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Bangladesh’s GDP per capita will soon surpass India’s figure, as the IMF doesn’t seem to want to stop the debate in India over its ‘World Economic Outlook’.
Legendary commentator and former BBC journalist Mark Tully, who is closely associated with the Bangladesh Liberation War, entered the debate a bit indirectly this time. He praised the way the Bangladesh economy has changed in the past two decades after overcoming thousands of adversities, likening it to the ‘rise of the phoenix from the ashes’.
Sir Mark made the remarks in a comment in The Hindustan Times, Delhi’s leading daily newspaper, on Saturday (October 24). He also gave his own explanation of where and how the economy is moving in different sectors in Bangladesh compared to India.
Mark Tilly is a household name in Bangladesh for covering the liberation war in 1971 on behalf of the BBC.
He wrote: “The way the Pakistani army burned village after village in 1971 is no less important to rise from the ashes half a century later.” On his way from Dhaka to Rajshahi to cover the war, he saw the picture of devastation with his own eyes, and from there the tour of Bangladesh today fascinates him even more.
In just two and a half years after independence, Bangladesh fell into a terrible famine. Then, the murder of Bangabandhu gave rise to political instability in the country, the army officers became involved in the struggle for power. In that episode, then-US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger compared Bangladesh to a “bottomless basket.”
Describing that context, Mark Tully writes: “Even after that, for the past 20 years, economic growth in Bangladesh has been at a steady pace and many international organizations are accepting the ‘Bangladesh Model’ as an established development trend. “.
Mark Tully believes that there are two main factors behind the fact that Bangladesh has reached its present place. And in both places they have traveled a different path than in India.
First, the weak economic situation has for some time forced Bangladesh to follow the advice of donor countries and development partners. Although there was a strong socialist bias in the politics of Bangladesh and privatization was considered “anti-people”, all the governments of that country have literally accepted the advice of international donors by putting politics aside. But in neighboring India, privatization has always been a dilemma.
Second, NGOs or non-governmental organizations have always been encouraged to play a bigger role in the development of Bangladesh, which has never happened in India. For example, according to The Economist, “BRAC Bangladesh is now the largest voluntary organization or NGO in the world. His program has helped Bangladesh overcome extreme poverty and NGOs in at least 45 countries around the world are now following BRAC’s path.
“It is this economic development that has given Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the political capital to ignore criticism that ‘the country is being sold to India,’ and Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi have established good relations with two Indian Prime Ministers. successive, “he wrote. Lift up. Thanks to this good relationship, many years of unresolved issues such as the land border agreement have been resolved.
Mark Tully’s mother was born in Akhaura. The work of establishing a railway from Akhaura to Agartala is in full swing. He also commented in the article that if completed, India’s trade and connectivity through Bangladesh will get a different dimension. However, he warned that political campaigns ahead of the upcoming elections in West Bengal and the implementation of the ‘disrespectful’ citizenship law for Bangladesh could have a negative impact on bilateral relations.
The debate over whether Bangladesh’s GDP or economic growth is really outpacing that of India has been raging in the country for the past few days. Many well-known Indian economists have commented that the IMF’s predictions are wrong. By contrast, India is far ahead in other suitable criteria.
However, veteran analyst and commentator Mark Tully made clear that “India should learn from the way Bangladesh has risen from the ashes of destruction.”
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