Author: Amir Mohammad Sayem
Publisher: AH Development Publishing House
Publication date: February, 2022
ISBN: 978-984-93646-6-5
‘’Development Efforts of Bangladesh’’ is my third book. It is an excellent book on the development of Bangladesh. The book acknowledges some of the significant development efforts of Bangladesh in economic and other terms and covers a range of social, educational, economic, environmental, political, civil rights, and other issues and challenges which are crucial for further development. The aim of the book is to analyze a variety of important societal problems, identify challenges and provide effective ways for addressing challenges and improving various situations. For the further development of various aspects, this book includes a range of institutional, policy related and other effective pathways which are made based on analysis.
I have arranged various development issues covered in the book in several chapters. On issues related to education, human resource and health, the book nicely and critically analyses some issues including social change and the importance of reading, the significance of the participatory teaching approach, the development of human resources and the health system response. No doubt, all such issues are significant for the further development. The book clearly shows that there are a range of challenges to the improvement of education, health and human resource development related aspects of Bangladesh. Despite various challenges, the book reveals that there is room for further improvement in such important aspects.
Of course, economic development is very important for any country including Bangladesh. This book critically analyses a variety of economic development and social responsibility issues in a chapter. It analyses some important economic development issues including the blue economy and its prospects and challenges, the tourism sector and its challenges and prospects, the e-commerce sector, the price hike problem and its regulatory efforts, and the implementation of development projects and maintenance of quality. As is well-known, economic development increases social responsibility. No doubt, the elderly population is one of the most vulnerable groups in Bangladesh. I have noted the importance of social responsibility to the elderly population and the prospects of further development in some important economic aspects in the book.
It is notable that politics and civil rights are important development issues in Bangladesh. The book focuses on political and civil rights issues with critical viewpoints in a single chapter. Of course, there are many important aspects of political and civil rights. The book specifically looks at some crucial political and civil rights issues including, but not limited to, general polls, political committees and the importance of reformation, electoral violence, electoral security, demonstrations, protests and attacks of political cadres and the 2018 digital security bill. The book clearly shows that there are a variety of challenges to holding free, fair and credible elections and improving the situation of political and civil rights on many grounds in Bangladesh. But the book also notes that there are ways for making sure that different political and civil rights are exercised as desired in Bangladesh.
Of course, there are many other development issues and challenges in Bangladesh. The book provides an insightful view on some other important development issues including the development of Bangladesh and the importance of accountability, land grabbing and grabbing, its prevention and recovery, government services and the problem of brokers, forest management and its challenges and public transport and irregularities in a single chapter. Importantly, this book nicely and critically analyzes all such crucial development issues and identifies an assortment of institutional and other challenges in such a way that can greatly help to improve the accountability situation, the transport sector, government services and other aspects noted above.
It is significant to note that the book presented a new and broad perspective on human development and its process in the Annex. It looks at human development from a broader viewpoint reflecting philosophical, developmental and some other related viewpoints. This book has excellently and innovatively explained the overall process of human development. It has provided a societal process framework for human development consisting of six dimensions namely economic, social and cultural, technological, environmental, legal and political and religious/spiritual conditions. It explains different components and sub-components of broad dimensions for a clear understanding of the overall societal process of human development. No doubt, the consideration of the societal process framework into account, along with a broad understanding of human development, can greatly help to make social arrangements suitable for human development.
Of course, the book focuses on some limited development efforts in Bangladesh, although there are many development efforts in economic, social, political and other terms. But the strength of the book is that it covers some important development issues. Moreover, all economic, social, political and other development efforts are difficult to cover in a single book. More importantly, it can greatly help Bangladesh to develop its various social, economic, political and other aspects, even if its focus is limited. Indeed, the various suggestions given in the book can significantly facilitate making effective efforts for development on different grounds. So, this is undoubtedly an excellent development related book, even if it focuses on some limited issues of Bangladesh.
Despite the fact that the book mostly covers those development issues and challenges that are often discussed in various forums, including electronic and printed media, the analysis and viewpoints given in the book can greatly help to understand the possible steps to address the problems and challenges from a more acceptable viewpoint. This is mainly because I have adopted a reasoned approach without giving an unreasonable preference to any entity, group, or party for the analysis. Of course, different theories have been considered in the book to explain different development problems and challenges. Moreover, facts and evidence were given whenever needed to analyze and support the claims made in the book. As a consequence, this book is a scholarly writing.
It is worth noting here that concepts used, arguments provided and analysis carried out in different sections of the book are not as detailed as needed to understand in detail. Of course, this is expected because the book is made up of opinion articles published in several newspapers and a magazine. Since there are space limitations for the opinion articles in newspapers, it is difficult to elaborate on all concepts, points and arguments in many cases. To overcome this type of problem, I have used footnotes and clarified important concepts, arguments, or points with some details whenever necessary. There is no doubt that such extra effort has made the book better readable.
Of course, this book can be important for a wide variety of audiences including students, researchers, journalists, policy makers and political leaders. This book can help to understand various crucial development aspects from a critical point of view. But it will be particularly helpful to the policy makers and concerned authorities to make relevant efforts for the further improvement of different social, economic, political and other conditions of Bangladesh. Thus, I recommend for reading the book.
