Where Bangladesh succeeded and Pakistan failed

[Black_cats]

Where Bangladesh succeeded and Pakistan failed​

Matching our defenses with our ambitions

Matching our defenses with our lofty ambitions is a prerequisite

www.dhakatribune.com

Women's empowerment has been a decisive factor in ensuring Bangladesh leapfrogged Pakistan as an economy

Kalshi Flyover Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune
Prithwi Raj Chaturvedi
Published: March 21, 2023 3:47 AM | Last Updated: March 21, 2023 4:03 AM

Bangladesh has accomplished what Pakistan was unable to -- a sensible population policy that succeeded in lowering the birth rate.

Pakistan, however, utterly failed in this endeavour. Miftah Ismail, a former Pakistani finance minister, made these remarks while speaking at an event in Karachi.

He cited Pakistan's lack of population planning as one of the causes of the nation's present socio-economic difficulties, adding that “one option to get out of the current maelstrom” was to pay attention to population planning. Miftah Ismail used Bangladesh as a case study of progress and listed four key areas for this: Population control, putting women in the workforce, an export-centric economy, and the establishment of special economic zones.

Miftah Ismail mentioned Bangladesh, Tunisia, and Egypt, saying that these nations too have Muslim societies, much like Pakistan. But all of them engaged in population planning except Pakistan. The former finance minister added that the country's gross domestic product per capita would have been more than 15% if they had matched the fertility rate to Bangladesh's over the previous 10 years. The Pakistani lawmaker said that Bangladesh as well as other South Asian countries like Sri Lanka have progressed significantly due to “accurate planning” whereas Pakistan has been plagued with problems in the last 75 years because of “wrong policies.”

Bangladesh was one of the world's poorest nations in December 1971, the month it gained independence from Pakistan. Its economy and infrastructure had been completely decimated by the catastrophic conflict. The changes Bangladesh has undergone a little over 50 years later are impressive. Since 2000, it has remained among the fastest-growing economies, and in 2015, it crossed the threshold to become a lower-middle-income country. GNI per capita rose to over $2,500 in 2021, a 20-fold leap from its 1971 levels.

Pakistan currently has an average per capita income of US$1,430, while Bangladesh has an average income of US$2,720. The average life expectancy in Pakistan has not increased as much as was anticipated. Whereas Pakistan has an average life expectancy of 67 years, Bangladesh has an average life expectancy of 73 years.

Bangladesh has achieved impressive strides in a variety of areas, but three strategic development decisions it has made over the years -- investing in people, empowering women, and preparing for disasters and adapting to climate change -- have paid off greatly.

The ex-minister from Pakistan who claimed that Bangladesh's quick economic development was made possible by its female workforce emphasized the significance of female engagement.

Women's empowerment was a key component of Bangladesh's plan to fight poverty. The country had one of the lowest rates of female educational attainment in 1991. Bangladesh was one of the first developing nations to achieve gender parity in secondary school enrollment because of a groundbreaking initiative that provided school stipends for underprivileged rural girls, which was later adopted in Mexico, Cambodia, and other nations.

Females currently make up more than half of students enrolled in lower secondary schools, compared to just 17% in 1970. Many thousands of rural women now have jobs thanks to the country's thriving RMG industry. The percentage of women who are in the labour force has climbed from 21% in 1990 to 35% in 2021.

Child marriage has also declined in Bangladesh; there were 28% female students in Bangladesh's educational institutions in 1971, and the percentage jumped to 51% in 2019. After Pakistan's reign, women have made significant progress, thanks in large part to Bangladesh's extensive efforts to remove obstacles to women's education. Because of this, Pakistanis are now clamouring for Bangladesh instead of Sweden, Singapore, or New York.

Bangladesh's achievement in developing itself has allowed it to assist other countries and the world community as a whole such as its great generosity in sheltering more than 1.1 million Rohingya who escaped atrocities in Myanmar. It is astonishing to see how this nation has developed from the destruction of war and natural calamities at the outset of independence to become a middle-income country today and is striving for even greater prosperity for all of its citizens.

Prithwi Raj Chaturvedi is a Researcher and Political analyst based in New Delhi,India

 

[Bilal Khan (Quwa)]

Fundamentally, the countries that economically succeed do so by having productive labour.

This often does involve adding women to the workforce, and that does help in making labour (for FDI, exports, etc) more attractive from a cost standpoint. But that in itself isn't the cause for economic success. It's a huge correlative factor, and I think a supporting factor, but not the cause.

The U.S., for example, was also an economic powerhouse prior to adding women to the workforce. Why? Because the U.S. had tuned its economy to produce things of value both domestically and for the world market. It had used its labour force (which was mostly males) in an efficient manner. Even as their population grew, they still managed to channel that labour growth in an efficient way.

However, in Pakistan, our society fell into the trap of "easy money."

From 1947, we had a creeping culture of giving 'supporters' easy jobs and access to resources. This culture was amplified manifold from the time of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto via the nationalization scheme that gave a lot of people easy wealth. In the following decades, programs like quota programs, income grants (BISP), etc, all compounded to get money into the hands of people who didn't earn it productively.

So, when the population grew, it grew in a cultural environment that didn't understand or value productivity. Worse, we never invested in education and skills training to put that population to work in an effective way. As a result, we ended up with a lot of people looking for handouts and easy money.

To prevent this inept population segment from revolting, our governments kept the easy ride system, but financed it through aid and, later loans. This, in turn, borked our ability to fund public programs (like education) by diverting more of our fiscal means to repaying debt and interest.

Anyways, if we had built a culture of 'earning your keep' instead of 'sticking your hand out,' then I think the population growth would've stabilized naturally (even in a conservative climate). But too many people got too much money too easily for decades, and that opened the floodgates to population growth, and we didn't have any plan to harness that labour pool productively.

 

[nahtanbob]

Fundamentally, the countries that economically succeed do so by having productive labour.

This often does involve adding women to the workforce, and that does help in making labour (for FDI, exports, etc) more attractive from a cost standpoint. But that in itself isn't the cause for economic success. It's a huge correlative factor, and I think a supporting factor, but not the cause.

The U.S., for example, was also an economic powerhouse prior to adding women to the workforce. Why? Because the U.S. had tuned its economy to produce things of value both domestically and for the world market. It had used its labour force (which was mostly males) in an efficient manner. Even as their population grew, they still managed to channel that labour growth in an efficient way.

However, in Pakistan, our society fell into the trap of "easy money."

From 1947, we had a creeping culture of giving 'supporters' easy jobs and access to resources. This culture was amplified manifold from the time of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto via the nationalization scheme that gave a lot of people easy wealth. In the following decades, programs like quota programs, income grants (BISP), etc, all compounded to get money into the hands of people who didn't earn it productively.

So, when the population grew, it grew in a cultural environment that didn't understand or value productivity. Worse, we never invested in education and skills training to put that population to work in an effective way. As a result, we ended up with a lot of people looking for handouts and easy money.

To prevent this inept population segment from revolting, our governments kept the easy ride system, but financed it through aid and, later loans. This, in turn, borked our ability to fund public programs (like education) by diverting more of our fiscal means to repaying debt and interest.

Anyways, if we had built a culture of 'earning your keep' instead of 'sticking your hand out,' then I think the population growth would've stabilized naturally (even in a conservative climate). But too many people got too much money too easily for decades, and that opened the floodgates to population growth, and we didn't have any plan to harness that labour pool productively.

Why is women's empowerment not a factor here ? Bangladesh economy has outgrown Pakistan only in the past 10-15 years

 

[Imran Khan]

we have never posted trillions of articles from 1971 to 2010 when BD was behind in numbers and mocked Bangladesh everyday . here Pakistan succeeded and Bangladesh failed . hope you got it . bangladeshis are acting like a shemale have give birth .article posted pic of slums and small road even my village have better bypass then this . wanna see ?

yes its middle of nowhere village

 

[Zhukov]

That same subcontinent syndrome.
Yahan ka Baba Adam hi Nirala hai.
How competitors behave
Rest of the world
"I am better then you"
Subcontinent
"You are Shi*tier then me"

Whole region is 3rd world, Majority below poverty line corrupt quagmires. Aik dusrey se compete lar ke khush hui jatey.

 

[Bilal Khan (Quwa)]

Why is women's empowerment not a factor here ? Bangladesh economy has outgrown Pakistan only in the past 10-15 years

Where did I say it wasn't a factor? I said it was a factor, but not the cause.

This often does involve adding women to the workforce, and that does help in making labour (for FDI, exports, etc) more attractive from a cost standpoint. But that in itself isn't the cause for economic success. It's a huge correlative factor, and I think a supporting factor, but not the cause.

Not having women in the workforce didn't help, but that wasn't the reason why Pakistan economically torpedoed itself.

When you...

1. Destroy the industry that was capable of value-added exports (i.e., manufacturing);
2. Staff your state-owned enterprises with cheque collectors who never show up for work;
3. Give income transfers to the rich;
4. Perennially fund your expenses on credit;
5. Fight a decade-long civil war on the Afghan border
6. Plunder your nascent public funds (meant for education)
7. Give subsidies to the wealthy by using loans to artificially prop the currency (so they can import cheaper)
8. Kill any incentive for domestic investors to set up productive businesses
9. Incentivize said investors to pump their money into land via real-estate
10. Create a culture of thuggery, bribes, nepotism, etc to prop your political careers
11. Drive your best talent out of the country
12. ...etc...

...you're going to have a dozen other reasons as to the collapse of your economy than not having enough women working. Yes, female labour participation was a factor, but as I said, it wasn't the cause of the country's economic collapse. And hearing the likes of Miftah Ismail (who just served a government guilty of some of the policies above) center on it is deflective and a bit rich.

These idiots didn't run the country right, but they're blaming it on the public for having too many kids. It's the same BS right-wingers in Europe throw at immigrant birthrates, except in Pakistan's case, it's by an elite who doesn't give a damn about its own people and is looking for excuses to take the blame off their shoulders.

 

[Menace2Society]

I don't understand why Banglas have to keep dick measuring. If you really want to measure dicks lets pull them out and lets see who has the biggest peepee

 

[Imran Khan]

I don't understand why Banglas have to keep dick measuring. If you really want to measure dicks lets pull them out and lets see who has the biggest peepee

article is BS just watch the female garment workers condition tons of documentaries on youtube . they are suffering worse conditions on earth to get 1500-2500 taka per month .

other side they send female maids to gulf countries where these poor females suffer worse domestic volance and toruture abuse to earn 200$ per month . these poor females are suffering so a proud bengali chest thump on internet ? no they are suffering because life is hard man .

on other side only 190000 people or companies in bagladesh have more then one crore + taka in banks . wealth distribution sucks .

The number of bank accounts with above Tk1 crore in deposits in the country increased by 3,426 to 1.09 lakh in the October-December quarter of 2022 compared to that of the previous quarter, according to the latest Bangladesh Bank report.

Bankers said such an increase in rich accounts – belonging to both individuals and institutions

 

[Azadkashmir]

article is written by indian.

 

[Meengla]

From 1947, we had a creeping culture of giving 'supporters' easy jobs and access to resources. This culture was amplified manifold from the time of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto via the nationalization scheme that gave a lot of people easy wealth. In the following decades, programs like quota programs, income grants (BISP), etc, all compounded to get money into the hands of people who didn't earn it productively.

So, when the population grew, it grew in a cultural environment that didn't understand or value productivity. Worse, we never invested in education and skills training to put that population to work in an effective way. As a result, we ended up with a lot of people looking for handouts and easy money.

And where do people not 'looking for handouts and easy money'? My conservative friends in America lament about how so many people are collecting various benefits and how so few people, relative to the population, pay taxes. One 'disabled' lady friend collecting 'Disability' and had her college loan written off even half-jokingly said that MY taxes are subsidizing her!!


Pakistan was ahead of Bangladesh most of Pakistan's history and can be ahead again. A large part of Pakistan's lower productive might be because a large part of the country is too macho to allow women's participation in the economy. Except for urban Sindh and urban Punjab, the mindset is of from centuries ago. But I also think Bangladesh has been greatly benefiting from political stability under Hasina for many years. Continuity of policies versus the chaos of the time when Hasina and Khalida were ripping BD apart. Pakistan faced political instability in the 'Lost Decade' of the 90s, then one of the worst era of terrorism, and now again political instability since April 2022. Bangladesh also benefits from the Peace Dividends with India, on which count Pakistan is in a very different situation.

But considering overall, Pakistan not only has larger agriculture potentials but also larger industrial and manufacturing potentials. Peace, stability and right leadership is needed.

 

[Skull and Bones]

we have never posted trillions of articles from 1971 to 2010 when BD was behind in numbers and mocked Bangladesh everyday . here Pakistan succeeded and Bangladesh failed . hope you got it . bangladeshis are acting like a shemale have give birth .article posted pic of slums and small road even my village have better bypass then this . wanna see ?

yes its middle of nowhere village

Bangladeshis needs to be shown their place, just like older times.

 

[Imran Khan]

Bangladeshis needs to be shown their place, just like older times.

prpegenda machine in BD working day night to make them look better . its ok .

do you see this ?? only 1 lakh 90 thousands accounts in BD have deposit more then one crore taka .its including individuals and institutions . how its wealth is distributes ?

 

[ThunderCat]

Why is women's empowerment not a factor here ? Bangladesh economy has outgrown Pakistan only in the past 10-15 years

Larger economy does not necessarily translate to prosperity. Otherwise India is amongst the world's five "richest" countries, when the opposite is true.

The same is true for Bangladesh. It's an impoverished country with close to 40% or even more living below the poverty line and probably the second largest poor population on Earth.

While your government propagates prosperity by publishing mostly nonsensical stats, your people express their frustration from the ground realities which the Bangladeshi elites seem to be oblivious to out of false pride:

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

Where Bangladesh succeeded and Pakistan failed​

Matching our defenses with our ambitions

Matching our defenses with our lofty ambitions is a prerequisite

www.dhakatribune.com

Women's empowerment has been a decisive factor in ensuring Bangladesh leapfrogged Pakistan as an economy

Kalshi Flyover Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune
Prithwi Raj Chaturvedi
Published: March 21, 2023 3:47 AM | Last Updated: March 21, 2023 4:03 AM

Bangladesh has accomplished what Pakistan was unable to -- a sensible population policy that succeeded in lowering the birth rate.

Pakistan, however, utterly failed in this endeavour. Miftah Ismail, a former Pakistani finance minister, made these remarks while speaking at an event in Karachi.

He cited Pakistan's lack of population planning as one of the causes of the nation's present socio-economic difficulties, adding that “one option to get out of the current maelstrom” was to pay attention to population planning. Miftah Ismail used Bangladesh as a case study of progress and listed four key areas for this: Population control, putting women in the workforce, an export-centric economy, and the establishment of special economic zones.

Miftah Ismail mentioned Bangladesh, Tunisia, and Egypt, saying that these nations too have Muslim societies, much like Pakistan. But all of them engaged in population planning except Pakistan. The former finance minister added that the country's gross domestic product per capita would have been more than 15% if they had matched the fertility rate to Bangladesh's over the previous 10 years. The Pakistani lawmaker said that Bangladesh as well as other South Asian countries like Sri Lanka have progressed significantly due to “accurate planning” whereas Pakistan has been plagued with problems in the last 75 years because of “wrong policies.”

Bangladesh was one of the world's poorest nations in December 1971, the month it gained independence from Pakistan. Its economy and infrastructure had been completely decimated by the catastrophic conflict. The changes Bangladesh has undergone a little over 50 years later are impressive. Since 2000, it has remained among the fastest-growing economies, and in 2015, it crossed the threshold to become a lower-middle-income country. GNI per capita rose to over $2,500 in 2021, a 20-fold leap from its 1971 levels.

Pakistan currently has an average per capita income of US$1,430, while Bangladesh has an average income of US$2,720. The average life expectancy in Pakistan has not increased as much as was anticipated. Whereas Pakistan has an average life expectancy of 67 years, Bangladesh has an average life expectancy of 73 years.

Bangladesh has achieved impressive strides in a variety of areas, but three strategic development decisions it has made over the years -- investing in people, empowering women, and preparing for disasters and adapting to climate change -- have paid off greatly.

The ex-minister from Pakistan who claimed that Bangladesh's quick economic development was made possible by its female workforce emphasized the significance of female engagement.

Women's empowerment was a key component of Bangladesh's plan to fight poverty. The country had one of the lowest rates of female educational attainment in 1991. Bangladesh was one of the first developing nations to achieve gender parity in secondary school enrollment because of a groundbreaking initiative that provided school stipends for underprivileged rural girls, which was later adopted in Mexico, Cambodia, and other nations.

Females currently make up more than half of students enrolled in lower secondary schools, compared to just 17% in 1970. Many thousands of rural women now have jobs thanks to the country's thriving RMG industry. The percentage of women who are in the labour force has climbed from 21% in 1990 to 35% in 2021.

Child marriage has also declined in Bangladesh; there were 28% female students in Bangladesh's educational institutions in 1971, and the percentage jumped to 51% in 2019. After Pakistan's reign, women have made significant progress, thanks in large part to Bangladesh's extensive efforts to remove obstacles to women's education. Because of this, Pakistanis are now clamouring for Bangladesh instead of Sweden, Singapore, or New York.

Bangladesh's achievement in developing itself has allowed it to assist other countries and the world community as a whole such as its great generosity in sheltering more than 1.1 million Rohingya who escaped atrocities in Myanmar. It is astonishing to see how this nation has developed from the destruction of war and natural calamities at the outset of independence to become a middle-income country today and is striving for even greater prosperity for all of its citizens.

Prithwi Raj Chaturvedi is a Researcher and Political analyst based in New Delhi,India

Simple. Bangladeshis are patriotic and care about their country whereas Pakistanis are too worried about the non-existent "Ummah" and fail to care about Pakistan.

 

[ThunderCat]

I don't understand why Banglas have to keep dick measuring. If you really want to measure dicks lets pull them out and lets see who has the biggest peepee

It's called inferiority complex. Apparently this country is "richer" than Pakistan according to them yet their people are living in our country by the millions. @nahtanbob @epebble get your people the ***ck out of OUR country. A great way to prove your country's "success":