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Bangladesh was born out of a liberation war nurturing the values of freedom, democracy, social justice and self reliance -- all of which, according to Andre Malraux, together were "the last noble cause." Since independence in 1971, our densely populated nation at the head of the Bay of Bengal has swung between hope and despair, between mass apathy and violence in the streets. Many economic growth-oriented development models may create gross happiness for the national elites, but are yet to bring genuine and lasting happiness for the majority. That is why it appears necessary to formulate and build the premises of a self-reliant social development model for Bangladesh, the population of which always maintains the spirit of rejuvenation for political, economic and social emancipation. A self-reliant development must be measured and indicated not only on the basis of economic efficiency and productivity but also of social proficiency and happiness.
Among the development prerequisites and aspects and prospects of development, the problems of population and resources, present and desired development structure, and the country's contribution and status within the new international economic order are very crucial issues for studies. Bangladesh has abundant human resources -- both skilled and unskilled; good soil for agricultural raw materials, but not always favourable climatic conditions; no important minerals like ore and coal but natural gas and probably oil in the Bay of Bengal. Its traditional farming and agricultural system, second-grade technology and equipment in the few industries, worn-out railways, insufficient road, inland and sea-borne transport system; an infant airways system; and indecisive and inconclusive mixed relations of public and private ownership in industry do not help the cause. These prerequisites -- positive and negative, adequate and inadequate -- form the basis of territorial or decentralised planning, in which territorial needs are to form the goals of planning and the course of action.
What Bangladesh needs is a combination of self-help development process and coordinating development means. Self-help development means development by and for the people. Without a horizontal model and process of development with vertical complementation of necessary means, Bangladesh cannot realise a much-needed balanced and equitable social development. Dependence on land has increased more than on other economic sectors, due to a higher rate of population growth in the rural areas compared to the urban areas, a lower rate of growth in land reclamation and the addition of new land to agriculture, and a relatively lower rate of increase in agricultural and industrial fields than in the population growth rate.
The term self-reliance was coined by Ralph Waldo Emerson in a similarly titled essay published in 1841 which stressed the trust in one's present thoughts, skills, originality, belief in own capabilities and genius and living from within. A famous quote from this essay is: "Envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide". Translated to communities, this philosophical concept takes a slightly different path emphasising the power of independence, creativity, originality and belief in strength and resilience. It also rejects the need for external support and glorifies the importance of self-application, e.g., tilling of the land to get the "kernel of nourishing corn" (Emerson, 1841). Mahatma Gandhi expanded this concept to incorporate a simple lifestyle asserting that nature produces enough for our wants, and if only everybody took enough for him/herself and nothing more, there would be no people dying of starvation in this world (Kripalani, 1965: 130). The contribution of Rabindranath Tzagore as a social thinker was his pioneering experiments to promote collective grassroots initiatives in rural Bengal in the mid-20th century and his philosophy of the Human Being, and of national independence and development that anticipated later-day thinking on self-reliant and participatory development.
In 1971, Bangladesh had 75 million people and its per capita annual income was $100. In 43 years, its population has increased to 156 million and per capita income to $986 in 2014. Since 1991, its average annual growth rate has improved at the rate to 5.4 per cent. Irrespective of this achievement, the average income still remains at $1.90 per day. Bangladesh was a self-reliant country in the past in the sense that it depended entirely on the efforts of its own people but the introduction of the Green Revolution in the 1960s caused a sharp change in its self-reliance stance. It introduced dependence on outside aid which is a well-known phenomenon that slows down the path to sustainability. Schumacher (1973), for example, stressed that foreign aid is able to play only a limited role in bringing about sustained economic development.
A country that makes development plans which utterly depend on the receipt of substantial foreign aid may do much damage to the spirit of self-respect and self-reliance of its people. Even in the narrowest economic terms, its loss is greater than its gains. Resources, particularly money, are not value-free. They bring certain baggage with them, depending on their origin and culture. They may not be available to you in the future, they have significant disadvantages that outweigh their advantages. Carmen (1996) also notes that development aid is tied to the power of money and the power of money is identified with the right of interventions. Such interventions generally impact negatively on traditional systems within society causing a breakdown of its integrity. While foreign funding becomes precarious, there are a few situations where the opposite may happen. Foreign funding does not build local support and supporters and throws into sharp contrast to promote self-reliance.
The concept of living in a state of self-reliant sustainability involves a natural, simple lifestyle with enough for basic needs. It does not encourage ill health, famine, illiteracy or inadequate living standards. Self-reliant living is a viable means to caring for Nature and other human beings, and hence, for sustainability. The examples from Bangladesh show that there is an opportunity for making changes and creating culturally appreciated alternatives. Diverse development endeavours of the current era have shown mixed sign of sustainable development so far; in some cases they have contributed to the depletion of natural resources.
Dr Muhammad Abdul Mazid is a former Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh and a former Chairman of NBR.