Introduction:
Bangladesh is a developing country in the South Asia. Its illiterate and unskilled large population is a burden to the country. Agriculture is the main source of the income of the country. Government of the country is taking various steps to decrease poverty, but yet about one-third of people of Bangladesh are living below the national poverty line. More than half of the children of Bangladesh are underweight. The gross domestic product (GDP) is hovering around 6% for the last decade. Migrated labor and send remittances were on the increase.
Social achievement in Bangladesh has superseded the economic one. Recognition from the international community following achievement of the Millinnium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly in reducing under-5 mortality rate, women empowerment, and poverty reduction boosted the confidence of policymakers to effectively implement sustainable development agenda.
Development:
The concept of development is widely used in our digital life as well as in the academic literature in its data. To use the concept of development is nothing new the meaning and perception of development is continuously changing. For example, if getting electricity was termed as development earlier maybe getting satellite Tv connection and Internet connection is what you call development now.
So, there is no single definition of the term development and more interestingly it can vary from place to place,time to time and even individual to individual. So development is a complex phenomenon comprising many dimensions. It is not only economic development, it is also about social development, Political development and also in administrative development.
Now if you ask the economist they will say, the per capita income and GDP growths are the two major aspects of development. But if you ask the political scientists,they will say, Political freedom and freedom of speech and expressions are the most important aspects of development. But for the students and experts of development studies, Per capita income, Assurance of basic necessities of life, Equitable distribution of income, Cultural freedom and Freedom of speech & expression are equally important in development.
Challanges and Problems on the way of Development in Bangladesh:
Poverty reduction and Undernutrition:
While Bangladesh halved the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day, the UN Development Programme estimates that there are still 47 million people living below the poverty line and another 28 million people living just above it, indicating a whole segment of society vulnerable to falling back into extreme poverty and a ceiling for the extreme poor's economic and social mobility. Income is only one aspect of prosperity, and ownership of land, access to productive assets, control over the means of production and distribution of resources, amongst others, can determine an inclusive trajectory of economic development.
There is a difference between accessibility, availability, and affordability of food and being well-nourished, which is an issue facing many LDCs. Undernutrition remains a major challenge in Bangladesh, and according to the World Food Programme, undernutrition costs more than USD $1 billion in lost productivity every year. Approximately 40 percent of all children under five are too short for their age, a condition also referred to as stunting, which may chronically deprive the body of necessary building blocks to develop the brain, body and immune system, which has a knock-on effect through the course of an individual's life.
Gender empowerment and equality:
The economic and social costs of inequality between genders, and violence against women, are significant. It is estimated that gender equality can add USD $12 trillion to global growth. In Bangladesh, the World Bank estimates that the economic consequence of violence against women alone equals to 2.05percent of GDP (or USD $1.8 billion).
Women and girls are drivers of transformative change. But gender equality is not just an economic or development imperative but foremost a moral one. The empowerment of women and girls affects the attainment of development ambitions, and any gender goal should take into account overcoming the barriers that limit women and girls' participation in social, political, economic, and cultural life. Violence against women, child marriage, and other forms of discrimination and exclusion, limits the rights and freedoms of women and girls, which all people should be afforded regardless of gender or how one identifies.
Climate Change:
A major concern for Bangladesh are climate change victims who are increasing in number every day and must seek refuge due to loss of their homes, land, settlement to river erosion, coastal erosion, and permanent inundation.The number of families and villages who lose their homes permanently to rivers every year are perhaps one of the highest in Bangladesh. It has been reported that many of the slum dwellers in the
metropolitan areas are the victims of riverbank erosion.
Two-thirds of the country is less than five meters above sea level, and floods increasingly inundate homes, destroy farm production, close businesses, and shut down public infrastructure. Erosion leads to an annual loss of about 10,000 hectares of land and weakens natural coastal defenses and aquatic ecosystems.Fresh water has become scarcer in in Bangladesh’s drought-prone northwest and in southwest coastal areas where about 2.5 million profoundly poor residents regularly suffer from shortages of drinking water and water for irrigation.
Unemployment:
Unemployment means lack of job facilities for able-bodied persons both educated and illiterate. It is a world wide problem. Bangladesh is a developing country. It is trapped in a serious unemployment problem. The rate of unemployment in Bangladesh is more than 25% of total population.
Unemployment occurs when there are more people looking for employment than there are opportunities for employment.Many are the cause of unemployment in Bangladesh. Population growth, lack of industrialization, defective education system, lack of skill and lack of investment are the main causes for unemployment.Unemployment problem is a great social evil and has given rise to various social crimes.
Corruption & Governance:
Corruption is pervasive in Bangladesh, a key challenge against development and social transformation. Corruption is so deep and wide at both micro and micro levels that it threatens to become a way of life.
From 2001 until 2005, Bangladesh was ranked the most corrupt country in the world by the Transparency International according to its Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Although the status started to improve after 2005, the country is still found at the bottom of the list
Political Instability:
Political instability can directly hurt a country’s economy by affecting the investment decisions of the firms. It takes time to make the investment decisions by the firms especially by the manufacturing firms.The political instabilities have harmed the financial markets of Bangladesh also.
Investment has been insufficient for the projected growth as it is struggling to cross even 30% of GDP. Though public investment has increased, private, domestic and foreign investments continue to be disappointingly low.
Lack of Quality Education
The learning materials are pedantic and rather formal and do not impart practical knowledge to the students. The teaching methods are archaic and irrelevant. The overall interest in education is limited because female education was not emphasized in the past.
Recommendations:
1. Poverty is a source of insecurity in Bangladesh. The alleviation of poverty depends on the capacity of Bangladesh to mobilize resources in an optimum way.
2. Education continues to be a vessel of leaving poverty. Created to facilitate poverty reduction worldwide, the Millennium Development Goals have been tailored by UNICEF to fit Bangladesh.
3. Ensuring equal education for both male and female, increased training facilities for women, ensure health facilities, providing same wage to women, providing gender related education to girls and women, taking
3. various steps to reduce domestic violence, reducing physical and mental
3. harassment in the working place were the possible solutions suggested by the respondents in general.
4. Increase use of 'off grid' solar for remote areas. Educate school-going children about climate change and its effects. Encourage use of solar power in irrigation.
5. Educated unemployment is a great problem in Bangladesh. An educated unemployed is a victim of double loss. The quality of the higher educated in Bangladesh is now a burning question. People think that the quality of higher education in the private universities is not up to the
5. mark or below the standard.The government should take necessary steps to maintain standard of
5. degrees.
6. The existing corruption may be prevent if Organizing information fairs and service week to create awareness among citizens,Establishing Help Desk in every office,Behaving well with every citizen,Making provisions for citizens to have direct access to the Head of the Office.Simplifying business process for better public service delivery.
7. The policies and programs in the education structure should be developed to aim higher achievement standards and goals. Improving graduate education. Colleges and universities need to reconfigure graduate programs to better prepare aspiring professors for teaching.
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