Job scarcity key reason behind AL government’s fall

Lack of quality education and dearth of jobs were the ticking time bombs that brought down the authoritarian regime of Awami League, said noted economist Debapriya Bhattacharya.

Authoritarian governments survive on three elements: lies, fear and the illusion of development, he said yesterday at a session on the final day of the three-day Bay of Bengal Conversation organised by the Centre for Governance Studies at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon. These lead to suppression of critical voices, benefits for oligarchs, and finally the fall of the government, he said.

“Such authoritarians create structures to subjugate the media, civil society and private sectors and lie about history, figures of development and even election outcomes. Even people are picked up anytime from anywhere, which was seen in the case of Aynaghar.”

Then, such governments also create the illusion of prosperity to generate some growth to distribute the surplus among certain sets of people to keep them on its side, said Debapriya, the head of the 12-member committee formed by the interim government to prepare a white paper on the state of the Bangladesh economy.

“That crony capital creates oligarchs. The authoritarians think that they run the oligarchs but finally discover that actually the oligarchs are running them.”

Such a system is not at all inclusive but thrives on inequality and marginalisation and at the end of the day does not have enough money to support not only investment but also public expenditure for health, education and social security.

“That’s exactly what has happened in Bangladesh. We tried to fill up our democratic deficit with visible indicators of development,” he said, adding that there was infrastructural development but the countrymen have to pay through the nose for it for long.

As not enough money was spent on health, education and social safety, education quality declined, which led to the young people being unprepared for the job market, said Debapriya, a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue.

Thus, the student leaders who fought against the quota system were eager for government jobs because there were not enough jobs in the private sector.

“Whatever jobs there were, the government jobs were chosen for the party cadres and not for the university graduates,” he added.

At a separate session, panellists said civil society, trade unions and media have an important role to play in democracy and holding accountable the governments.

Building strong institutions is crucial towards this end.

The government policies need to be designed in a way that is sustainable and inclusive, and not complying with them would lead to political and social instability.

Only between May and October, 18 million people were affected by the variety of disasters and many of them suffered unspeakable losses, said UN Resident Coordinator Gwyn Lewis.

Ensuring equitable access to health and education, social protection, living wages and gender equality can greatly contribute to inclusive and sustainable development, she said.

South Asia is the least integrated region, with only 5 percent of the region’s trade taking place within it, said Pakistan High Commissioner Syed Ahmed Maroof.

There is ample potential for intra-regional trade that needs to be harnessed, he said, while calling for putting aside the political differences and boosting regional trade that can improve the lives of common people.

LondonGBDESK//