Get away from growth delusion

Development strategies should be redefined moving away from growth-centric delusion to job creation, training and quality health and education in order to make real progress, said the Citizen's Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh yesterday.

There is a need to escape from the growth delusion and make employment generation as the fundamental target indicator, the platform said.

The platform made the demand at a virtual event styled "Bangladesh's Eighth Five Year Plan (2021-25): Development Strategy and Interests of the Left Behind".

Debapriya Bhattacharya, convenor of the platform, said the government created jobs for 95 lakh people out of 1.29 crore targeted under the seventh five-year plan, meaning the country failed to generate employment for one-fourth of the targeted people.

The situation is even worse in case of creating jobs in the domestic sector as half of the target has remained unattained, he said while presenting a paper.

"We are fortunate that our migrant workers went abroad and found jobs. The way youth unemployment is growing is a major concern," the economist said.

"But we would like to say that employment has to be put at the heart of Bangladesh's development plan."

Bhattacharya said Bangladesh achieved GDP growth target during the 7FYP although the accomplishment on revenue collection, private investment, exports, remittance and foreign investment was far away from the goals.

"It might have happened due to programming deficiency or data confusion," he said.

Transparency International Bangladesh's Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman called for focusing on maintaining transparency and accountability in implementing development plans to get real benefits.

The new plan did not address the governance and anti-corruption issues, he said.

"If we don't streamline the governance issue in a corruption-prone country, how can we think that the plans will be implemented properly?"

The implementation of the five-year plan needs to be analysed periodically, said Prof Rehman Sobhan, chairman of the CPD.

The government should take up specific plans to ensure people's right to education and health service at free of cost, said Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director of the Campaign for Popular Education.

The industrial revolution is knocking at the door, so improving people's efficiency through upskilling and re-skilling is important, she said.

Shaheen Anam, executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation, said it was clear that the eighth five-year plan would not be able to help the country achieve the overarching goal of the SDGs that is "leaving no one behind".

This is because the five-year plan has not focused much on the marginalised people, she said.

Rumeen Farhana, a member of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of law, justice and parliamentary affairs, called the eighth five-year plan ordinary.

"We need to focus on reducing disparity in every sphere," she said, calling for district-wise budget allotment.

The economy is standing tall with the help of remittance, but migrant workers have still not been mainstreamed, said Tasneem Siddiqui, chairman of the Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit.

"So, they were not included in the stimulus packages," she said.

Pir Fazlur Rahman, a lawmaker, said plans are taken up, but in many cases, they remain unimplemented due to inefficiency and corruption.