Where do we stand now?

victory Day, which is an annual event of great historic significance, offers the nation an opportunity to evaluate its achievements and failures in the light of the aspirations and goals that had inspired it during the arduous struggle for freedom and independence.
This is also an occasion for the people and their leaders to see how they have tuned themselves to the fast-changing world in all respects. While the basic goals of the War of Liberation remain unchanged, people's aspirations have been changing over time.
It is a befitting time for those who have led this nation over the years to search their souls. Unfortunately, they have not done so in an objective, dispassionate and purposeful way. If they had done this before in earnest, they would, in all fairness, have felt themselves embarrassed, even in private, by the outcomes.
This momentous occasion is also a befitting occasion for the people to take stock of how far this nation of about 150 million people now (75 million in 1971) has progressed in these last four decades. The period is obviously too small in the infinity of time. But in assessing the ups and downs, rise and fall of nations, this span of forty years is not inconsequential either.
Countries and nations at a similar level of economic attainments in the seventies, with what is today's Bangladesh, have turned themselves into developed or semi-developed nations. But Bangladesh, unfortunately, continues to lag behind.
This is not to say that Bangladesh's achievements in many areas, notwithstanding all its adversities, are not mentionable. This country has developed a world-class apparel industry in this period and made giant strides in increasing agricultural productivity to be able to almost feed its entire doubled population.
It has had other successes also in social sectors and in building an industrial base for producing many essential consumer goods as well as intermediate products and even some capital equipment. It is currently showing promises in new areas like shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, information technologies (IT) and outsourcing business.
A number of projections have been made about Bangladesh becoming an Asian tiger. But those projections are yet to become realities. The current poverty rate of some 40% of its people may lead the newly arrived outsiders to this country into thinking that the dream of Sonar Bangla (Golden Bengal) is possibly a tall tale only.
Bangladesh has the potential to take its place among the world's major economies. This is borne out by a number of recent international rankings, which have glimpsed such a future or possibility for Bangladesh. But the same would depend entirely on how well the government -- and the successive ones -- can truly play the part of a facilitator in support of the dynamic business and entrepreneurial classes which are growing in this country.
Despite all the statistics about impressive economic growth, nearly 40% of the country's populations are still living below the poverty line. That means a large number of people in Bangladesh earn, individually, less than a dollar a day. Hundreds of thousands of jobless and distressed people are dependent for their survival on the money and food the government distributes under various safety net programmes; where much of it is not properly targeted in some areas. The rate of malnourishment among children is one of the highest, and adult literacy rate one of the lowest, in the world.
The human development indicators in this country are often claimed to be better than many poor developing countries. But the country has yet to go a long way to reach decent levels even on this score card. The government has been able to improve health sector infrastructures, but not the services that the poor need in both rural and urban areas.
However, amidst the long list of failures, there are also some success stories. Increase in food production, impressive growth of export-oriented apparel sector and remittance earning etc., can be cited as such successes.
Notwithstanding this, Bangladesh's actual performance has been below its potential most of the time since independence. This underperformance does largely account for Bangladesh's present predicament.
Effectively translating the basic goals of the long and arduous struggle for independence into reality remains a cause for wider concern. Despite having promising potential, the country is still far away from achieving, to any satisfactory level, the long-cherished goals because of corruption, intolerance and lack of foresight and pragmatism on the part of its leaders -- political and otherwise.
A political process is deeply connected with the quality and pace of social and economic advancement, with opportunities for participation by all sections of the population. This is even truer for developing democracies.
At a time when nations and people are putting their heads and shoulders together to bring forth good living standards for their people, Bangladesh politics has been and is riddled by personal greed, fuelled by unlimited ambition, and ripped apart by uncompromised divisions.
All of those who have abiding and unflinching allegiance to the Constitution of the Republic, those who unequivocally put national unity and sovereignty above party, faction, or private profit, must come together and form a grand alliance.
One cannot lose hope in the peoples' resilience, which is abundantly evidenced in all the calamities faced in the past. The people must be trusted and they will certainly deliver. This is exactly what the present government ought to pursue. Through trust and confidence, all odds may be overcome in the context of future scenario in Bangladesh.

The writer is Head of Tourism Language & Culture, National Hotel and Tourism Training Institute.