Vision 2021

Vision 2021 was the political manifesto of the Bangladesh Awami League party before winning the National Elections of 2008. It stands as a political vision of Bangladesh for the year 2021, the golden jubilee of the nation. The policy has been criticized as a policy emblematic of technological optimism in the context of Bangladesh and the state repression of media, low internet penetration, inadequate electricity generation.[1] The Vision 2021 is an articulation of where this nation needs to be in 2021 – the year which marks the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence.

Targets

The main goal is for Bangladesh to become a middle income country where poverty will be completely eradicated.[2][3]

Digital Bangladesh

Digital Bangladesh implies the broad use of computers, and embodies the modern philosophy of effective and useful use of technology in terms of implementing the promises in education, health, job placement and poverty reduction. The party underscored a changing attitude, positive thinking and innovative ideas for the success of “Digital Bangladesh”.

The philosophy of “Digital Bangladesh” comprises ensuring people’s democracy and human rights, transparency, accountability, establishing justice and ensuring delivery of government services to the citizens of Bangladesh through maximum use of technology, with the ultimate goal being the overall improvement of the daily lifestyle of general people. This includes all classes of people and does not discriminate people in terms of technology.

The government further emphasized on the four elements of “Digital Bangladesh Vision” which are human resource development, people involvement, civil services and use of information technology in business.[4]

Criticism

The promotion of "Digital Bangladesh" has received criticism and ridicule from many in Bangladesh.[5][6][7] It is commonly believed that the word "digital" used by the ruling Awami League government seemingly refers to doing work in any relevant sector easily and rapidly using computation, raising concerns of whether it is a goal or a slogan.[7] Although some scope exists for employment and income generation sectors like outsourcing, online retail and offering different public-private hybrid services through Union Information Service Centres have been implemented, the economy at large has remained stagnant.[8][9] It is alleged that in reality, no significant development has taken place until 2015, and progress was slow. For example, the government planned to run the offices including the ministries through digitalised systems but until January 2015, the public offices were still serving through the traditional filing systems.[10] Although mobile based money transfer or banking had reached a significant stage and increased the money flow from the urban to the rural areas, electronic payment still lagged far behind, with only Tk 6 crore transactions a month.[10]

A part of the “Digital Bangladesh” project was also massive overhauls of the government’s websites. This, however, included the publication of thousands of sensitive data points. The breakout of the 2012 ICT Skype controversy revealed that residential phone numbers of all the officers of the foreign ministry were available online. Government institutions had published their employees’ “Personal Data Sheets” online – a record that includes sensitive contact information (including postal addresses, e-mail and mobile numbers), their National ID numbers, details on their education and details on their parents.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Whither Digital Bangladesh?". The Khichuri. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  2. ↑ Government Policies: Vision 2021 (2012) Board of Investors, Bangladesh (Accessed: 2012-05-23)
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ Overview: Digital Bangladesh (2012) Prime Minister's Office (Accessed: 2012-05-23)
  5. ↑ Das, Subir (30 January 2009). "Digital Bangladesh". Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  6. 1 2 Sander, Lalon. "Why judges should not be skyping about work". BDnews24.com. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Choatic traffic management in 'digital' Bangladesh". The Financial Express. The Financial Express. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "Whither Digital Bangladesh?". The Khichuri. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  9. ↑ Titumir, Rashed Al Mahmud; Roy, Nibedita; Hossain, Md. Nasir; Md. Adnan, Shahid (February 2013). "Industrial Sector of Bangladesh: Status Quo or Re-Visioning?". Bangladesh Economic Update 4 (2).
  10. 1 2 Mamun, Abdullah (29 January 2015). "Digital Bangladesh: progress slow". The Daily Star. The Daily Star. Retrieved 29 January 2015.

External links

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