What should have been in the budget
We need to focus on jobs and leave the rest in the hands of the people, argues K. Siddique-e-Rabbani
Poverty alleviation needs enhancement of the purchasing power of the masses, and that needs mass- employment generation. This simply cannot happen through direct government initiated programs like earth cutting for road and food for work, or through grants or through setting up of a few large industries with foreign investment, as suggested in our national budget. Every year, about 3 million new individuals join the work force in Bangladesh. The sheer dimension of the problem is beyond the realm of any direct action or program of the government, and those in policy-making need to understand and appreciate this fact well. While making policies, we tend to think of the masses only as pairs of hands -- cheap labour to be exploited -- but we fail to appreciate the fact that each of them is an individual human being, having an innovative brain, who can find his/her way out even from a deep crisis, if we do not impose manmade obstacles deliberately or inadvertently. The government machinery, however brilliant it may be, can never match the brilliance of the millions of people. One should also appreciate that people are ready to face many challenges with their ingenuity; they can surmount many obstacles, but any obstacle coming in the form of a government policy, or obstacles created by its corrupt administrators, are simply insurmountable for them. This is particularly so since we still have not been able to come out of a top-down system of government administration. Poverty alleviation and mass employment can work for the millions of people only when the brain and the hands of each individual are allowed to blossom in a free and fair environment, and this should have been the basis of the policies in the budget which is called pro-poor. Unfortunately, it has not been that way, neither was it ever in the past. No cost
As mentioned above, poverty alleviation can only come from mass employment, and that can come from two major sectors -- agriculture and small industry -- in both of which the people can exercise their ingenuity and skills. So the policies to look for in the budget are those that help creation of a suitable environment for enhancing the spontaneous activities of people in these two sectors. Such a policy demands very little, almost nothing, from the government exchequer in the short term. The long-term requirements are education, research, and training of the people, which are already in place. Therefore, in the immediate time frame, such policies demand only some inhibition-free vision (free from vested interest groups -- local and international), and brainstorming on the part of the policymakers, and a stroke of a pen, nothing much. Because of some favourable policies in the field of agriculture, and new technologies offered by the local agriculture scientists, our intelligent farmers could feed a population that has doubled in the last 30 years. Moreover, they achieved this success with age-old tools, and even with inadequate and irregular supply of necessary inputs like seed, fertiliser, electricity and/or diesel for irrigation, etc. by the government. Although much more needs to be done in this sector, the other sector mentioned above is a complete tragedy, and is a classic example not only of government failure but also of the government itself posing as the greatest obstacle. Dr. K. Siddique-e-Rabbani is Professor of Physics, Dhaka University, and Member, National SME Taskforce.
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