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When the interim government took power on August 8 last year, the economy was in ruins, thanks to its depredations by the deposed, rapacious autocratic regime. So, reviving the economy was obviously one of the core challenges facing the incumbent administration. So, a 12-member task force was constituted by the planning ministry to devise strategies for getting the economy back on track and mobilise resources to that end for its sustainable growth. The task force has reportedly produced a voluminous draft report that contains an elaborate, strategic set of recommendations emphasising short-term pragmatic interventions and long-term reforms across all the sectors of the economy and governance.
The recommendations encompass the entire gamut of issues ranging from maintaining economic growth, governance, public service delivery, protecting environment at a sustainable level and other pressing issues confronting the government. For instance, there is the suggestion for creating an independent centre to deliver government services through the social media. No doubt such mode of service delivery is already, though partially, in practice. However, the present recommendation as made by the task force in this regard has made a point of putting the AI to good use. Another suggestion is for building a buffer stock of commodities like diesel, fertilisers, edible oils, etc., as a protection against the volatility of the market.
True, the bulk of many of these commodities are imported. As the importers and wholesalers often take undue advantage of this situation by creating an artificial crisis, a buffer stock of the items can indeed be an answer to such business quarters' shenanigans. Recommendations for inviting foreign direct investment in the health sector or vocational education and training have their merits. The proposal demands serious attention of all concerned, given the general public's manifest lack of trust in the nation's healthcare service. Foreign investment and expertise can help modernise the infrastructure and improve quality of service of the health sector so that a significant portion of the foreign-bound patients could be given treatment at home and thereby save a lot of precious foreign currency. Similarly, with external fund and expertise, local facilities to train workforce seeking overseas jobs could get more advanced training on skills that would ensure higher earnings to benefit both their families and the state. Further recommendations on processes and institutions, for instance, revitalising the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), initiating economic diplomacy to further widen the country's access to the global market, creating a new institution like Regulatory Reform Commission (RRC), a Centre for Social and Behavioural Change Communication and Research (CSBCC&R) and so on in line with the trend of the time deserve consideration.
As the proof of the proverbial pudding lies in the eating, the said recommendations, however groundbreaking they may appear on the face of it, too, will be required to pass the test of their applicability on the ground. What is crucial here is the required change in the mindset of the people who are supposed to put the 'great ideas' on paper into effect. In fact, there was never any dearth of paperwork full of very convincing recommendations to refit, remodel or improve all conceivable aspects of the economy and administration under about every government in the past.
But the ideas or recommendations so advanced just remained on paper and nothing changed so far. Yet there is still scope to see the recommendations under discussion in a more positive light seeing that the present work represents the effort of a government that is the product of a revolutionary mass movement spearheaded by students to change the existing order. Hopefully, the recommendations made by the task force would be put into practice for reaping the intended benefits.