Dynamics of Migration in South Asia

Introduction

Migration is as complex as it is diverse, so predicting the impact of policy changes will be problematic until more research is done and better data obtained. In particular, the gender implications of migration are poorly understood and require more research. Migration also has important social and political implications along with the economic impacts.

Conventional wisdom declares that international labour migration is a natural consequence of globalization – the process of rapid economic integration among countries driven by the liberalization of trade, investment and capital flows as well as rapid technological change. (Serriere, 1999)

The migration landscape has changed quite dramatically since 1994. Exacerbated disparities between the North and South, an expanding global economy, geopolitical transformations, wars, ecological disasters, and many other occurrences, have had and continue to have a profound impact on people and on their choices to stay at home or to go abroad. Today, it is estimated that 175 million people live outside their country of birth.

There are inseparable linkages between migration and remittances. Such linkages can make a visible contribution to the process of development. The creation of an integral policy framework that recognizes these linkages is central to enhancing the development benefits of both migration and remittances. Three broad issues can be highlighted in this regard.

1. Facilitating greater mobility of international labour.
2. Expanding formal financial institutions to encourage expatriate workers for using formal channels to send money.
3. Maximizing the developmental potential of remittances both at the national level and the migrants’ family level.

Investment opportunity for the expatriate workers should be increased and they should be made aware about it. Private sector may be involved in it with the govt.’s supervision and post-arrival briefing should be introduced and strengthened for the returnee migrant workers.

Though economic difficulties and lack of opportunities are often the major factors resulting in population movement both regular and irregular, from time to time conflicts have also shaped the migration scenario in South Asia.

Migration issue is diverse in the South Asian region in the sense that almost all kind of dimension of migration is present in this region. There are both origin and destination countries; labour migration both long term and short term; trafficking in persons; refugee and what not.

There are three broad aspects of migration – intra-country migration i.e. rural to urban migration mainly, intra-regional migration i.e. migration within South Asian or SAARC countries and international migration.

As a result of rural to urban migration the population of Dhaka city has been raised to more than 10 million from 0.5 million in the last 40 years. Migration within SAARC countries also has increased. It is believed that many Bangladeshi people are working in India and Pakistan as low-paid labourers. On the other hand about 150 thousand people from SAARC countries are working in Bangladesh. Migration from Bangladesh started from late 1950s and it increased after the independence of the country in 1971.

People from South Asia mostly emigrate to the Middle Eastern, North American, Europe and South East Asian countries. Mostly semi-skilled or low-skilled workers go to the ME countries and highly skilled and professionals have demand in North America, Europe and Australia.

After the emergence of independent states in the Indian Subcontinent in 1947, about 30 million people have moved from one part to another to either avoid prosecution or meet basic needs.

The migrants from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are mainly labour migrants while Afghanistan’s outflow has in a large extent been refugees. India and Pakistan are the sixth and tenth top countries hosting the largest number of migrants including refugees. There are also a large number of Burmese refugees residing in Bangladesh. This analysis highlights the complex dynamics and varied nature of migration in the region.

Migration of working people helps both the recipient and sending countries. So instead of stopping, it should be made disciplined and regulated. Both the sending and recipient countries should cooperate each other in this regard.

A well-educated diaspora can improve access to capital, technology, information, foreign exchange, and business contacts for firms in the country of origin. At the same time, high-skilled emigration may reduce growth in the origin country because,

• other workers lose the opportunity for training and mutually beneficial exchanges of ideas;
• opportunities to achieve economies of scale in skill-intensive activities may be reduced;
• society loses its return on high-skilled workers trained at public expense;
• the price of technical services may rise.

In Asia, it is estimated that every year some 2.6 million workers left their countries under contracts to work abroad over the period 1995-99. The South Asian countries accounted for 46 per cent (about 1.2 million) of this outflow. South-East Asian countries make up 50 per cent (IOM World Migration Report).

Development Perspective of Migration

At present, the debate on migration and development has only become more vigorous and reflects the interests of wide ranging stakeholders. International migration is now at an all-time high with around 3 per cent of the world population living and working outside their country of origin. Extreme economic disparities continue to prevail between the “North” and the “South” making increased migration pressures a future certainty.

Finding solutions to the development gap between migrant sending and recipient countries by acquiring the development potential of millions of present and future migrants has become an international policy priority.

Poverty and Development Impacts

Empirical evidence suggests that remittances have significant impacts on poverty and also on long-term economic development. In a study of 74 low and middle income developing countries, the World Bank has demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between remittances and decline in poverty. Specifically, the study found that a 10 per cent increase in the share of remittances in a country’s GDP leads to a 1.2 per cent decline in poverty.

This study also found that a 10 per cent increase in the number of migrants leaving a sending country will lead to a 1.8 per cent decline in the share of people living on less than 1 USD per day. According to the ILO, remittances constitute more than half of household income for recipients in Bangladesh.

Factors in the Migration Dynamics of South Asia

A host of factors have contributed to the various phases of movement of people in South Asia. For centuries people in South Asia have been living together. They have moved due to economic difficulties, natural disasters, religious and ethnic conflicts, war and civil unrest. In recent times, globalisation and growth in ICT have further accelerated migration, adding new dynamics to migration in South Asia. Various pull factors in destination countries including expanding markets, labour shortfalls and aging populations also motivate people to migrate across borders.

Economic and social conditions continue to be the major reasons behind population movement in South Asia. With forty percent of the world’s poor, South Asia remains among the poorest regions of the world. 45 percent of the population lives below the international poverty line of one dollar a day. About one third of the populations of Bangladesh (49.8 percent), Nepal (32 percent) and Pakistan (32.6 percent) and a quarter of the population of India (28.6 percent) and Sri Lanka (25 percent) are estimated to be living below the poverty line. The war in Afghanistan over the last two decades has left a huge portion of the population living in poverty; some estimation put this proportion at 70 percent.

Three major types of voluntary international migration could be identified in South Asia, i.e. the emigrants as settlers to Europe, Australia or North America; contract labour migrants to the countries of the Middle East, South East Asia and elsewhere; and the intra-regional short-term movement of people within the South Asian region i.e. seasonal economic migrants.

In India, it is estimated that there are around 20 million Indians throughout the world, comprising one of the largest diaspora communities. India also has a large number of its citizen working abroad as short-term contract labourers. In 2002, the number of contractual labourers from India was .37 million which is lower than 1993 when it was .44 million. The major destination for Indian contractual labour is the Middle East (75 per cent).

According to the 2001 census data, 762,181 emigrants were recorded in Nepal representing 3.4 per cent of the population. Most Nepalese migrate to India as they have historical links and an open border between two countries. In the 2001 data, it was noticed that only 68 per cent migrated to India, which is a considerable decrease from 89.2 per cent in 1991. Nepalese migrants were bound towards new destinations – Saudi Arabia (8.9 per cent), Qatar (3.2 per cent), UAE (1.7 per cent), Hong Kong, China (1.6 per cent) and Anglo America (1.3 per cent). The data also indicated that 53.2 per cent were absent for 1-5 years representing temporary migrant workers and another 15 per cent were absent for 5-10 years – this group can be considered as permanent settlers abroad. Nepal also hosts a large number of immigrants. In 2001, the immigrant population (in-migration) consisted of 2.7 percent of the total population.

Pakistan has a large flow of international migrants. Many migrant workers take up employment opportunities in the Gulf States. It was estimated that by 1980, 2 million Pakistanis had been employed in the Gulf States. Estimated labour migration outflow in 1997 was 15,392,955. Pakistan has a significant diaspora population: an estimated 2 to 3 million people of Pakistani origin are living in developed countries.

In Sri Lanka, data showed that in 1998, 158,287 migrants left Sri Lanka, of which 66.5 per cent were women. Most of the migrants migrate to the Middle East. The other destinations include Lebanon, Libya, Jordan, Cyprus and a smaller number go to East Asian countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

For Afghanistan, the focus of data collection has been mostly on displacement issues and there has so far been almost no work done on the scope and nature of Afghan migration dynamics. However, most Afghan migration to neighbouring countries is economically motivated. The Afghan diaspora worldwide consists of some one million persons.

Migration for higher education is also a major issue in South Asia. Though students from all over South Asia are studying abroad, India saw the maximum growth in 2002-2003; an increase on 11.6 percent and is second to only China in terms of proportion of the international student population.

None of the South Asian countries except for Sri Lanka has ratified the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. None of the eight countries of South Asia has ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Irregular Migration

Alongside regular migration, irregular movement of people is also significant and a grave concern for the South Asian countries. In the past two decades, there has been an alarming growth of irregular migration in the South Asian countries. India and Pakistan are often used as major transit countries for the irregular migrants from Bangladesh, Nepal, and to migrate to the Middle Eastern and European countries. At the same time, India and Pakistan are also source countries. Air routes are also used to reach the Middle East, European and South East Asian countries irregularly. As long as there is demand in the destination countries for work and a supply of labour, migration will occur irregularly, particularly in the absence of regular channels.

Rising irregular migration, together with expanding smuggling and trafficking in persons and transnational crimes, such as drug trafficking and terrorism, have posed an increased challenge for the South Asian countries to effectively address the problem of irregular migration. These circumstances and difficulties have energised greater regional cooperation, which may become the first step in developing a sustainable regional migration framework. 

Smuggling and Trafficking

Human trafficking is a major problem in South Asia also. Smuggling and trafficking are major criminal activities that enable irregular movement of persons, often with exploitation and abuse. Such groups have thrived and have been able to create sophisticated channels of irregular migration because of the demand for illegal commodities. Until the entry into force of the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in 2003, the sanctions for traffickers and smugglers in human beings were low relative to other forms of international criminal activity.

Smuggling and trafficking presently constitute the third largest source of profits, for international organized crime, behind drugs and guns. The U.S. Department of State estimates that criminal organizations reap 9.5 billion USD in profits per year from trafficking and smuggling of persons across international borders. According to recent estimates, between 600,000 and 800,000 persons are trafficked across borders annually. The most likely victims of trafficking are women and children.

Although it is estimated that there is considerable trafficking in the region, exact numbers are difficult to obtain. All countries in the region feature as origin, destination or transit countries for trafficking victims.

The regressive impacts of human trafficking are considerable in the region. Economic losses to communities and governments resulting from trafficking are enormous if considered in terms of lost returns on human or social capital investments.

A Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution was adopted by the South Asia Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) in January 2002. The convention is yet to come into force. In 2003, ten Asian labour migrant origin countries including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka from South Asia have jointly launched a consultative process to manage labour migration known as the “Colombo Process”.

Combating Trafficking

In the area of prevention, the measures should be aimed at: strengthening, or in some cases adoption of, national anti-trafficking legislation; increased sharing of information on trafficking; targeted information and awareness campaigns to educate vulnerable constituencies; and coordination amongst authorities/agencies to counter trafficking in persons.

Forced Migration/Displacement

In South Asia, people are also forced to migrate, both internally and cross borders because of conflicts and natural disasters. Natural disaster induced displacement is a major issue in South Asia. Floods, earthquakes, cyclones and the recent tsunami have resulted in massive displacement. Chronic flooding in Bangladesh causes major displacement of people on a regular basis.

Recently, the tsunami displaced tens of thousands in Sri Lanka and some parts of India. Estimates of people displaced in Sri Lanka range from 1 million to 553,000. In Bangladesh, about 64 thousand people are displaced by riverbank erosion every year. It is estimated that 70% of the total slum dwellers in Dhaka, are IDPs due to riverbank erosion.

Displacement due to conflict is an issue in South Asia. At the end of 2003, some 164,567 refugees were living in India. Most of these came from China, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. India also saw some major displacement within the country with more than 500,000 people internally displaced including 157,000 in Northeast India. Nepal also hosts 20,000 Tibetan refugees. The Maoist insurgence in Nepal has also displaced many Nepalese.

The main cause of displacement in Sri Lanka is the armed conflict between the LTTE and Government forces. Tamil state began in 1983 there have been repeated and massive displacements of civilians resulting in 732,000 IDPs and 84,000 refugees at the end of 2002.

The conflict in Afghanistan resulted in refugee influx to Pakistan and Iran. Pakistan hosted 2.2 million Afghan refugees at the end of 2002.

Trends of Migration

The emergence of the recruiting industry in the late 1970s and 80s is an important feature of the migration processes in South Asia. During the initial phase of the early 70s, recruitment was mostly dealt by the states. Now, over 90 per cent of the recruitment in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is carried out by private recruitment agencies. These agencies is help expanding labour market in foreign countries on the one hand and on the other it is also causing suffering to thousands of migrant workers.

The flow of women migrants is another major trend of migration in South Asia. Over the last decade, large number women have been going abroad independently from this region. It was estimated that about 1 million to 1.7 million women were working as domestic workers in Asia and Middle East in early 1990s. The figure is now much higher. The number of female domestic workers has increased almost 11 times over 25 years, while it is about six times in the case of male workers over a 20 year period.

Migration of highly skilled is another type of migration that has increased in recent years along with the increase in investments in products and services related to IT. Indian IT professionals dominate this category of migration.

Circular migration of migrants is also gaining importance in South Asia. With large diaspora communities living in developed countries, the origin countries (e.g. India) are developing policies to direct diaspora investment. Many migrants return to their country and utilize their newly developed skills.

In the wake of the 11 September, 2001 terrorist attacks on US soil, national financial regulators in the Western world have become increasingly concerned about the potential security implications of global financial flows especially with respect to their potential use in terrorist financing and money laundering activities. 

Impacts of Migration on Sending Countries

Remittances, the most important economic impact of migration, from both international and internal migration are significant in the region. Out of the estimated annual figure for world-wide international remittance flows of US$ 100 billion, about 20 per cent flows into South Asia. India accounts for 78 per cent, making it the world’s largest remittance recipient country. Bangladesh accounts for 12 per cent of the remittances flowing into the South Asian Region - some 2 per cent of the global remittance flow.

Social impacts of migration are also there. The new skills and knowledge transfer of migrants contribute significantly to the development of the origin countries.

There is also a debate among the development practitioners in respect of the impact of migration as to whether migration reduces the country’s skilled workforce thereby creating brain drain and consequently has a negative effect on the development process. There are also those who believe in brain gain through brain circulation.

One of the best ways to manage migration in South Asia is to deal with the issue within a broader migration management framework, bringing in all different types of population movements. There is also the need to manage migration in collaboration with other affected countries within a regional framework. Measures may be taken to regularise labour migration within and outside the region and reduce the causes of trafficking in persons or smuggling in migrants.

Policies aiming at limiting migration by one country could lead to an increase of irregular migration and trafficking in persons in another. A natural integrated labour market cannot be managed by restrictive migration policy or unrealistically strict border controls.

South Asian countries also need to have a common stand in protecting the rights and interests of the migrant workers from this region for easy bargain with the recipient countries. So they also need to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1990.

Women Migrants

There has been a steady increase of female migrants over the last five decades. According to the ILO, women now constitute more than half of the migration population worldwide and between 70 and 80 per cent of the migration population in some countries.

While both men and women migrate for many of the same reasons—women often have a very different migration experience. During the migration process, they are frequently at a much higher risk of gender discrimination, violence, human trafficking and sexual abuse. Women are physiologically at a greater risk of HIV/AIDS infection than men.

Among the South Asian countries the women migration from Pakistan and Bangladesh are restricted which also leads to irregular migration and even trafficking. On the other hand, there is almost free flow of women migration from Nepal and Sri Lanka. Women from these two countries are vulnerable to exploitation which sometimes leads to physical and sexual abuse.

Migration and Health

A growing health concern relates to the transmission of infectious diseases and its relationship with human mobility. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2003 was marked by the largest number of countries with populations suffering from polio due to importation of the disease, a phenomenon which translated into costs exceeding 20 million USD in “emergency mop-up activities.” In addition, there are significant and growing concerns related to migration and diseases such as, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and hepatitis B.

Resourcing diaspora

Mobilizing the diaspora as a development force is an option gaining increasing currency among policy makers. Other than transferring capital through remittances, migrant diasporas have also been instrumental in channelling flows of FDI to their home countries. According to a recent IOM study on Migration and Development in Asia the Indian diaspora contributed 9.15 per cent of FDI flows to India in 2002. The Chinese diaspora contribution to FDI in China was even higher.

For instance, the migrant Indian IT community in Silicon Valley, California, has been a driving force behind the development of the Indian software industry. Similarly, the Chinese diaspora has played a central role in the explosive growth of high tech industries in Taiwan and mainland China.

Governments are therefore seeking to enhance diaspora related contributions to their domestic economy through a variety of means. Principally, they have sought to cultivate ties with their migrant diasporas by liberalizing dual citizenship and other immigration laws, facilitated diaspora investments and financial linkages with the home country. Source: IOM, “Migration and Development: A Perspective from Asia”, IOM Migration Research Series, No. 14 (November 2003)

Migrants’ Vulnerability

Migrants face difficulties in enforcing their rights. Many migrants are socially and economically marginalized, living in poor, physically segregated communities and oftentimes without access to social services. Migrants are at much greater risk of HIV/AIDS. A report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) confirms that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is particularly high among migrant workers. Access to the legal system is often hampered by linguistic and cultural obstacles, fear of public institutions and ignorance on their part of human rights principles and state practice.

Where effective redresses are non-existent or inaccessible at the national level, international justice remains elusive because of the lack of effective international enforcement mechanisms and monitoring activities. Often deportation shortens attempts to seek legal redress for rights violations.

Trade and Labour Mobility

Labour mobility is tied to an important migration and trade consideration, one which is located at the forefront of current discussions in multilateral trade negotiations: trade in services through (human) service providers, or what is referred to as Mode 4 of the GATS. Mode 4 is considered to be the smallest of all the modes of service supply defined in the GATS. Although in practice, commitments by WTO members are limited to the higher skilled.

States should recognize the growing relevance of short-term migration and the movement of persons in the context of trade of services, and work towards developing greater information on the movement of highly-skilled workers and on the “trade value” of such moves.

Challenges to Ensuring Protection

Despite continued international and regional efforts that focus on the plight of refugees, ensuring their protection is often difficult to attain.

For protecting the rights of the migrant workers in foreign land, cooperation and monitoring of the governments concerned i.e. sending and recipient countries should be increased. Contracts should be transparent and information should be disseminated clearly to the would-be migrant workers.

Addressing Protracted Refugee Situations

Long-term strategies to tackle protracted refugee situations include conflict prevention, conflict resolution, poverty reduction programmes and development projects. In highlighting these objectives, the Agenda for Protection calls on States, intergovernmental organizations and UNHCR to give greater priority to dealing with the root causes of refugee movements.

It encourages support for the UN’s work on conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peace-keeping and peace-building in war-torn states. It indicates that more intensive mediation should be undertaken by regional organizations as well as by states which have an influence in the conflict-affected countries. It points to how reconstruction of countries in post-conflict situations can be a way of facilitating voluntary repatriation and thus address protracted situations. In conceiving poverty reduction programmes and development projects, the Agenda for Protection calls on States to include refugee hosting areas in their development plans. In most regions of the world, women and girls constitute between 45 and 55 per cent of the refugee population.

Conclusion

Regional and international efforts to cooperate and coordinate on migration issues, first and foremost through the exchange of information and experiences, also have become an important feature of governance in this field.

Migration is increasingly perceived as a development tool. As a result, migration considerations are more frequently incorporated into poverty reduction strategies and broader development policies. How to capitalize on the benefits of migration is certainly gaining credence by the sheer volume of remittances, and through the economic benefits generated by diaspora.

Human trafficking is undoubtedly one of the migration-related areas that has gained the most international interest since lately. Many developments have been made, including the ratification of the Trafficking Protocol, which establishes an international legal definition for trafficking.

Internal migration is an equally important area of consideration both in terms of its scope and its impact.

There are additional factors that hinder further progress in meeting the challenges of migration. These include a lack of: awareness and understanding of the social and economic implications of migration; political will to manage migration flows and address the consequences of migration; trained or qualified staff; institutional capacity; and resources to manage migration flows, especially irregular migration and human trafficking.

The labour sending countries face some common issues. These are:

• Protecting migrant workers from exploitative recruitment and employment practices and in providing appropriate assistance to them including pre-departure, welfare and reintegration services.
• Optimizing benefits of labour migration through developing new markets, skill development of prospective migrant workers and increasing remittances using formal channels.
• Building institutional capacity and effective coordination among the agencies concerned.
• Increasing cooperation with the labour recipient countries to protect the interest of all the stakeholders including the migrant workers.
• The existing laws and regulations relating to migration need serious review to meet the demand of the time.

Today’s dialogue will help us to address these issues and formulate a common framework to maximize the benefit of migration and regulate irregular migration.

Sources

1. “The Policy Challenges of Migration” Global Economic Prospects 2006, The World Bank
2. Labour Migration in Asia, IOM 2003
3. Haque, Md. Shahidul, Migration Trends and Patterns in South Asia and Management Approaches and Initiatives, IOM
4. International Labour Migration Institutions of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka in Ferment the Philippines as Catalyst, IOM Regional Office for South Asia, Dhaka, November 2002 

The author is a development consultant, writer, columnist and the Editor of the StarAvis. He may be reached at masud.magister@gmail.com 

Terms of International Relations

Does Herbert Spencer's ‘survival of the fittest’ referring Charles Darwin’s natural selection go to the terms of international relations? Money and muscle, in other words, wealth, technology and military power give you the authority to put in place your terms over the world.

Do we, the world citizens, approve of the way international affairs run in this age? Is it a bad idea to claim or want a just world ensuring equal rights and opportunities for the citizens as well as nation states? Some of the readers might think - what the hell I am talking while every citizen and nation states have equal rights and opportunities according to law. My question is: can we enjoy those rights and opportunities fully? In some cases, law is not doing favour to the equal opportunity theory e.g. the UN Systems. The UN was established on the background of two devastating World Wars. The resulting formation of the UN was like ‘winners take all’. And you know all about the end results – you cannot take any decision against the wrongs done by any of the permanent members of the Security Council. So they are indeed immune from anything and everything.

The superbly powerful countries extend their tentacles to other countries affairs. In the name of protecting human rights, democracy and justice, they go for action against anything that they think incorrect or something that goes against their interests or endorsements. You know about the stories of invading Iraq and Afghanistan and how the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Gharib were tortured and also how the sovereignty of Pakistan was broken to kill Bin Laden. You also know about the continuous drone attacks into the land of Pakistan. It is like whoever has the clout can flout the international law.

Iraq was invaded to change Saddam regime under the pretense that he had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction which was proved false later. Shouldn’t the people responsible for the destruction of the country and killing thousands of innocent people be brought to justice? But it’s like ‘who is to bell the cat’! They’re out of the purview of International Criminal Court (ICC)if the respective states are not signatories to the ICC. Is it possible to make the international courts obeyed by all? Each of the UN member states should come under the purview of ICC. The UN should be empowered to make and implement the provisions which are made to ensure justice to all nation states.

Iraq is the breeding ground of Al-Qaeda and sectarian violence is the routine of the days whereas, the socio-political condition was not this worse before the invasion. Yes, democracy was not there and violation of human rights was rampant under the rule of Saddam. Democratic rights should come from within the people; you cannot impose it from without. How is that you kill innocent people and destroy the economy in the name of protecting the people! Yes, the people now have got one kind of freedom i.e. engaging into sectarian violence. Before, the ruler was violating the rights of some groups of people but now each group is trying to kick out other opposing groups engaging in killing each other. The condition is worse than the previous regime. So what is the end result of the mission of regime change! Are the people better off now! Who are responsible for creating this situation? Shouldn’t they be brought to justice?

To capture only one man, the land of Afghanistan has been destroyed, hundreds of people were killed and scores of suspected Al-Qaeda members had been imprisoned and tortured inhumanely. The prisoners of Abu Gharib, Iraq were tortured to an unprecedented level. How come the preachers and protectors of human rights and democracy can torture people!

Why can’t we agree on destroying all weapons of mass destruction including the nuclear warheads! Why can only a certain countries be the owners of these destructive weapons!

Shouldn’t all the countries and nation states honour and respect the sovereignty of each other? It seems that you can break it if you have that much power and you won’t need to answer – intruding stealthily into the heart of a sovereign country to kill a suspected criminal and the drone attacks inside Pakistan without asking the authority are blatant examples.

A Bangladeshi student, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee (21), suspected to have links with Al-Qaeda was arrested on 17 April 2006 by the secret service agents and later handed over to the FBI with the help of local police from Dhaka and flown to USA flouting domestic laws.

Your diplomats would be immune from court proceedings if you have that much clout, otherwise not – a CIA contractor, Raymond Allen Davis’ killing two people in broad day light in Lahore couldn’t bring him to trial for punishment. Recent spat on diplomatic immunity between the US and India on the issue of Devyani Khobragade is an outstanding experience. It’s like a fight between a tiger and a buffalo. You never know if anyone would win.

The right to self-determination in several parts of the world is ignored e.g. Kashmir and Tibet. We don’t see any prospect of resolving the issue of Kashmir in the near future; ultimately the people of the respective lands are suffering. There is also an issue of flouting UN Resolution. The comparatively powerful one wants it to settle the issue bilaterally but it’s already been more than six decades since the problem erupted and several wars were fought on it.

When people are being tried for the crimes against humanity in Bangladesh, some are raising questions about its international standards. But they are not raising questions on maintaining the same in other cases like convicting and executing Saddam Hussein.

To maintain equality in the world order, key international institutions can play leading roles. So they should be made free from the influential states. All those institutions should be endorsed by every UN member state. Chiefs of the international institutions should not be recruited only from the handful of powerful countries.

The issue of surveillance by a couple of countries is another example of intruding into the internal affairs of others disrespecting privacy and freedom, the qualities for which they fight themselves the world over.

Equal rights and opportunity to minority population in different countries are ignored. In many cases, they are tortured and killed. The UN may be empowered to monitor and help resolve the issue and the respective state or authority may be tried by the International Court of Justice or by the International Criminal Court if it fails or ignores their rights or tortures them only because of belonging to a minority community.

As regards the disputes on land boundary, new islands or sea shores, the UN should interfere if the parties concerned fail to resolve the respective issue by themselves. It is necessary that the UN System works neutrally giving equal rights and privileges to all the member states. There should not be any permanent seat in the Security Council. All the 15 Security Council seats should be filled in either by voting or rotation by the member states.

There is an allegation that China claims almost all of the areas of South China Sea as its territory which enables it to explore natural resources and fishing extending more than 800 miles from its coastline and which also comes within 30 miles of the coast of the Philippines. Six countries: Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, claim in whole or in part of the South China Sea and its islands and shoals. The Philippines have brought a case to the Arbitral Tribunal under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which China refuses to participate even though it’s a signatory to the convention. There are also disputes over Senkaku or Diaoyu islands between Japan and China. Every UN member country should abide by the UNCLOS which governs the world’s oceans.

Now time is ripe to make the UN System more democratic to establish justice, freedom and equal opportunity to everyone. All the important international crises including those that cannot be resolved bilaterally may be brokered by the UN. We want to see the UN at that level. It is high time to transform the UN to a more democratic and empowered institution. It is necessary to raise the member states’ level of confidence on the UN.

Political Fiasco and People’s Plight in Bangladesh

The people of Bangladesh are into the grinding machine of the major political parties of the country at the moment. We are all concerned about the way out sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, not enough hope is being foreseen by us, the common people of the country.

The source of the stalemate grew from the 15th amendment of the constitution without taking the major opposition parties into confidence. The ruling coalition couldn’t have done this given that there was enough strength of leverage on the part of the opposition. Can we conclude that a landslide in favour of one party or a like-minded group of parties is bad for democracy and the people?

There is another allegation that the recommendation of the respective Parliamentary Committee was not listened and cared to the amendment of the constitution. So there is another question of maintaining proper procedure relating to the parliamentary activities. What is the use of establishing parliamentary committees if they are not listened to!

However, taking the opposition into confidence for such matters is very important in a democracy especially when their strength is not that insignificant to be ignored. Now the common people are bearing the brunt of the opposition.

We like to vehemently condemn the way the opposition parties are protesting the government’s actions. In no way it is acceptable that they hit the vehicles and burn the people.

It seems that they are taking revenge not for scrapping the caretaker system of polls time government rather the verdicts of the International Crime’s Tribunal. It is because we never have seen such violence in any opposition protests in recent times not even in the four decades of our independence.

Now, what would be the way out from the current stalemate? One way may be giving in to the opposition demand either by scrapping the 15th amendment or least handing over the Prime Ministerial position of the polls time government to a mutually acceptable person. Otherwise, the writer of this piece doesn’t believe the situation of the political and public life would improve much.

One sided polls won’t be acceptable to the general public of the country as well as the international community. Playing the JP-Ershad card cannot give the expected outcome. It’s already a blunder. Even if JP (Ershad) goes into polls, the opposition won’t stop their violent protest and they will continue it as long as they can as it is observed.

Much of the opposition’s strength comes from Jamaat. And you cannot detach their partnership, not very soon at least when they need each other most.

We don’t know if BNP would be ready to go for polls even without their blessed partnership with Jamaat. We can’t conclude if that’s one of the main reasons for them not to accept the All Parties Polls Time Government given the situation when Jamaat is declared ineligible for the polls.

Isn’t it a good solution to get a neutral person as the polls time chief executive of the government? How about if it is the Speaker of the Parliament or any other mutually acceptable person?

We know that the government is able to do with the election no matter what. But we fear that without the participation of the main opposition parties the people of the country would not be able to be freed from the violent protests, killing, arsons and blockades and countrywide strikes. So everything good achieved so far will diminish in the long run.

Shouldn’t we do what is the best for the country and the people?

There is an important concern about the proceedings of International Crimes Tribunal. If Sheikh Hasina steps down to any mutually acceptable person, the tribunal may be stopped by him/her immediately. At least the writer of this article feels like that. And we all understand the eventuality of the tribunal proceedings if AL defeats in the upcoming election when it must need at least a few months to complete the ongoing proceedings.

The Journey of Edward Snowden

The era of cold war has gone, the war on terror has begun and residing almost in its fag end concluding the War in Iraq and withdrawing combating troops from Afghanistan. The new coin of world politics is controlling the information superhighway as it seems.

We observe the plight of Edward Snowden for revealing the US mass surveillance programme called PRISM which was built to be able to intercept each and every communication, whoever conducts it, on the internet. They also hacked into the servers of certain mobile phone operators. The internet giants based in the US gave in to the programme.

The world is watching with terror how the US is chasing the whistleblower (the US claims that he’s neither a whistleblower nor a human rights activist) to be captured while Snowden claims that he is a patriot he is not doing anything to harm his country but the US government is threatening the countries with consequences that helped his passage or offering asylum on humanitarian grounds.

His fate is uncertain being holed up in Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow since June 23 though he has declared to apply and accept asylum status in Russia since he is not able to travel to South America from where a few countries i.e. Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua offered him asylum status.

On the last Friday, 12 July, he had a meeting with the representations from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Kremlin and requested them to help him travel to South America while he wanted to take asylum in Russian until his ability to travel further.

It is yet to be seen whether he’d ever be able to travel to South America and whether these few countries would be able to protect him from the possible harsh treatment of his own government.

The issue has become a source of serious diplomatic row between the US camp and its rivals.

The US is always vocal on the human rights, rule of law, democratic values and other humanitarian issues. But in the instance of revealing its surveillance programme targeting everyone on this planet including its own citizenry must be too embarrassing to accept.

The actions of its camp has gone so far to ground the Presidential aeroplane of Bolivia en route to Caracas from Moscow having a suspicion that Snowden would be on board. This kind of incident never happened in history. The US is asking everyone related to hand Snowden over to them to take legal actions for the crime of espionage, theft of government property and leaking classified documents as they say.

People around the world are watching the event with utmost interest having sympathy mostly, as I perceive, for the man who has taken so much risk on his life only as a step to create a just society as the people feel.

 
Now the question is, should we stand for the actions of Snowden and other fellows like Julian Assange and Bradley Manning? Are the actions taken by them help protecting human rights and dignity? The questions are not that hard to answer.

If that is the case, why other governments are not extending their hands to protect this gentleman? Is it because they are afraid of the superpower? Or they are also corrupt!

It seems that a War on Information has begun. Do you think that the people’s rights will prevail or the hegemonic governments would remain at the helm of things?

The victims of the surveillance programmes are the common people mostly while the governments around the world are playing politics to win over their competing parties. Who are supposed to look after the interests and protect the rights and privacy of the people? Who would be brave enough like Snowden, Assange or Manning? Is it possible for a small group of unarmed activists to win over the battle with the hegemonic mammoths?

At the moment the information superhighway and the internet is controlled mostly by the US. Is it possible for other countries or its rivals to reverse the tide? It is a long way to go. Even if its rivals succeed would they be able to uphold people’s rights and privacy?

Answers to these questions are important to ponder for the interest of the world populace.

The writer is a development consultant, writer and editor. He may be reached at masudkn@gmail.com

Corruption Practices at Carew & Co. (Bangladesh) Ltd.

It is open secret that corruption is abounding at Carew’s (Carew & Company Ltd., a public sector company of Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation) Ware Houses. But it is overlooked by the concerned authorities ever since. There are thirteen ware houses of Carew & Co. dispersed all over the country where the demand of country spirit or liquor is high.

For a long time, it’s a common practice there to mix water twice or thrice the quantity of country spirit and deliver to the consumers cheating the licensed buyers of the country making the related staff and officials ballooning their coffers with black money creating instability and inequality in the society.

So there are multiple impacts of the corruption practice. Firstly, they are cheating the licensed buyers, secondly, they are accumulating black money or illegal money, and thirdly, it is creating instability and inequality in the society.

Since the buyers of the product have to produce appropriate license issued from the Government of Bangladesh, their right to have quality product must be ensured. It is an irony that they are buying product from a government owned company but they are getting cheated with impure product and no one to see ever since!

Then the responsible staff of both Carew & Co. and the govt. staff at the Ware Houses are accumulating lots of money through this kind of cheating the buyers. They have been able to accumulate unusual amount of wealth if you could check their amount of wealth before posted to the Ware Houses. 

There is hard competition to get posted in the attractive places of Ware Houses; Dhaka, Chittagong and Srimongol are the most attractive places that the Agents are interested to be posted. Price of these attractive postings may be as high as several lakh taka. 

The astounding amount of wealth accumulated by the relevant staff, especially the agents of the company, creating commotion in the society. It is a discouragement to the hard working people of the country you may understand. They are creating unwanted situation in the society.

For example, we like to mention an Agent of Carew & Co. posted to Khulna Ware House and resides at Kushtia town. He has built a stunning 3-storied house at the heart of the town at PTI Road on around 1 bigha land. He works in a position below an entry level officer but he ride his own car and appointed a driver for the job. He owns a Rice Mill at Poradah, near Kushtia town, and a whole sale rice shop at the Chourhash more of the town. He is in the property buying spree now and want to accumulate as much wealth as possible before retiring in 2015 cheating the licensed consumers of a public sector industry.

If you check any of the 13 agents’ background you would find the same thing that their lifestyle is not commensurate to their legal income. 

So it is urgent in the interest of the consumers and the society to initiate tight grip on the corrupt practices, especially conducted by the Agents of Carew & Co. (Bangladesh) Ltd., Darsana, Chuadanga.

IT Enabled Services Business in Bangladesh: A Comparative Study

IT Enabled Services is a money-making business if you have that talent, required infrastructure and marketing network. Bangladesh has not yet achieved anything significant from this sector even though it has sufficient talent pool and easily trainable youth while there is outrageous growth and demand for the services world-wide.

The study has been taken up to find out the potential and prospects of the industry towards contributing to the economy of Bangladesh and generating substantial employment. It necessitated learning the trend of the industry world-wide and a comparative study with other successful countries in this sector to understand the potential and prospect of IT Enabled Services industry in Bangladesh. I chose only Indian IT-ITES industry for the comparative study since India is one of the most successful countries in outsourcing IT-ITES and it has similarities with Bangladesh in respect of culture and education.

Data sources of this report are mainly secondary though data of the survey conducted by BASIS may be considered primary. The author himself was involved in conducting the survey as the Coordinator of the survey during his tenure at BASIS. Unavailability of authentic recent data was a difficulty in preparing this report. There is no separate data available on the ITES sector in Bangladesh other than found from BASIS Survey in 2009. As it was observed that even the Export Promotion Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce of Bangladesh do not keep separate data for the sector. It says that this sector is yet to receive due importance from the government.

In the first section of this paper, I have tried to describe world-wide trend of IT-ITES business. In the second and most important section, I tried to describe and analyse information regarding IT-ITES business in Bangladesh. This paper focuses on ITES but because of relevance many issues and information related to IT comes in. The data related to Bangladesh ITES industry were mostly taken from a survey conducted by Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services (BASIS) in 2009. In the next section, I addressed the status of Indian IT-ITES industry in brief. Then I compared Bangladesh ITES industry with that of India in the next section. In the last section, I proposed a few recommendations for the improvement of the ITES sector in Bangladesh.

McKinsey, in an estimate published in 2008, says that the value of global IT and ITES is $475 billion from which less than 15% was exploited in 2007. So there is a huge market of IT-ITES industry still untapped globally. According to IDC, NASSCOM and KPMG, global market size of IT-ITES industry was US$ 1,184 billion and it will stand at US$ 3,391 billion. Gartner in its December 2011 report says that worldwide IT spending, excluding telecom services but including computing hardware, was US$ 1,823 billion and it will reach US$ 2,493 billion in 2015. And global outsourcing market reached US$ 106 billion in 2010 from US$ 51 in 2005.

According to NASSCOM-Everest, 2008 report, India secured top position in acquiring global ITES market having 37% share followed by Canada (27%) and Philippines (15%). India also gained the top position of IT services market by securing 54% of the global market share followed by Canada having 29% of the global market.

The size of Bangladesh IT-ITES market is US$ 300 million according to a recent World Bank report and about 30,000 professionals work in the industry as BASIS published in 2011. There are about 800 BASIS member companies working in IT-ITES sector while BASIS ITES Survey found 1,934 ITES companies in 10 major cities of Bangladesh. Most of the companies are very small in size. BASIS ITES Survey 2009 focused only on six segments of ITES namely, BPO, Data entry, Call centre, GDS, Multimedia & 3D, Service Bureau which are the main ITES businesses in Bangladesh until now. Though the first Bangladesh ITES company was established in 1956, the modern phenomenon of ITES industry grew in this country in the 1990s. Investment in Bangladesh ITES sector is a meager US$ 3.88 billion. Total exports revenue from IT-ITES sector of the country was US$ 56.57 million in the first ten months of FY 2011-12 while the sector earned US$ 45.31 million in FY 2010-11 from exports. (EPB) According to BASIS ITES Survey 2009, ITES sector of the country earned US$ 13.85 million from exports in FY 2008-09. It may be assumed that about 200 IT-ITES companies have exports portfolio in Bangladesh since 160 BASIS member companies export IT-ITES services mostly to North America, Europe, Australia, East Asia and the Middle East.

Major strengths of Bangladesh ITES industry are creativity, quality control and compliance while the major weaknesses of the sector are internet cost, followed by infrastructure and cost of business as the key informants of the sector believe.
Access to finance, internet, market access, human resource, quality control, infrastructure, law and order, government policy, uneven competition and political situation, are the major hindrances to ITES exports from Bangladesh identified by the industry people. Financial institutions do not have products matching the business of this sector; internet is slow and costly; industry players do not have that capability yet to enter into international market; the industry lack skilled human resources; they cannot provide quality services for whatever reasons; there is lack of sufficient infrastructure needed for the sector especially power and high bandwidth internet; existing laws of the land are not commensurate with the industry; government policies are not that favourable to the business of the sector; there is uneven competition among the players of the sector since most of them are competing for a pie from the domestic market not having the capacity to enter into international market; lastly, the image of the country as a business destination is yet to be uplifted owing to political instability.

On the other hand, Indian IT-ITES sector generated 2.5 million jobs and earned US$ 88.1 billion in FY 2011. The sector in India has been growing with a CAGR of 24% for the last ten years. It contributed 5.6% to the GDP of India in FY 2010.

According to an OECD study, annual growth of Indian IT services industry, which includes software and ITES, which had been growing at a double digit rates yearly, was slowed down to 6% in 2010 due to global recession though total revenue was increased to US$ 64 billion.

In 2009-10, Indian IT-ITES industry earned US$ 73.1 billion combining domestic and exports revenues including US$ 9.4 billion from hardware and US$ 14.7 billion from IT Enabled Services. It is noted here that hardware segment earned US$ 9 billion from domestic market and US$ 0.4 billion from exports and ITES earned US$ 2.3 billion from the domestic market and US$ 12.4 billion from exports.

It is observed that hardware sales in the domestic market of India is still higher i.e. US$ 9 billion in FY 2009-10. So it may be conferred that India has not yet reached its optimum in IT-ITES sector.

Financial Institutions, Telecom, Manufacturing and Retail industries are the principal revenue sources of Indian IT-ITES industry contributing 41%, 20%, 16% and 9% respectively to its total exports. As regards the domestic market, Financial Institutions, Telecom, Manufacturing and Retail industries are contributing 41%, 20%, 19% and 6% respectively. These top four sectors i.e. Financial Institutions, Telecom, Manufacturing and Retail contribute 86% to the total IT-ITES revenues of India considering both the exports and domestic market.

US, UK and Continental Europe are the major markets of Indian IT-ITES industry contributing 61%, 18% and 12% respectively to the export revenues of the sector.

According to a study of Evalueserve, a global specialist in knowledge processes, Indian IT-ITES industry has captured 45% of the global IT-ITES market in 2010 increased from 36% in 2003. More than 60% of the industry’s revenue comes from exports. (NASSCOM)

In 2009-10 India exported IT-ITES services to 154 countries of the world which also proves the industry’s robustness.

A NASSCOM McKinsey report forecasts that Indian IT-ITES industry exports would reach US$ 328.9 billion with a CAGR of 20.7% by 2019-20 from US$ 23.6 billion in 2005-06.

OECD, in a report published in 2009, projected that by 2020 India will be ahead of its competitors e.g. Philippines, Mexico, Israel, Ireland, Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil and Malaysia in terms of quantity and quality of people required in the IT-ITES sector though these newly emerged competitors have thrown challenges to the Indian industry.

India achieved the top position according to the assessment of A.T. Kearney’s Global Services Location Index (GSLI) in terms of its financial attractiveness, business environment, skills and people availability.

Indian IT-ITES sector has been emerged as the major driver of growth within the services industry contributing directly to its economy. A few indicators of the industry’s contribution are:
⦁ Contribution to GDP (6.4% in FY 2011)
⦁ Exports revenue (US$ 50.1 billion in 2009-10)
⦁ Projected employment of 3.7 million by 2012

The development of Indian IT-ITES sector has indirect positive impacts on its economy. Following indicators are examples of indirect contribution to the economy.
⦁ Further employment generation
⦁ Enhancing growth of other sectors of Indian economy
⦁ Balanced regional development

Indian IT-ITES industry has been able to achieve capability of performing complex and critical business processes starting from low end back office and call centre business within a decade. Huge investment of the Indian IT giants like TCS and Infosys in infrastructure development and training to build human resources was one of the important reasons behind its success story.

Major challenges faced by Indian ITES-BPO industry are infrastructure, talent shortage, data security and attrition.

As per IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2012, rated by IMD, a Swiss business school, India is ranked 35, down from 32 in 2011, in the club of 59 most competitive economies of the world.

The phenomenon of outsourcing has been transitioning from Outsourcing 1.0 to Outsourcing 3.0. The parameters of outsourcing are: Responsible Business Climate; Smart Philanthropy; Talent; Standards and Compliance; Supply Chains; Innovation; and Communications.

Locational attractiveness and e-readiness are wide acknowledged issues for outsourcing. A few renowned consulting firms like A.T. Kearney, Gartner, Hewitt’s International and McKinsey formulated benchmarking frameworks based on criteria like available employable skills, especially IT skills, competitive cost of business, necessary infrastructure for IT-ITES industry, and business friendly environment.

The main driver behind India’s success in the industry was huge investment by the IT giants like TCS and Infosys. They invested a lot on infrastructure and training to secure stable position in the global market. They have been able to prove their worth and became the back office of large global corporate houses. They are on track to reach the target of earning US$ 329 billion per year by 2020 according to a NASSCOM McKinsey estimate.

India has gained the number one position in the A.T. Kearney’s Global Services Location Index and achieved the 32nd position among 59 most competitive economies in the world.

Bangladesh is yet to get its foot hold in the global market of IT-ITES. Bangladesh has neither been able to secure a position in the top 40 outsourcing countries of the world rated by A.T. Kearny’s Global Service Location Index, nor one among the most competitive economies in the world measured by IMD. But the good news is Gartner for the first time included Bangladesh in top 30 off shore destinations in its December 2011 report mentioning two important weaknesses – one is infrastructure and the other is proficiency in English. Bangladesh fared worst with a rating of “poor” in the report.

It needs to put emphasis on development of infrastructure and human resource development along with other incentives as provided to other sectors. The Hi Tech Park that is under construction at Kaliakoir, Gazipur should be ready at the earliest. Community of Bangladeshi diaspora should be encouraged to invest in the local IT-ITES industry. The employees’ poor level of proficiency in English is another barrier to our IT-ITES sector. So, proper attention to acquire English as a second language by our students and employees is necessary.

Bangladesh government has formulated and adopted an ICT Policy and also declared a vision of “Digital Bangladesh” by 2021. But it lacks in terms of implementation. There is tremendous gap in FDI in IT-ITES sector of Bangladesh. The government and business associations combined should work to attract FDI to the ICT industry of the country.

Courses on different ITES segments like graphic design, CAD etc. along with English Language may be introduced in the technical training institutes. ITES industry needs skilled people but not necessarily many highly qualified employees like software companies. It is observed that due to lack of infrastructural facility and low proficiency in English Call Centre business could not make headway in Bangladesh. Collaboration between the industry and the academia is also necessary for building human resources as per industry needs.

Focus should be given to provide electricity and internet facilities to the small towns at least up to the sub-district level of the country to help spread IT-ITES industry to the length and breadth of the country and reduce youth unemployment.

Banks and financial institutions should be made understood about the nature of IT-ITES business and encouraged to offer products commensurate with the industry to meet its financing needs. Government also may try to provide incentives in procuring local services and solutions within the purview of WTO provisions.

Due importance should be given to compliance issues to make footprints in the global market. It is observed that the industry people are yet to give appropriate importance to the issue. The industry associations may initiate to make the industry people understand and realise its importance in the world market.

Students and Teachers Involvement into Politics: The Practice in Bangladesh

M Masud Hossain Khan

I think it is high time for us to ban student politics and teachers’ involvement in politics. It is the bane of our beloved nation now. I know there exist lots of arguments and there’s no want of people, intellectuals and civil society members stand in favour of student politics. Most of their line of reasoning is based on the contribution of our students to different national movements – Language Movement, Liberation Movement and movement against autocracy. The nation always remembers with pride the contribution students of this land made to these movements and to our nation building efforts. But shouldn’t we think on the issue in the present perspective - where the student politics is heading to and what contributions are they making now to this country and her wretched people? Are they not working for the vested interest groups playing pawns on the hands of the politicians and many students leaders are after making their fortunes through whatever ways and means they can? There are lots of news reports on how student leaders are involved in tender business and fighting with each other to have control over the dormitories making the general students captive in their evil hands.

The question we should raise: is the student politics doing any good to the countrymen and even themselves at present and do we need it for our future development? May be the answer is yes for a few leaders, not even the common students let alone the citizens. It is now very much clear that students politics are not doing any good to our society any more rather it is harming our society and the students themselves but helps benefit our rogue politicians for whom we haven’t progressed that much what we should have by this time. For students leaders, common students are not getting their due rights and access to different facilities e.g. it’s not that easy for a non-political students to have a seat in the university dormitories; they are terrorized by the leaders and afraid of them always. We have not forgot the killing of innocent students like Sabequnnahar Sony in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology campus a few years back. Because of fighting with arms and weapons among different wings of students parties many lives have not been able to reach their fulfillment and the dreams of their parents have gone astray and sometimes their parents’ lives were at a stake due to unending pain and owes of losing their beloved offspring. We have got a strange jargon in the education sector and in our national life as well i.e. session jam which you can’t find in any other country of the world I think. This is the fruit of the tree called Student Politics, which we have sown and nurtured and helped to grow poisonous fruits.

But I am in favour of students union in the educational institutions without involvement in national politics or working as wing of political parties. These unions will only care about students and institutions welfare and organize different co-curricula activities which will ultimately help the students, institutions and the society at large. They can engage themselves in different social needs like standing by the side of the flood affected people of the country.

To make a clear vision for our progress we may look at how other democratic and progressive countries and societies are doing with student politics. Are the students directly involved in national politics becoming members of political organizations affiliated with national political parties in those countries? Even we can look at the private universities in this country. If it is good and helps better grooming of our children why shouldn’t we commence student politics in those?

About keeping law enforcement agencies stationed in the university campuses, I would say it is necessary in our present political practices but it won’t be needed any more if we are able to discard direct political campaign involving students and teachers inside the institutions academia. Can’t we see that there’s no police force in the private universities. It is because political campaign is prohibited in those places. There’s always high possibility of clashes in the campus among the rival political parties and/or groups if students are permitted to do politics inside the educational institutions.

What about the teachers’ involvement in politics? Is it helping to our society and the institutions they are engaged with? It is also helping corruption and nepotism for sure. To be a teacher in any public university you need to be affiliated with political parties or at least support their agenda and have good relations with the political high ups with or without required qualifications. This is the product of teachers’ involvement in national politics. To be aware and making students aware in politics and be a member or devoted oneself to any political party is another thing. We are going to see another example soon how teachers and students engagement in national politics is helping this wretched country if the recent spate in the universities, colleges and the country as a whole be proved. 

The author is a development consultant, writer, columnist and the Editor of the StarAvis. He may be contacted at masud.magister@gmail.com