Human capital is a common asset in China, India and Bangladesh. How can we turn this asset into a revenue-generation machine?
   Compared to Bangladesh, India pays more attention to education. Education has helped the overwhelming manpower resources of India to capitalise on the Internet revolution. India has now become the wholesale nation of outsourcing and IT support. To satisfy the basic rule of economics, a nation has to do what it can do most cost-effectively compared to the countries around the world. In order to secure India’s position in the global outsourcing market and to empower the next generation of Indians, India has to provide its citizen easy access to the Internet. What is the alternative of guaranteed Internet access other than providing it free? Free, as it is like air and the sky, accessible to every citizen.
   In Bangladesh, we have one thing in abundance, people, too many of them. We do not have natural resources for this highly dense country; however, we can turn our population into resources. I am not proposing anything radical or outrageous here. We have example in our next door. Look at China. They are turning their people into resources. China is the foundry of (almost everything or anything) the globe. They import all the natural recourses such as iron ore and turn into a finished product like steel. Today they are one of the world’s biggest producers of steel. They are also one of the world’s biggest consumers of metal to make other finished product. If you just compare the product made in China in shopping malls and hardware markets around Bangladesh for the last 10-15 years, you will be amazed by the improvement they have made ensuring the quality of any specific product. Along with the quality, they are climbing the value chain, demanding higher prices for their quality products.
   Look at India. They are getting the highest return on investment per IT professional. Outsourcing and data entry are just becoming cash cow for India. In economic sense, I would compare them with the service provided by our garment industry. Garment industry receives an order, processes it and sends it back to the originating country which needed the service. Similarly, any back office, payroll, IT service request from the developed world like the USA, the UK send to India. Indian IT professionals analyse and solve the problem and then send the requested service with a resolution. The only difference is that the IT professional receives a big buck for his services. Well they deserve it. They prudently invested on human resources development and this human capital delivers high margin products. Exploration, planning, development and production are the four steps to make a product. India’s IT industry is now in production mode and I am sure the expatriates and the private sector are the main driving force in this stage of production. However the exploration, planning and development phases are done prudently by the consortium of government, dedicated technocrats, visionary and influential leaders of various cadres including professionals, educators and political leaders. The IITs, technical colleges and institutes and comprehensive academic curricula practised by the universities and schools around India contributed to the development phase. The government helped them by eliminating road blocks from their path of progress. Government encouragement continues as of today. All telecom operators in India have to contribute five per cent of their revenue to a special fund called ‘Universal Service Obligation Fund’ (USOF). USOF will pay for the free broadband connectivity at a speed of 2MB per second across the country.
   Every passing day is slowing us down because we are not adapting technologies to develop human capital. The biggest challenge is the language barrier. Everyday is a good day to start. We could start with our limited capacity of English. Start demanding more English, more access to the Internet, free access to broadband. Do this wherever you study, wherever you work, wherever you pass time. Put your idea into a plan. Those plans will push us to the next phase of development, the development of human capital in Bangladesh.
   Abu Abdullah Sohel
   On e-mail

Despite the current lower price of fuel, which is a temporary phase for Bangladesh, it is important that we develop the potential of renewable and alternate fuels on a priority basis. It should be made investment-attractive to attract capital investment for plant and equipment for its production. Although the per unit output capital cost may be higher, the variable cost of raw material is practically nil! The only variable cost is the cost of collection of our refuse, rejects and other waste and the local cost of labour. The prime advantage is that we will reduce our dependence on imported fuel and extend the shelf life of our finite resources of geological fuel lying beneath the ground. Renewable and alternative fuel sources have an important role to play in our electric power generation. They can help us to diversify the mix of fuel sources for generating electricity. This can reduce cost, improve reliability and fuel security. Further, renewable energy sources help the power generation industry to reduce its air emissions which will be an important benefit in the coming days.
   The government must give maximum incentive so that renewable energy may take on a larger role in generating electricity. Our electric utilities must work closely with our state regulators and legislators to have policies that will encourage the development of renewable energy resources. We should have renewable portfolio standards which require that a certain percentage of electricity be generated from renewable sources within a definite and pragmatic timeframe. This will encourage and accelerate the setting up of power plants based on renewable and alternative fuels, preferably by the private sector. Our national objective should be to save and preserve our natural gas and coal resources as far as possible and practicable.
   Power plants set up using various biomass materials including grasses, agricultural wastes, human and animal excreta and organic components of municipal and industrial waste and all such biological wastes can be a potential fuel source for power generation.
   We have one hydropower unit, now we should explore the potential of river current and directional flow towards the sea as a potential energy source for power generation. Wind power as a renewable energy source also needs to be explored. Presently newer and state-of-the-art facilities have been developed, greatly reducing the investment cost per kilowatt of power generated. The prospect of photovoltaic power generation, particularly in houses and factories, has to be greatly increased and government should give encouragement to the private sector in this field. The newly developed thin film glass window panes must be introduced and retrofitted to all high rises and commercial buildings.
   For these coming into greater use, the government’s indirect financial support through duty and tax benefits must be maximised, considering its long-term economical impact. In the greater national interest, we have to diversify the fuel sources for power generation. It should not just be limited to our geological fuel sources of natural gas and coal. By having power sources that depend on municipal and other wastes, we can depend on an increasing supply as population increases. In contrast, geological resources go on depleting as it is consumed.
   SA Mansoor
   Dhaka