Resource for national development
RICHARD Florida, a well-known American academic has developed the concept of "creative class." Florida has emphasised the role of this class in economic development in a competitive environment, especially in the age of knowledge-based economy. In a globalised world, the creative class has also become highly mobile.
The success of creating a knowledge-based economy depends to a great extent on the ability to nurture the creative class and, when possible, to bring them from elsewhere. Here, nations that have a diasporic population have an advantage. If Bangladesh has to enter the digital age, as the prime minister aspires, Bangladesh must tap the creative class both in Bangladesh as well as overseas.
How many Bangladeshi comprise the diaspora? The estimates vary from 6.3 million to 9 million. The figures are, at best, estimates but there is no doubt that it is a significant number. This group can be classified broadly into two sub-groups: non-resident Bangladeshis who are Bangladeshi citizens but are currently living outside Bangladesh and those who will return at the end of their tenure of work overseas.
People of Bangladeshi origin are those who can trace their ancestry to a Bangladeshi citizen, or who may have been born in Bangladesh and have taken up citizenship in another country. In other words, they are people, who are ethnically Bengalis, or have families in Bangladesh but are currently citizens of other countries.
Bangladeshi origin people often play important roles in their adopted homes. Many of them are successful entrepreneurs, professionals, educators, physicians, scientists, engineers, architects and so on, and have gained international experience. They can play an important role in the development of Bangladesh, either by investing their wealth or building an educational and scientific bridge between their adopted countries and Bangladesh.
In the globalised world, many of us have two identities. One can be a Canadian by juridical citizenship and Bangladeshi by cultural citizenship. Global processes have created multipleidentities, which most people can deal with effortlessly. For example, in the usage of language, most Bangladeshis in the diaspora are at ease in separating work language (English, German, French, Arabic etc.) from home language, which is Bengali. They can make valuable contributions to the much- needed foreign language requirements of their ancestral home.
In the 1990s, when India took the relatively free-market, open economy track, it began to woo some of the rich overseas Indians for investments following what the Chinese did in their bid to attract cash, technology and knowhow from the overseas Chinese. Overseas Chinese played a huge rule in the economic growth in China since the late 1970s, when Deng Xiaoping introduced economic reforms
There are Bangladeshi scientists and professors, physicians and bankers who could play a significant role in transforming Bangladesh into a Digital Bangladesh. The initiatives must come from both directions. Persons of Bangladeshi origin can offer their expertise and share their knowledge.
There are Bangladeshi physicians in the United States who want to return to Bangladesh in summer to run free clinics. What we need is an institutional mechanism through which we can match their skills with the needs of Bangladesh.
The private universities have taken a leading role in creating opportunities for the overseas Bangladeshis to teach and conduct research in Bangladesh. Some universities have been successful in bringing back some highly qualified Bangladeshi academics from overseas.
Public institutions can establish a knowledge-bridge between Bangladeshi academic institutions and their counterparts overseas, where persons of Bangladeshi origin can play an effective role. Hospitals can also establish links so that they can benefit from the expertise of the doctors of Bangladeshi origin currently working in hospitals abroad.
While I am emphasising the likely contribution persons of Bangladeshi origin may make to the development of Bangladesh, I am not minimising for a moment the role of the well-qualified professionals and the creative class domiciled in Bangladesh, many of whom are of international caliber. Sadly, some PBOs fail to recognise that, and often paint a bleak picture of their homeland. It is time for unity, not divisiveness.
Mutual respect must be the essential glue for building a knowledge and information bridge. What we need is synergy between PBO professionals, academics and members of the creative class with their counterparts in Bangladesh.
I hope the government of Bangladesh will come forward to create conditions and opportunities for tapping the resourceful persons of Bangladeshi origin to achieve the goal of sustainable national development.
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