Time is limited, the way is impassable. This difficult journey on the highway begins after crossing many bloody paths. A long way to go. Maybe the footprints will be the witness of time. The interim government is running for this purpose. Three months have passed through the multifaceted challenges of taking over. Some of these challenges are visible and some are invisible. But the potential was also huge. Firstly the unprecedented support of the people of the country and secondly the assurance of support and spontaneous cooperation from the outside world including development partners. But in three months all the possibilities could not be utilized. The government says that it wants to take advantage of the possibilities and move on to the future.
1 month and 4 days movement of the student population led to the fall of the autocratic Hasina government on August 5. Three days later on August 8. The journey of the interim government under the leadership of Muhammad Yunus began. But the whole country was disorganized and isolated. Those concerned say that no one was prepared to accept the fall of the Hasina government as quickly as it did. As a result, walking with hilly challenges. Success and failure in three months may be heavy. White eyes may not have satisfying major achievements. But the potential is huge. Hopefully things are starting to pick up a little bit already.
According to analysts, the challenges are legal complications, restoring confidence, maintaining law and order, restoring order in administration, rebuilding a fragile economy, keeping politics moving and maintaining foreign relations. There is success in some cases. A number of initiatives have been taken including the formation of 10 commissions in the desire for comprehensive reforms. However, economists say that the state of the country's economy is not good. The development of this sector should be given importance.
If asked, the former caretaker government's finance advisor. AB Mirza Azizul Islam told Yugantar on Tuesday, 'I don't want to comment on politics. But the economy is not good. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Asian Development Bank have downgraded Bangladesh's gross domestic product (GDP) growth in their forecasts for the current year. They say, the growth may be 4 and a half percent. Besides, inflation is increasing. The condition of exports and foreign exchange reserves is not good. However, remittance or expatriate income is increasing. How long it lasts remains to be seen. He said, it is difficult to say how the situation will be in the coming days. It will be understood after some time. According to official data, 12 meetings of the advisory council have been held since taking charge. A total of 56 decisions were made in these meetings. Of these, 39 have been implemented. Besides, two policies and 8 agreements have been approved and 10 ordinances have been issued.
Formation of Reform Commission: 1 month and 6 days after the fall of Hasina government and 1 month and 3 days after the formation of the interim government, Chief Advisor Dr. Yunus. Among them, Sujan (Citizens for Good Governance) Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar was made the head of the Election Commission. Former Public Administration and Home Secretary Safar Raj Hossain, Head of Police Reform Commission, Former Justice Shah Abu Naeem Mominur Rahman, Head of Judiciary Reform Commission, Chief Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, former caretaker government advisor Abdul Mueed Chowdhury, the head of the public administration reform commission and the head of the Constitution Reform Commission, professor of government and politics at Ilion State University, USA. Ali Riyaz. 6 commissions will submit recommendations within the next three months ie 31 December. After that, the government will consult with the main political parties based on the report. At the final stage, the outline of reform ideas will be finalized on the basis of a three-to-seven-day consultation meeting involving students, civil society, political party representatives, and government representatives. There will also be an idea of how this outline will be implemented. The date of elections will be announced by the government once the reforms outline is finalised. Also 4 more commissions have been finalised. These are the chief national professor of health reform commission. AK Azad Khan, Media Reforms Commission Chief Eminent Columnist Kamal Ahmed, Labor Rights Reforms Commission Chief Syed Sultanuddin Ahmed of Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies and Women's Affairs Commission Chief Women Affairs Shireen Parveen Haque.
Reform progress: One month after the formation of the state reform commission, the chief adviser met with the commission heads on November 4. Muhammad Yunus. At this time various progress of the Reform Commission was informed. The Public Administration Reforms Commission has already started collecting everyone's opinions through the website. Discussions are being held with the public at the district and upazila levels. The Police Reforms Commission has already held 10 meetings. Besides, four more meetings were held with the stakeholders. A questionnaire has been prepared for public opinion. Which is already given on the website. The Electoral Reforms Commission is working to identify weaknesses in the preparation of transparent voter lists. The voter list is being coordinated with the national identity card. They are consulting partners using digital platforms.
White paper committee to detect corruption: A committee has been formed to prepare a white paper to evaluate the extent of corruption in various sectors of the country in 15 years. Private research institute Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) special fellow. Devapriya Bhattacharya has been made the head of the committee. Besides, there are 11 other members in the committee. The committee will report within three months.
Bank Task Force: A 6-member task force was formed on September 11 to reform the much-criticized banking sector of the country. It is headed by the Chief Adviser's Special Envoy for International Affairs, Lutfe Siddiqui. There are 6 other members. The task force will mainly assess the current financial situation, bad assets and major risks of the banking sector to safeguard financial stability. Apart from this, the financial index review of weak banks, assessment of the actual condition of loans, assessment of security deposit deficiency, review of liquidity situation, assessment of net capital, determination of the actual value of assets, will conduct activities related to separation of bad assets of the respective banks.
Cost reduction: Initiatives have been taken to reduce the cost of Hajj and the cost of fuel. 6 lakh 43 thousand 800 rupees was fixed in the general package for going to Hajj in 2024. In recent times, the expenditure has been reduced by 1 lakh 6 thousand 644 rupees from there. That is, the general package of Hajj in 2025 is 4 lakh 83 thousand 156 taka. Also next year there is no official special package. On the other hand, the price of fuel oil has been slightly reduced.
There is no good news in the stock market: The stock market is one of the most discussed topics in the country's economy. Changed conditions have brought changes in the stock market along with other sectors. The regulatory body Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has been given new leadership and a task force on market reforms has been formed. But nothing has changed positively in the market. Investors are on their own in sustained price declines.
Restoring trust: One of the problems of the previous government was the lack of trust of the people. Especially the statistics do not match the reality. In addition, most of the people did not believe the information that was disseminated using the state media about elections, disappearances and false cases of harassment, disappearances, murders. In this situation, restoring trust among the people was a big challenge for the government. But the situation is improving somewhat.
Law and order situation: After the fall of the Awami League government, the law and order situation in the country was very unusual. At this time, the police observed a continuous strike for a week. As a result, students have come down on the road to control the traffic system. Due to lack of police in the police stations, there was a nationwide fear of robbers. At this time, people in the neighborhoods have been keeping watch at night. However, the police returned to work after a week. Government buildings and industries were affected at various places. The army was deployed with judicial power to improve the situation.
Administrative Discipline: After August 5, the administrative discipline of the country was broken. Panic, unrest and chaos in all institutions. Those concerned say that the government fell so quickly that no one was prepared to accept it. As a result, it affects the administration. Also there was great unrest with the resentment of the demoted. However, many problems have already been overcome.
Economy: During the tenure of the previous government, the most distrust was in the various statistics of the economy. Although the state of the economy was shown to be inflated, the real situation in various indicators was weak. Among these, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, inflation, foreign exchange reserves, government development projects, export earnings - everything was full of false information. There are many questions about these statistics at the national and international level. But there is no logical explanation. Also unlimited money laundering, defaulted loans and bribery were institutionalized. Banks and stock markets have been looted recklessly. There was an unwritten ban on the media in disseminating this information. The people of different intelligence agencies used to obstruct the release of this information in the media. However, after August 5, the correct information about the economy is coming out. However, most of the indicators are negative. However, two indicators have already started to turn around. Remittance or expatriate income is increasing at a significant rate. The low foreign exchange reserves have also started to increase.
Efforts to bring back the smuggled money: One of the problems of the economy was money laundering from the country. Anti-corruption agency TIB said on average $12 to 15 billion was laundered from the country every year over 15 years. The governor of Bangladesh Bank said that Sheikh Hasina's close associates have smuggled 17 billion dollars from the banking sector alone. However, in recent times, initiatives have been taken to return the smuggled money. In this regard, the assistance of various organizations including the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been sought. Bilaterally, there have been meetings with many countries.
Politics: The changing situation has had a major impact on the political arena. Prior to this, political programs other than a party and coalition were unwritten. It was difficult to speak out against the government, especially Sheikh Hasina and her family. But the situation has changed a lot. Political parties are carrying out their respective programs. The political parties held a meeting with the chief adviser on the issue of reform of various institutions of the country. However, Awami League, its organs and 14-party alliance are still not able to carry out the program.
Genocide Trial Tribunal: Law enforcement forces and the then ruling Awami League committed genocide during the mass movement led by anti-discrimination students. The matter of the trial of this genocide has come to the fore. The International Criminal Tribunal was reconstituted to try it. A new judge has been appointed. The tribunal has already ordered the arrest of those involved, including Sheikh Hasina, on the application of the prosecution in the criminal investigation. Next court hearing on November 18.
Foreign relations: as the head of the interim government. After Yunus took office, various countries of the world including Europe, America, development partners and donor organizations congratulated. Neighboring India also welcomed the Yunus government. However, the news published in various media and various sources say that relations with India are not in a place of much comfort.
Floods: At least 15 districts including Feni, Noakhali, Lakshmipur and others experienced severe floods immediately after the government took over. 52 lakh people are affected by it. The efforts of the people, students and government across the country to deal with this flood was unprecedented. It was also a challenge for the government to advance the rehabilitation process in these districts during the post-flood period.
Education Sector: The education sector was the most stagnant during and after the movement. Students' classes, exams - everything was closed during the said period. However, the government has started work to cut the stagnation that was created in the education sector. Vice-Chancellors have already been appointed in various universities including Dhaka University. In the rest of the universities, the process of appointing vice-chancellors is going on. There were isolated incidents in educational institutions in different parts of the country, but now it has reduced.
Resignation issue of the President: Among the topics discussed in the last three months, the President. Sahabuddin's resignation is one of the demands. In a media interview, he said that he has not received the hard copy of the resignation letter of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. But earlier in his address to the nation on August 5, he said that Sheikh Hasina has resigned. The anti-discrimination students once again took to the field to demand the resignation of the president in protest of his two types of statements. However, the interim government left the matter to the decision of the political parties. But BNP did not want his resignation even though other parties wanted it. As a result, the matter is still pending.
Incidentally, in 15 years, Bangladesh took the form of extreme misrule. Fascism, extreme lies, one-party rule, corruption, money laundering, banks and stock markets have been looted in all sectors. From this situation, the anti-quota movement of anti-discrimination students eventually turned into a mass uprising. August 5 is written in blood on the pages of history. On that day, 15 years of dictatorship was swept away in the sea of blood. Dictatorship Hasina left the country and fled to India. The world sees a new Bangladesh. Bangladesh was freed from the fascist rule in exchange for the sacrifice of one and a half thousand students, the paralysis of many people and the injuries of more than 35 thousand people. Dr. According to Yunus, this is the second freedom.