Most. Farjana Sharmin
Bangladesh celebrated its 50 years of independence in 2022 and has undergone an economic transformation. Once, Henry Kissinger quoted Bangladesh as a 'Bottomless basket,' and now the country is an example of eliminating poverty. With the economic transformation, the government adopted a tech-based national policy to achieve sustainable development goals. Though the country has improved its status in various Human Development Indicators and gender equality, it is still the most climate-vulnerable state in the region. Bangladesh aims to adopt technology to eradicate poverty (SDG-1), foster sustainable economic growth (SDG-8), create universal learning opportunities (SDG-4), and ensure gender equality and women empowerment (SDG-5).
That's why Bangladesh has adopted two-way strategies to build the state as a tech nation. Firstly, it has focused on implementing a tech-based national policy framework, so this way, domestically, the country can get a favourable environment to implement tech-based statecraft to counter socio-economic challenges and establish good governance. Secondly, the government needs more skilled labour, knowledge, capacity building, and an infrastructure system to lag in technological development. Consequently, it is approaching other technologically advanced nations bilaterally or multilaterally to overcome challenges and barriers.
STI is vital for socio-economic development. Also, any country may fail to maintain healthy economic growth due to inadequate technological infrastructure and Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) endorsing policies.
Bangladesh announced various national tech strategies in 2009 to create an adequate tech structure where the government can connect from the top to the grassroots level through digitalization. Initially, the government only targeted the communication sectors through the investment in 'Digital Bangladesh' and 'Bangabandhu-1 but later expanded with the dream of 'Smart Bangladesh by 2041." Before diving into the 'Smart Bangladesh' policy project, let's see the status of the 'Digital Bangladesh' project, to what extent the Government of Bangladesh utilized the digitalization process in the governance system and how far the project successfully connected citizens and contributed to SDG.
Besides upgrading citizens' socio-economic lives through technology adaptation, the country plans to promote a digital economy. The Information and Communication Technology Ministry aimed to build ICT infrastructure to enhance the ICT-based industry, where the country can create online employment. The most significant part of government ICT policy is establishing equal opportunity and jobs for women by 2030. Digital platforms will be able to provide employment opportunities to underprivileged women through online employment. This way, the country's women can join the global digital freelancing market. The country's youth are utilizing social media platforms for business, and currently, more than 300,000 stores on Facebook are run by women.
Another critical objective of the digital economy is to reduce carbon emissions. As a victim of climate change, Bangladesh planned to promote digital industries. According to the World Economic Forum, if digital technologies can be used in industrial sectors, they could reduce global carbon emissions by at least 20% by 2050. Bangladesh, like other developing countries, has realized the importance of emerging technologies during the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic opened up the possibilities of digital platforms as employment opportunities and helped reduce the high percentage of carbon emissions during the pandemic. Bangladesh was hit by an extreme heatwave, challenging food security systems this year. Therefore, the government is adopting digital technologies in agriculture to enhance production. For example, using the internet can provide farmers with information regarding early floods and knowledge about modern agricultural systems. But in this case, the major challenge before the government is to ensure access to technologies and internet data at a low cost, or the government can provide tech support and training to the country's farmers through building IT centres. Besides agriculture, the country's primary economic source is the apparel industry, with the Ready-Made Garment (RMG) sector contributing 11.2% to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The country also plans to adopt emerging and cutting-edge technologies to increase efficient RMG manufacturing and markets. However, there are challenges due to the need for more infrastructure, expertise, and technological resources to adopt emerging technologies. However, the country has to overcome these barriers to survive in the competitive apparel industry.
Bangladesh's government also applies ICT and digital platforms in the education system. The state has created 86,000 "digital classrooms" and trained 1.5 million students. The Bangladesh government has made another move towards science and technology by investing in the first geostationary communication satellite, Bangabandhu-1. The satellite, launched in 2018 to provide internet coverage to the country's remotest areas, will enhance e-learning and e-banking support in the periphery. The government has also invested in the second satellite, 'Bangabandhu-2,' in cooperation with ROSCOS, Russia. And recently, the country signed a bilateral agreement with France to build an earth observatory system.
After the vision of making 'Digital Bangladesh,' the country is working on building 'Smart Bangladesh.' Various sources primarily clarify that "Smart" refers to the capability of using advanced technologies or cutting-edge technologies in all sectors. The "Smart Bangladesh" contains four strategic pillars – Smart Government, Smart Economy, Smart Society, and Smart Citizen. Through this project, the government wants to reshape the country with a tech-based society, a governance system, a cashless digital economic ecosystem, and a tech-advanced nation.
It is an undeniable fact that the country is in a transition period. Many areas need attention. The government aim to reduce the gender gap through the inclusion of the digital economy. But the irony is, according to the Mobile Gender Gap Report 2020, "women are 29 per cent less likely than men to own a mobile phone and 52 per cent less likely than men to use mobile internet." And not only are women lagging, but backward communities also can't get equal access to essential technologies like smartphones and internet facilities. The Societal cost of technology is also increasing. Digital platforms created opportunity, but inequality also increased, and most aspiring countries became victims of this societal transformation. And there is still a huge gap between urban and rural Bangladesh regarding ICT facilities or digital access. According to Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics (BSVS), "53.7 per cent of the urban population and 37.1 per cent of the rural population get internet access. A similar gap was found between male and female internet users. 47.6 per cent of men use the internet. At the same time, 34.6 per cent of women in rural areas get the opportunity to use the internet". Differences in internet prices in rural and urban areas also increased the digital gap between city and village areas. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) announced the launch of the "One Country, One Rate" initiative in 2021. But still, many service providers charge extra from rural people and mostly women are a victim of it.
Other than these, a significant threat to tech adoption is the increasing number of e-waste, which could cause severe human-made disasters for all of us. Unfortunately, the country has no firm rules to monitor or manage e-waste.
Bangladesh is trying to create a tech ecosystem for the implementation of SDGs. Therefore, the government must ensure all access to technology or technological services. Technology could be a new hope for Bangladesh to overcome socio-economic challenges. So, adequate tech policy and impartial implementation are needed to achieve the intelligent Bangladesh goal by 2041.
Most. Farjana Sharmin is
Fellow, Centre for Governance
Studies (CGS) and a PhD student in
South Asian University, New Delhi.
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