The announcement of Digital Bangladesh Imaginative and prescient 2021 was proclaimed in 2009. 13 years later, maintaining with the rising world adjustments, the federal government goals to ascertain Sensible Bangladesh – a developed and affluent nation by 2041 by means of the transition to a knowledge-based financial system.
A number of research discovered that, by 2041, Bangladesh is certain to maneuver ahead from a labour-driven financial system to a sophisticated knowledge-based financial system. This monumental imaginative and prescient can solely be ensured if we are able to meet the objective of getting a inhabitants with a per capita earnings of US $12,500, up from the current stage of US $2,824.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel. Policymakers of Bangladesh have already recognized and created a 14-point motion plan to materialise the imaginative and prescient of constructing a Sensible Bangladesh. The weather of ‘Sensible Bangladesh 2041’ will largely embody sensible schooling, sensible well being care, sensible agriculture, sensible commerce, sensible transportation, and so forth.
Up to now decade, the achievement and milestones reached by us as a nation within the digital sphere weren’t insignificant.
Up to now decade, the federal government has prioritised tasks below the Digital Bangladesh initiatives to quickly broaden on-line accessibility within the hopes of opening the door for intensive financial progress. A part of these initiatives included an award-winning mission of making a large community of over 8,500 Digital Centres to supply on-line providers to the final mile of us. The federal government additionally created 86,000 digital school rooms and skilled nearly 1.5 million youngsters in data know-how.
The contribution of ICT as a sector to the financial system has additionally seen a meteoric rise. The exports of knowledge know-how have surged, rising from roughly $25 million in 2008 to $2 billion in 2021. The Enterprise Processing Outsourcing (BPO) business in Bangladesh has additionally grown considerably. The BPO business is increasing at a price of about 24% per 12 months. The business generated round US $4 million in income in 2008. At present, the business brings in round US $68 million yearly and employs nearly 45,000 folks.
Bangladesh has additionally seen a fast enhance in its expert freelancing neighborhood. Bangladesh proper now’s house to the world’s second-biggest pool of freelancers in a world the place the gig financial system is rising at a fast tempo.
The panorama of the {hardware} business of Bangladesh has dramatically modified. Bangladesh is now regionally assembling the bulk share of cellphones inside Bangladesh. Some smartphone manufacturers are even exporting their merchandise to neighbouring nations. To facilitate the expansion of the {hardware} business, Bangabandhu Hello-Tech Metropolis (BHTC) has been established. This industrial park with an space of 355-acre is anticipated to accommodate state-of-the-art amenities for tech-based industries. Round 70 tech corporations have invested hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in BHTC to fabricate world-class tech-based merchandise in Bangladesh. Moreover, Bangladesh Hello-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA) joined forces with the Asian Institute of Know-how (AIT) to enhance the analysis and growth of the IT business. Basically, this may result in the upskilling of the youth in essential matters, together with cyber safety, blockchain, synthetic intelligence, and so forth.
Digital Bangladesh additionally noticed huge success with its Surokkha platform. The ICT Division constructed the Surokkha cell app and net portal to conduct the preliminary registration course of to distribute the Covid-19 vaccine amongst residents. Over 5 million folks downloaded the app from Google Play and the platform was instrumental in guaranteeing that the mass inhabitants got here below the vaccination program throughout the pandemic.
Nonetheless, the journey in direction of reaching the imaginative and prescient of a sensible and digitally inclusive Bangladesh is much from over. The Web, the very driver of this revolution, is much from being inexpensive in Bangladesh. Sluggish web speeds trigger latency for many web customers on the go. Bangladesh ranked a hundred and twenty fifth on the planet for cell web speeds out of 139 nations in September 2022, in response to Ookla, a worldwide platform that generates web pace stories throughout the globe. Regardless of the e-commerce business booming, a number of e-commerce platforms have swindled hundreds of thousands and affected the expansion of the business.
As well as, a authorities assessment discovered that the 761 digitised providers weren’t getting used correctly on account of gradual servers and unreliable web. In keeping with an evaluation of 67 explicit digital providers by the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU), some providers are not accessible. The members reported encountering a number of points whereas acquiring e-documents, e-passports, machine-readable passports, and e-trade licences, amongst different issues.
One other initiative that didn’t stay as much as its expectations was the home-grown public apps. Aside from just a few apps like Surokkha, the bulk have been faraway from Google Play on account of a scarcity of upkeep. In 2011, the state-owned Phone Shilpa Sangstha (TSS) assembled the nation’s first laptop computer. Initially, 4 fashions had been provided, and the costs for the laptops began at Tk 10,000. However the Doel laptops confirmed vital efficiency points, resulting in the mission getting suspended. Nonetheless, TSS is attempting to make a comeback as the federal government is contemplating declaring it as a hi-tech park to draw native and international investments.
Moreover, the digital divide, i.e. the hole that exists for accessing data by means of ICT for city and rural customers throughout the nation, widens when there are energy failures, inflicting the servers to go down often. This has lately hampered the productiveness of many freelancers throughout the nation, as they have not been in a position to entry uninterrupted web providers as a result of frequent energy cuts.
So the journey in direction of a Sensible Bangladesh is much from over. Capitalising on the demographic dividend, it’s doable to strengthen Bangladesh’s place on the world map by bringing revolutionary concepts. Solely then we’d be capable to construct a sophisticated and knowledge-based “SMART BANGLADESH”.
