrum, it is always wise to reflect on the driving forces behind. Labor force availability and readiness especially in terms of the age of the workforce undoubtedly has been playing a crucial role behind the steep rise in GDP in recent times and this fact has been quoted times and again by experts. Taken this into consideration, it would not be unreasonable to claim that whatever success has been achieved by this country is largely a product of the efforts exerted by its people. This has been augmented by several other forces, e.g., proper policy inputs, infrastructural development, etc., amplifying the total output manifold.
Basically, the forces promoting today’s growth were unleashed back in 1971 which facilitated by the enviable resilience of the people have registered some incredible growth figures in spite of several setbacks in this journey of about 46 years.
Judging by the previous experiences, the current hype of graduation from LDC category, as a matter of fact, appears to be a rather exaggeration of an age old growth process. In 1766, Robert Clive introduced Bengal in the Indian subcontinent saying “The country of inexhaustible riches, capable of making its masters the richest corporation in the world.” His comment is of a time when the per capita incomes of the European countries were no better than the rest of the world as indicated by Zimmerman (1965). After the plundering of resources from Bengal and deliberately destroying its fine clothing industry and ultimately transforming its people into consumers of European-made cloths, those economies flourished. It is also well-documented that the capital accumulation for the Industrial Revolution took place in the Indian subcontinent by indiscriminate pillage of resources. However, the growth process of this area did not cease to nothingness. Rather, what has been praised today is the embodiment of the audacious dreams of the indomitable inhabitants of this region.
Indeed, growth is natural process inducing more growth as time passes on which is popularly known as Growth Continuum. Such continuum experiences fluctuations in its path similar to what Bangladesh GDP Growth graph depicts. Therefore, it seems to be something beyond criteria-based definitions but rather a paradigm of an obvious aftermath. Provided Bangladesh is not inflicted by any internal or external, coincidental or intentional barriers, its growth is almost guaranteed which does not essentially necessitate any approval from those who happened to be benefitted from the downfall of this economy not long ago.
At this moment, however, a concern is raised as to whether the appropriate democratic norms are in place to generate and sustain GDP growth. Ironically, a counter-question also has a loud voice asking about the level and efficiency of democracy in several emerging economies like China, Malaysia, Vietnam and the like. Hence, the question remains; how much growth friendly is the so-called democratic system in an economy at this stage of development!
(Asif Hossain is Assistant Director (Research Wing), Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management (BIGM) And Md. Monirul Islam is Assistant Professor, BIGM).
