A THURSDAY report of a Bangla daily said two Indian companies were given a work order for printing three crore textbooks for the Primary Level. Though regrettable, it is surprisingly true that one of the two is also involved in supplying onion and pulses to Bangladesh. The company has no press of its own, it just showed a contract with a printing press in India and thus bagged the tender from Bangladesh. It is astonishing that when so many printing presses in Bangladesh are showing their efficiency by printing quality books, we have to depend on others in India for printing our textbooks!
The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) sources informed that an international tender was invited for printing 11 crore 40 Lakhs text books to distribute among the primary students free of cost. For this, a total of 98 lots were set, of which India has been selected as the lowest bidder in 25 lots. Every lot has 12 lakh books, and accordingly India got the order to print three crore books. NCTB has been doing international tenders for printing textbooks since 2010. Since then, India has alone been able to grab a total of 14 crore books printing orders.
However, the owners of the local printing and publishing industries have been protesting such international bids since inception. But ignoring their demands, this potential sector has been handed over to India to serve the interest of some influential quarters in the government. The Printing Industries Association in a letter to the Prime Minister, Education Minister and Minister for Primary and Mass Education sought their intervention to save the sector. President of the Association alleged that some vested interests including a section of NCTB officials have pro-Indian feelings and are on good terms with the Indian companies. They take the opportunities to manipulate tenders and commit irregularities in favour of their chosen Indian companies. The local bidders in that case fall prey to injustice and disparities. Even if they were the lowest bidder in some lots, they were taken out of the tender process by being accused of having no capacity.
We express our concern against such discriminatory treatment of the local printing industries. As an emerging small industry, the Bangladesh Printing and Publication Industry has a potential to provide scope for employment of a large number of people. The industry has some other sub-sectors like binding, packaging and so on, which can also create the opportunity of generating jobs for millions. These should be incorporated in consideration while giving the chance of sending money to India in the name of printing textbooks. Besides, past experiences of printing textbooks in India have not shown good results and have resulted in sub-standard printing and below-quality binding, which cause sufferings to the students as those books become unfit for use within a few months.
We share the concern of the local businesses of book printing and publication companies, and suggest the authorities concerned to give attention to our local industries considering the greater national interest.
The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) sources informed that an international tender was invited for printing 11 crore 40 Lakhs text books to distribute among the primary students free of cost. For this, a total of 98 lots were set, of which India has been selected as the lowest bidder in 25 lots. Every lot has 12 lakh books, and accordingly India got the order to print three crore books. NCTB has been doing international tenders for printing textbooks since 2010. Since then, India has alone been able to grab a total of 14 crore books printing orders.
However, the owners of the local printing and publishing industries have been protesting such international bids since inception. But ignoring their demands, this potential sector has been handed over to India to serve the interest of some influential quarters in the government. The Printing Industries Association in a letter to the Prime Minister, Education Minister and Minister for Primary and Mass Education sought their intervention to save the sector. President of the Association alleged that some vested interests including a section of NCTB officials have pro-Indian feelings and are on good terms with the Indian companies. They take the opportunities to manipulate tenders and commit irregularities in favour of their chosen Indian companies. The local bidders in that case fall prey to injustice and disparities. Even if they were the lowest bidder in some lots, they were taken out of the tender process by being accused of having no capacity.
We express our concern against such discriminatory treatment of the local printing industries. As an emerging small industry, the Bangladesh Printing and Publication Industry has a potential to provide scope for employment of a large number of people. The industry has some other sub-sectors like binding, packaging and so on, which can also create the opportunity of generating jobs for millions. These should be incorporated in consideration while giving the chance of sending money to India in the name of printing textbooks. Besides, past experiences of printing textbooks in India have not shown good results and have resulted in sub-standard printing and below-quality binding, which cause sufferings to the students as those books become unfit for use within a few months.
We share the concern of the local businesses of book printing and publication companies, and suggest the authorities concerned to give attention to our local industries considering the greater national interest.
