Fighting Poverty: The Next Freedom Fight for Bangladesh

By: Dr. Iqbal Amin, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

There are millions of Probashi Bangladeshis living around the globe. We are very proud of our dear motherland. Most of us have close relatives or good friends living in Bangladesh. I believe majority of the probashis will be very happy to help Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is almost forty years old and it needs to move forward in almost all the sectors. We need to be able to stand in front of the world with head held high. Natural calamities are not probably preventable but problems like poverty, population, health, transportation etc are fixable. It is not possible for the Government alone (whatever party it is made up of) to correct these problems. Lack of electricity appears to be a huge problem for Bangladesh. Public life, education, industries, agriculture, almost everything is suffering for it.

Projects like Electrification of Bangladesh, Universal literacy, Universal health, Road building, River dredging etc will need lots of funding. May be we can start a campaign to develop a Probashi Bangladesh Development Bank (PBDB) where people could send money for nation building only. I am sure most Bangladeshis love their country and will donate whatever they can for the nation and the people. They probably just need a safe place to send donations. The idea is to eliminate foreign aid and dependence.

Money could be collected during the thousands of parties/get-together we have throughout the year. Could we build a nonpartisan institution, run by sincere, honest, non-controversial, committed individuals who will be the custodian of this bank and appropriately use the fund?

Let us spread the word to all the Probashi Bangladeshi's around the world and try to harness the vast resources of both talent and money to make a change.

Remember we won our country, and then surely we can make it prosperous. Let us work together for the betterment of our country.

Small effort by the millions is not small. All Bangladeshis are precious. Let us all prosper together.

Characteristics of PBDB:

• Non-commercial custodian bank/financial institution (like World Bank, Asian Development Bank).

• Will invest and re-invest.

• Will fund projects appropriately.

• Will help Government and Nongovernment efforts, or organize own programs.

• Will collect donations (any amount is welcome) from worldwide.

• Extensive use of internet to spread news and collect donations.

• Will be non-partisan.

• Transparent in operations.

• Board of Directors: prominent people with impeccable records.

• Inform all main political parties in Bangladesh.

• Tax-deductible donation.

• No terrorist connection.

I would like to hear comments, suggestions, ideas and thoughts of exploration and formation of such a people's institution - By the PEOPLE for the PEOPLE.