Bangladesh in the Twenty-First Century : Towards an Industrial Society

Contents: Preface. Part I. The Growth of the Industrial Civilization: 1. Towards industrial revolution. 2. The industrial revolution and human civilization. 3. Universality of the industrial civilization. 4. Road to industrial civilization: challenges and lessons. Part II. Bangladesh Economy and the Outlook for an Industrial Society: 1. The state of Bangladesh economy. 2. Spread of education in Bangladesh. 3. Raising agricultural production in Bangladesh. 4. Enhancing the capacity for work in Bangladesh. 5. Trade and investment in Bangladesh: public expenditure. 6. Trade and investment in Bangladesh: private and foreign investment and trade. 7. Planning population in Bangladesh. 8. Alleviating poverty in Bangladesh. 9. Protecting the fragile environment in Bangladesh. 10. Issue of Governance: Reorganizing Government in Bangladesh. 11. Issue of Governance: administrative reforms in Bangladesh. Appendices. Index.

"This book presents an optimistic picture of the future of Bangladesh. The author forecasts that given the political will and economic effort Bangladesh can become an industrial society in an integrated world economy by the year 2040. He predicts that Bangladesh will have a stable population of 200 million endowed with computer literacy and a democratic culture.

"The first part of the book traces the growth of industrial civilization, the sources of its growth and the unresolved problems. The second part prescribes the strategy for the transformation of Bangladesh into the desired level of industrialization.

"With the hindsight of years of public service, a development practitioner and the benefit of sustained study of the development process, the author is able to come up with this optimistic forecast. There are threadbare discussions on basic education, agricultural diversification, rapid demographic transition, commercial energy use, investment acceleration, reorientation of public expenditure and intervention, trade liberalization, a viable poverty eradication strategy, linkage of environment protection and preservation of natural resources with all economic and social action, and most importantly good governance whose cornerstone is devolving powers and functions to districts." (jacket)

[Abul Maal Abdul Muhith is an eminent economist and development practitioner.]