Has Bangladesh become 'a dual society'?
Bangladesh is heading in a direction where we will soon see two different countries: one where the masses struggle to make ends meet and the other consisting of entrepreneurs, businessmen, and professional elite living in enclaves in big cities who frequently go overseas for vacations and shopping and live in a bubble in Gulshan, Banani, or Baridhara. Is that something we need to be concerned about? Not necessarily, because this trend is visible elsewhere and is probably the dynamic that is sustaining our economic growth.
As I was finishing up this article, I heard on the BBC World News headline (January 4, 2022) that even China, the last remaining bastion of an egalitarian society, has already become two countries, one for the rich and the other for the rest. There you go!
My recent trip to Bangladesh was a journey through many different ecosystems and societal formations of my country. As is inevitable, when you return to your birthplace, you experience many different emotions and each day takes you back to some historical milestones of the country. When I was crossing the recently inaugurated Padma Bridge, I remembered the ferry crossings the last time I went to Khulna only a few years ago as well as the travails we went through with a team of artists from Bulbul Academy of Fine Arts (BAFA) trekking from Dhaka to Shelaidah just after independence between May 8 and 10, 1973, to celebrate Tagore's birthday.
On December 28, I witnessed the inaugural run of the metro rail in Dhaka on TV and joined my fellow countrymen in offering a toast to the latest symbol of our march to join the polity of middle-income nations. Besides these mega-projects, I also saw various other symbols of our socioeconomic growth and prosperity.
Equally, I also was frequently in close proximity with the traditional way of life and came face-to-face with the contrasts that exist between the middle class and the average wage-earners, and came across some dark spots that are still ever-present in the country. As they say, "There's always darkness under the candle."
There is an abundance of wealth in pockets and for a segment of the upper crust of civil society commingling with the underlying sub-strata consisting of the populace who fight hunger and poor health. We saw the presence of financial hardships exacerbated by the recent bout of inflation, the grip of "bandhak" or usufructuary mortgage in rural areas, and the absence of decent healthcare services. In many ways, Bangladesh offers a kaleidoscope of divergent panoramas, both in terms of cultures and practices.
Among other things, I noticed load-shedding in Sylhet, the influence of "speed money" at every juncture, and the coexistence of the new and the traditional, and the "dual society". To quote Henry Settimba, "A dual society contains two worlds in one: the Third World and the First World coexist within the same nation, under the same authorities and the same flag. To a certain extent, this has always been the case, but the duality has become exacerbated and increasingly strident with the advance of globalisation."
In Jessore, we spent a couple of days in Banchte Shekha (Learning to Survive), an NGO whose rest house and dining hall always bring back some wonderful memories. We first met Angela Gomes, the founder of Banchte Shekha located in Arabpur many years ago when my wife stopped by with a group of American undergraduate students from Bridgewater State University (BSU) on a study tour. Gomes's vision for improving the quality of life for poor women and children was recognised internationally when she received the Magsaysay Award in 1999.
During our recent stay, Gomes candidly discussed her struggles and the challenges she still faces in working towards an equal society in an early morning one-on-one chat with my wife, who is an educator in the Department of Social Work at BSU. On the bright side, the trips to Sylhet, Kushtia, Jessore, and the suburbs of Dhaka were almost seamless except for the occasional gridlock while in transit. We travelled to poet Lalon Shah's ashram in Kushtia within a few hours from Dhaka, whereas previously it took us almost a day, and enjoyed an evening of music and dance with Abdul Quddus Mridha, instructor of Lalon Academy, and his very talented group of artists including Shahid, Aashalata and Shireen.
On December 16, 2022, we paid a visit to my Dhaka College Bangla professor, Abdullah Abu Sayeed, another Magsaysay Award recipient, at his present classroom at the Biswa Shahitya Kendra. He, still as articulate and humorous as ever, retains his old charm and is as much a magician with words as we have always known him. He sounded a little downcast as he informed us that his mobile library project may be seeing the end of the day as funding from the government has dried up.
A word or two on the omnipresence of speed money. I first came face-to-face with this curse and how much it has permeated through the practices and mores of our society when I was told by a friend that I need to pay cash upfront to the press for media coverage of my planned book launch event at the Policy Research Institute (PRI) on December 22. Coincidentally, at the book launch event, AKM Abdullah, senior financial sector specialist at the World Bank, asked the chief guest, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, "How do you expect that foreign direct investment (FDI) would increase if investors have to overcome the barrier of speed money?"
Three parting snapshots. If you live in Dhaka, either in Gulshan, Banani or Baridhara, then within a mile or so of your building, you will find everything you need: the embassies, the supermarkets, hospitals, European-style food courts, "Michelin-rated" restaurants, boutiques and universities. To quote the New Yorker magazine which showcased a new community in the Big Apple, "Literally, you could spend morning to night here and never have to leave".
On December 16, I went to a "Victory Day Party" in the Gulshan showroom of TanaPoren (Warp and Weft), which is part NGO and part commercial enterprise. The sarees I saw were gorgeous and very expensive (upwards of Tk 1,00,000) but it appears that the weavers are receiving but a fraction of the final price, according to some weavers from Sonargaon whom we met there.
As Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed reminded us when we visited him on Victory Day, this society will always have a chasm, and he used the example of the rickshaw puller who carries (or more accurately pulls) another fellow human being to make a living. "Our victory will be perfect when we cross this barrier," he said.
Dr Abdullah Shibli is an economist and works for Change Healthcare, Inc., an information technology company. He also serves as senior research fellow at the US-based International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI).