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Gains and pains

Pranab Kumar Panday
***The government has just spent six months in office, and there are five and half years to go. Its front-line political organisations must be honest in their activities. Only then, will their dream to build a poverty free Digital Bangladesh find its way towards reality.****
THE AL led grand alliance government has just passed its first six months in power, which is l/10th of its stipulated five-year term. Thus, we can weigh the functioning of the government in the first six months.
The first responsibility of the government was to reduce prices of daily commodities. The government was sincere and, as a result, prices of most commodities came down within a few weeks. Most importantly, the prices remained within the reach of the majority of the population in the first six months.
Another issue that brought credit for the government was the mature solution of the BDR incident. It was a wise decision on the part of the government not to carry out any army operation in the BDR headquarters.
The government has shown that it is sincerely trying to minimise the energy problems, and its daylight saving policy to save electricity is a welcome approach. I iowever, proper implementation will have
to be ensured. We have seen that many of the shopping malls remained open even after 8 P.M.
On June 20, Channel ! reported that most of the streetlights in the Sangshad Bhabhan area remained switched on even after 7 o'clock in the morning. If the policy is implemented in such a way, it will not help the energy saving program.
Another issue is the submission of a promising budget with a vision for ensuring sustainable development in the long term. The main challenge is implementation of the budget. If the government is able to implement it successfully, the welfare of the citizens will definitely be ensured.
Among the failures, one of the most important is the law and order situation. Although the government has said that it does not support extra judicial killings, incidents of cross fire are still taking place. Tender related violence is another issue that has had a negative impact on the performance of tire government. In most cases, AL's own front line organisations are involved in such violence. To me. it seems
that AL as a political party has established itself as the main opponent of the government.
Another issue is the continuing clashes in the Bangladesh Chatra League. Although the intensity has reduced, violent incidents are still taking place. Special thanks are due to the PM for resigning as organising head of the BCL in order to send a strong message that such activities will not be tolerated.
Although the PM formed the cabinet with honest people, there are some ministers who have failed to perform their duties properly. Moreover, a serious problem with coordination is evident within the different ministries. For instance, on the issue of Indian high commissioner's comments on theTipaimukh Dam, the foreign minister in a press conference asserted that he might have broken the diplomatic code of conduct.
On the other hand, the LGRD&C minister said that the high commissioner did not break any diplomatic code of conduct. When two important ministers of the government express different views on the same issue, it clearly indicates lack of coordination among the ministries.
In the early days of the AL government, the PM warned tlie ministers that their performance in tlic first six months would be evaluated. As a continuation of her statement, there is a rumour about reshuffling of the cabinet. However, reshuffling will not be enough, low performing ministers should be eliminated from the cabinet.
I am also critical about the government's stand on the issue of the opposition's absence in the budget session. The stalemate arose because of one extra seat for the opposition in the front row. Of course, the whole nation is critical about what BNP has done on this issue, but the AL would have received much appreciation from the common voters if it had offered one extra seat in the front row. In that case, the BNP would not have a reason to remain absent from the parliament. From the strategic point of view, it would add extra credit to the ruling party since it would have been able to pass the budget in front of the opposition.
Another important issue is that the government has failed to offer any programs intended to build a Digital Bangladesh. Since the internet is one of the most important instruments for building a Digital Bangladesh, we were expecting that there would be some instruction to the internet providers about reduction of the cost of internet. However, we did not find any sort of instruction.
Finally, the government has just spent six months in office, and there arc five and half years to go. Its front-line political organisations must be honest in their activities. Only then, will their dream to build a poverty free Digital Bangladesh find its way towards reality.
Dr Pranab Kumar Panday is Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Rajshah E-mail. pranabpanday@yahoo com.