Without anyone really noticing, some time during the 1980s Bangladesh stopped being regarded as an international basket-case. This was an appellation that had also coloured the vision of its Southasian neighbours, and the image was that of a country devastated by cyclones, tortured by famine, impacted by floods and droughts, and inhabited by a mass public that was expected to be a philanthropic burden to the world, much like the African Sahel.
As Bangladeshis look to themselves with some woe in the run-up to January's elections, there might of course be some justification in the pessimism that seems to exude from the very earth. Yes, the low-grade rivalry between Begum Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Sheikh Hasina Wajed's Awami League has all of us frustrated, and the rise of the Islamic right in politics is worrying. The all-pervading corruption in Bangladesh, from the highest of political circles to the depths of the criminal underworld, is nothing to be proud of. The continuing levels of poverty leading to labour migration, the incredible centralisation of power and wealth in Dhaka city, the statelessness of the Bihari community, the former Hindu presence now to be recalled only in place-names, the arsenic invasion affecting millions, the impact of the Ganga (Padma) diversion at the Farraka Barrage, the bureaucratic confusion over existing natural gas reserves, and the politicisation that drags down the relationship with India – all of these point to the massive challenges that face the Bangladeshi people.
But this is also a Bangladesh of successes, as achieved nowhere else in Southasia. The mega-NGOs, such as BRAC and Proshika, have succeeded in providing services to the mass population in a way that has taken place in no other neighbouring country. The innovation that is the election-period caretaker government is thought of as something to be copied. Whether it is the introduction of rural micro-credit or organic pesticides or traveling libraries, Bangladeshi NGOs take things to scale – whereas elsewhere in Southasia, at best we can achieve localised token successes.
The devastation from cyclones seems to have been largely curbed by the building of elevated shelters and evacuation procedures, something that the coastal regions of India could emulate. As for floods, due to the impossibility of building embankments in this deltaic country, unlike the upper-riparians the Bangladeshis are learning to live with the inundation, which has always been the course to take. In industry, though presently in sudden crisis, the Bangladeshi garments sector has shown its resilience, its ability to innovate and to deliver the highest quality products for the world market. The successes achieved by migrants in the West and elsewhere have begun to percolate back to the home provinces.