Was it necessary?

The boys are likely to have new toys. The nation will have paid $ 1 billion for it.
Smiles were all over as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the arms deal. Putin was happy not only for the arms deal. Russia also made a good business by providing hard loans to Bangladesh.
Interestingly, whenever the AL government comes into the power Russia starts negotiating to sell arms. We remember the MiG-29 deal. In the name of modernisation of Bangladesh Air Force the then AL government bought the MiG-29s, which have been mostly grounded for the last few years.
The rate of interest on this $1 billion is 4%, which indeed is very high by any measure, especially when one year LIBOR rate is only 0.82%. Internationally, interest rates are set taking the LIBOR into account.
We remember that the loan of $1 billion offered by India to develop our fourteen different infrastructure projects bear an interest rate of 1.75% only with a re-payment schedule of twenty years.
Now the question is, what is the priority to buy these arms from Russia with such a high rate of interest?
Such deals are justified with the political slogan of modernising and strengthening the army. But why do we need such a strong army? And who are we going to fight?
Our country is almost surrounded by India and slightly by Myanmar. The mere thought of matching Indian armoury is ridiculous. We simply do not have that much money.
Even if we ever get into conflict with India or Myanmar, the best solution will be to use diplomacy. The quality of our diplomacy has already been proven through resolving the maritime problem with Myanmar; and we are also very close to solving a similar dispute with India.
Regional problems like Ulfa and Shanti Bahini have been resolved through diplomacy. The Rohingya problem with Myanmar has to be resolved again through diplomacy. The quality of our diplomacy could be improved further to tackle any future territorial problem.
The other logic being advocated is that the army needs modern arms for its peacekeeping role. First, the peacekeepers bring in a limited amount to Bangladesh. According to one estimate it was $1.2 billion in the last three years.
This foreign exchange is earned through the peacekeepers on the condition that they continue to get their salary from our revenue account. There is no such provision for any other professionals who take lien from government service.
When public university teachers go for research with lien they don't get their salary at home. Why should we spend so much on arms to earn very expensive foreign exchange for the country?
Compare this with the earnings of our skilled and semi-skilled labourers who bring in $14 billion a year. This helps us to maintain balance of payment. What does the government do for these foreign currency earners? How much does the state spend on their welfare? No government has done anything significant for their welfare. These foreign currency earners are the most neglected. They are harassed and cheated at every step in their life.
We have a priority case here glaring at us -- the Padma Bridge project. This one bridge would have generated 1.2 percentage point of GDP growth and more than 7 lakh jobs.
So why do we not secure loans for the bridge instead of arms? Definitely, the Padma Bridge is more important than buying arms.
There is more news -- the government is going to buy a submarine for our Navy. We will be the 41st “proud” nation to have a submarine. Countries like Singapore could not yet buy a submarine. Going for such spending spree on arms would continuously balloon our defence budget because of the sheer need of maintenance.
Ironically, Transparency International has published a report that says Bangladesh is at risk of corruption in defence purchase. The recent arms deal with Russia has not been discussed in public. No-one knows the details of the deal. How can a country like Bangladesh, with all her development needs, go for such an arms purchase spree?

The writer is a former student leader and businessman.