MPs became rubber stamps: Rehman Sobhan
Veteran economist Rehman Sobhan believes that the major political parties in the country are undemocratic and power has become centralised at the top levels of the government and political parties.
Members of parliament have turned into de facto landlords in their respective areas, making local government ineffective, he added.
Rehman Sobhan said the last three elections were flawed. In these elections, the elected MPs essentially functioned like rubber stamps.
As a result, after their terms, they spent their time on business and other activities, he pointed out.
Rehman Sobhan made these comments today, Saturday morning, while participating in the ABCD conference organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) at a hotel in the capital.
BIDS director general Binayak Sen was also present at the event.
Despite much controversy over the growth statistics and quality of the previous government's performance, Rehman Sobhan said the country made good progress in poverty reduction during that time. Bangladesh also performed well in various poverty indicators and human development.
The issue was mentioned in the White Paper Committee’s report, and no one has challenged the poverty reduction achievements in that report.
Centre for Policy Research (CPD) chairman and economist Rehman Sobhan said Bangladesh’s progress in reducing poverty from 57 per cent to 25 per cent is significant.
He also highlighted significant progress in areas like nutrition, child mortality, education, access to safe water, and housing.
In this context, Rehman Sobhan said that researchers should focus on understanding the new forms of the Bangladesh Paradox.
If the areas of inequality are identified, corrective measures could be taken, he said.
Economists and researchers from both home and abroad attended the event. The BIDS conference, which started today, will continue until Tuesday.
While there had been surprise over the country’s growth in the absence of good governance, now the question is how Bangladesh achieved such progress in poverty reduction and human development despite inequality and poor governance.
He believes economists will face challenges in researching this phenomenon.
Rehman Sobhan also pointed out the structural problems that create inequality in the country. He criticised government policies that allowed loan defaulters to benefit, which he believes increased inequality.
Criticising economists, Rehman Sobhan said that the measurement of inequality is solely based on household income and expenditure surveys, with no broader perspectives.
He argued that income tax records should be an important source for measuring inequality.
Rehman Sobhan explained that the current definition of 'top earners' in the household income-expenditure survey includes people with assets of Tk 1 million and monthly earnings of Tk 30,000.
This threshold of income is common among many car drivers in areas like Gulshan and Baridhara.
"If this standard is used, many people would be excluded from the statistics," he added.
Therefore, Rehman Sobhan believes the work done by researchers is mostly ornamental and personal in nature.
He also said that inequality in society is increasing but the nature of this inequality is not being accurately depicted.