Reducing economic inequality stressed to level up Bangladesh

Utmost importance needs to be given to reducing economic inequality in order to take Bangladesh to the level of a developed country, Nazrul Islam, visiting professor of Asian Growth Institute (AGI), Kitakyushu, Japan, has said in Dhaka.

He said Bangladesh is gradually moving towards becoming one of the most unequal countries in the world. "If we cannot avoid this inequality trap, it will not be possible to achieve a developed Bangladesh by 2041," said Nazrul Islam, also former chief of Development Research, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

He made the remarks while presenting the keynote paper at the Abdul Ghafur Memorial Lecture 2024, titled "Ten Tasks for Future Bangladesh," organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) yesterday. BIDS Director General Binayak Sen presided over the programme.

At the event, Nazrul Islam presented 10 tasks for the second phase of Bangladesh's development, including reducing economic inequality, eliminating geographical inequality, establishing good governance, improving the quality of democracy, and introducing a proportional representation system.

In addition, he urged the need to protect the environment and address climate change, establish village councils, promote social cohesion, provide special attention to women, children, youth, and the elderly, introduce universal military education, and strengthen sovereignty and follow a neutral foreign policy.

Nazrul Islam also discussed the reality of each of these 10 proposals, saying democracy has not yet become stable in the country. "A universally acceptable electoral system has not yet been developed. Instead, state power is benefiting the influential groups. This has led to a culture of taking illegal and unethical benefits," he said.

He also said economic inequality has increased in the country due to a discriminatory income distribution system. "This economic inequality leads to political inequality and the establishment of the dominance of the upper class in the state machinery. As a result, various government policies and decisions are used for the benefit of the wealthy class," Nazrul Islam said.

Professor Rehman Sobhan, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Mashiur Rahman, former economic adviser to the prime minister, Rounaq Jahan, distinguished fellow of CPD, and Kazi Iqbal, research director of BIDS, also spoke at the programme, among others.