Biography

 

Professor Dr. A.K.M. Aminul Haque

(BAAS President: 1981-1982)

Professor Dr. A.K.M. Aminul Haque was born on 2 July 1929 in Charjamail, Husainpur, Kishorjong, Bangladesh. He obtained B.Sc. in 1950 from Dhaka University and M.Sc. in 1952 from Panjab University, Pakistan. He received Ph.D. in 1957 from Nottingham University, UK. He also received Post-Doctorate from Tokyo University, Japan in 1970.

Professor Haque started his career as a Lecturer in Zoology Department, Dhaka University in 1952 and became Professor in Zoology. He was the Vice Chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University from 21st October 1980 to 20th October 1988. He is the National Professor since February 2006. His fields of specialization were wildlife and environment conservation, bird- watching, dolphin and whale watching, star gazing and community welfare.

Professor Haque is a Fellow of Bangladesh Zoological Society. He was the recipient of SEATO Fellowship and National Teachers Day Gold Medal Award.

Presidential Address

7 February 1982

Constraints and Strategies for Development of Bangladesh

 

Honorable President, Your Excellency; Honorable Prime Minister, Your Excellency;

Members of the Bangladesh Association for the Advancement of Science;

Distinguished Guests;

 

Fellow Scientists from home and abroad; Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

 

May I take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and deep gratitude to fellow Members of the Bangladesh Association for the Advancement of Science for having elected me as the President of the Association for the year 1982. I accept this distinct honour with its great responsibilities with a sense of humility. I seek the co- operation of my follow Members in being equal to the confidence they reposed in me, and in discharging my duties to the cause of the advancement of science and technology in the country. I pray to the Almighty so that He gives us the wisdom to lead our beloved country to her cherished goal through advancement of science and technology.

I take this opportunity also to pay respect to the departed soul of the last Patron-in-Chief of our Association, Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman, whose patronage and encouragement will always remain a perennial source of inspiration for our scientific community. It was his personal interest that resulted in the establishment of the National Council of Science and Technology. I take this opportunity also to pay my respect to the memory of the departed soul of the second President of BAAS, Professor Dr. Abdur Rashid, whose integrity as a scientist and as a man will always guide us to live for a lofty ideal. I pay my respect also to the departed souls of Professor Ashraful Haque, a one-time Vice- President of BAAS, and Professor A.M. Eunus, another prominent member of BAAS– both of whom earned great name and fame for the country through their research contributions of very high standard. May the Almighty rest their souls in eternal peace in heaven.

On this occasion I recall the great services rendered by the past Presidents of the Association, and join you in praying for their health, happiness and long life so that science and technology in the country can derive still fuller benefits of their experience and guidance.

We feel extremely honoured to have Mr. Justice Abdus Sattar, the Hon‟ble President of the People‟s Republic of Bangladesh, at this Inaugural Session of the 6th-7th Annual Bangladesh Science Conference being attended by scientists from home and abroad. We feel proud to think that in the midst of his very busy schedule he has managed to grace this occasion by his august presence to spend some time with us and to inaugurate the Conference. His understandings of the problems faced by the country, and his appreciation of the very significant role our scientists can play towards solving such problems have been a source of great inspiration for us all. We feel doubly honoured to have Janab Shah Azizur Rahman, Hon‟ble Prime Minister of the People‟s Republic of Bangladesh, who also has managed time to grace this inaugural session. His presence amongst us this day is an eloquent testimony to his sustained interest in the development of science and technology in the country. We pray to the Almighty for health, happiness and long life of both our great leaders so that under their benign patronage and dynamic leadership science and technology continues to thrive in Bangladesh towards solving many of her pressing problems.

The theme for this year‟s Science Conference has been very rightly chosen as: Accelerating Development through Science and Technology.

I do not propose to give a masterly discourse on any particular aspect of this theme in my Presidential Address. I crave your indulgence to make a departure from the tradition on such occasions, and would like to share with you my own casual ideas about some constraints and strategies for development of Bangladesh from a scientist‟s stand-point of view, which, however, may not necessarily reflect the views of the great community of scientists that I represent here today. Within the limited time at my disposal, I can do no better than to touch on some of the points– detailed deliberations being left to my able fellow-scientists.

 

⦁ GENERAL POLICY MATTERS

Bangladesh is really fortunate to have tremendous potentialities for development. Her soil is very fertile, her water areas very rich, she has abundance of sunshine, and her people are next to none in terms of qualities of head and heart. She has vast stocks of untapped natural resources within her territory. In spite of all these, Bangladesh presents a paradox– poverty in a land of plenty. There are various factors that interact to create such a situation. The sooner these factors are identified and remedial steps taken the faster can we lead the country to her cherished goal. We must not move fast; and to overtake or even to catch up with them we must move very fast indeed. We must take policy decisions at the right moment, and must not suffer from any indecision.

Educational Policy

Man, money and material – these are the three most essential ingredients for development of any sector of economy. Of these, man is the most important ingredient being the only one with a capacity to think, as well as a capacity to work with a purpose.

The performance of man in terms of thinking and working can be modified considerably through education. Education is an investment in human resource development. Proper planning of education to match the demand for educated manpower is thus a very important aspect of modern planning. Any education to be meaningful must have an objective to achieve. In a developing country that objective has got to be geared to the developmental needs of the country, and covered under a policy-decision.

A country with needed manpower having the desired level of skill for all diversified areas of development is considered to be a very happy and rich one. Bangladesh is fortunate in having a population, individual members of which are next to none in quality. It is only necessary to motivate them to be useful to the society through giving them suitable education.

Bangladesh faces two very uneasy, and apparently conflicting situations–viz., (a) a scarcity of qualified manpower for most of her development sectors, against (b) a general, but serious, unemployment problem. This is most paradoxical. In a country with only 25.8% people able to read and write (1974 census), and most development sectors crying for skilled manpower, it is most unfortunate that there should be hundreds of applicants for even one clerical position. This clearly is the result of a lamentable lack of any serious exercise so far for (i) preparing a manpower requirement projection, and (ii) working out a manpower development programme.

This calls for a suitable educational policy for the country. In the past, several exercises were done towards formulating an educational policy. Reports of these exercises are available with the Government. There is, however, a feeling that recommendations contained in the report/reports are not being followed seriously so that there is an imbalance in the development of education. While a large proportion of the school going children are yet to get enrolled in schools, or, as in urban areas, the number of schools is so inadequate that only a small fraction of students that sit for admission test can get a chance for admission, those few that manage to get some education at the secondary or even higher levels remain out of employment or out of suitable employment.

The ultimate result is a brain-drain of educated and skilled/semi- skilled manpower that we have been experiencing during recent years. We have, therefore, to set an objective for our education, and plan an action programme to attain that objective. Until and unless these have been done, the situation is bound to turn from bad to worse with the passage of time. This brings us to the question of manpower development.

Manpower Development Policy

There has not been any serious exercise to assess the requirement for manpower for various sectors of our economy. We have to ascertain our requirement, in both qualitative and quantitative terms, for skilled as well as semi-skilled manpower to take care of various development sectors, say, over the next 10, 20 and 25 years, and next, work out a programme for development of the needed manpower. Without these exercises having first been done, our expenditure in the educational sector will continue to have little  relevance  to  the  country‟s  need.  Incidentally,  unplanned development of facilities for higher education in the name of autonomy or in the name of fundamental rights for education should not be allowed to continue.

Development of Scientific and Technical Manpower

A country‟s scientific and technical manpower is an index of the development of the country. In order to build up a cadre of scientists and technologists equipped with the latest information and the needed skill for scientific development, there is a need for higher education and training. Unfortunately, our facilities for such higher training do not always exist in the country in the desired areas. Again, higher education abroad is nowadays a very costly proposition which very few can afford. It is thus necessary to rely on offers from external sources for higher education abroad. But this situation cannot be allowed to continue for all times to come. We must try to develop our own facilities for higher training in the country so that such facilities are available to the maximum number at a cost well within their reach. As far as agricultural sciences are concerned, it is time to realize that problems in agriculture can only be solved in the geographical area where the same exists– and not in sophisticated laboratories in developed countries. In the developing countries of Asia agriculture with all its branches– viz., crop production, crop protection, livestock production, livestock disease control, fisheries, forestry, farm engineering and technology and farm economics– is full of problems awaiting solution. In fact, the whole area of agriculture, particularly in Bangladesh, offers almost a virgin field for research. The geographical, climatological and socio-economic conditions obtaining in Bangladesh have much in common with other surrounding countries in the region so that her problems also, by and large, are identical with those in neighboring countries in Asia. Bangladesh with neighboring countries may, perhaps, form a consortium styled Consortium of Agricultural Universities and Agricultural Research Institutes in Asia (CAUARIA). The headquarters of the Consortium may be located in Bangladesh so as to serve as an impetus to her development. The Consortium should first find out in member-countries areas of agricultural activities which may be made into nuclei for development in to centres of excellence. The Consortium may then form a pool of teaching and research personnel drawn from various member- countries for utilization of their services, where needed, on short- term basis. Similar Consortium of Universities and research institutes outside the region under a different umbrella, say, the Commonwealth, may be formed and its co-operation sought towards development of centres of excellence. This arrangement may be made for all branches of science.

Next, the consortium should hold regional workshops to identify problems – both solved and awaiting solution. These should be such as have direct bearing on the development of science and technology in the country. A Master List of all un-solved problems may then be compiled for distribution among the consortium countries involved. All non-degree research programmes should try to select research problems, as far as practicable, from this Master List.

As another component of this concept, research-students of the consortium-countries would be enrolled in universities in their home country for a degree programme, if necessary, under joint- supervision of scientists in their own country and in another consortium-country that can offer the needed facilities to the research-students. Under the same system arrangement would be there for the research-student concerned to visit laboratory/laboratories and/or research centres/farms in another country to acquaint himself with a successful approach towards solving a research problem. Similarly, an eminent scientist could be invited for a period of intensive lecturing to a group of research- students. Arrangements may be there also for such a visiting teacher to participate in research-activities in the host country applying the technique that he found successful in his own country. This concept is expected to yield the following benefits, particularly for Bangladesh, under the present context:

⦁ cut down on the high financial involvement that is required to train up scientists entirely in a developed country, and also provide inexpensive higher training to the maximum number of scientific workers;

⦁ promote regional co-operation and understanding among the consortium countries;

⦁ Create in the countries concerned an awareness of their respective potentialities to train up their own manpower and to solve their problems locally;

⦁ check duplication of efforts and unnecessary repetition of time- consuming and costly experiments;

⦁ check costly, but avoidable, duplication of research facilities in the consortium countries;

⦁ give little scope to the young scientists to fall prey to an affluent, but alien, society, and help develop in them a love for their own society;

⦁ go a long way towards stopping brain-drain through dissatisfied and alienated, but promising, young scientists; and

 

⦁ ultimately result in establishing centres of excellence in the consortium countries including Bangladesh.

 

Another aspect requiring consideration of the Government is the Scholarships/Fellowships offered by donor agencies and/or foreign Governments. Instead of requiring one trainee/fellow to be away from the country for 3-4 years on higher training, it would be worthwhile covering a number of trainees/fellows within the same financial involvement for shorter periods. This will mean that the finance required for maintaining one trainee/fellow abroad for 36 man-months could be utilized in maintaining at least 4-5 trainees/fellows for, say, 6 months each, the balance amount being utilized towards meeting their cost of passage.

Manpower Export Policy

 

 

 

While export of manpower to the Middle-Eastern countries has got the effect of improving brotherly relations with these countries, the effects of the same in the domestic front needs to be very critically reviewed. There can be no denying the fact that export of skilled manpower to the Middle- Eastern and other countries is denuding the country of the required manpower for her own vital development sectors. Bangladesh has virtually turned into a cheap training ground for manpower development– not for her own development but for the development of other countries. The lure for dollar has become so irresistible with the unemployed, or even with those dissatisfied with their employment, that, in the mad rush, people are selling out their last trace of land property for a chance to be there. Secondly, those of the fortunate ones, who, after serving abroad for some time, accumulated some money, are suffering from a buying spree, buying in some cases, village after village and adding another dimension to the land tenure system here. The result of this can never be a happy one.

Zakaat Fund

In connection with Bangladesh nationals earning money abroad, another important issue may be discussed here. It is the issue of payment of Zakaat, that is, obligatory annual payment in Islam of a portion of the income by the moneyed people to the needy– a system that has been acclaimed as the most satisfactory way of ensuring socialism. Quite a large number of Bangladeshi nationals living and earning money abroad find it difficult to pay Zakaat from a foreign country. With a view to solving this problem and making the best use of the money under the Zakaat system, there was a proposal some two years back to set up a Zakaat Fund in the country, through which the Zakaat money paid by Bangladeshi nationals abroad would be distributed in a planned manner, and following Islamic principles, among the needy in the society towards the latter‟s uplift. The Parliament is understood to have considered this proposal and taken a decision. This should be examined thoroughly for speedy implementation.

 

Food Policy

With increased population pressure and increased pressure on the limited land areas due to various developmental activities, the food problem in Bangladesh is likely to remain a chronic one. But we must try our best to bridge the food-gap by all possible means.

Some of the steps that may be taken in this regard are: (a) changing of food-habits and finding newer items of food, (b) reducing competition for the same food-items, and (c) preparation of food- budgets for different income-groups.

We have got to go for a change of food habits. There are quite a few items of food that can substitute, partly, if not fully, rice as the staple food. Besides wheat, maize and other cereal crops, sweet potato, potato, cassava and aroids are some other crops, that grow here, that should be encouraged. As is done in other rice-eating South-East Asian countries, we have got to turn more to vegetables and fruits. Sea foods are another group of food-items that require to be explored here.

 

It is not necessary that every one should compete for the same food item. It is possible to prepare food-budgets for different income- groups and for different professions without any adverse effects on the nutritional requirements. Nutrients are not necessarily present only in costly food-items.

There are certain items of food that are eaten by one community and not by others. A Committee with personnel well-qualified and competent in the fields of Islamic Laws and in biological sciences should be formed to examine the acceptability of certain non- conventional items of food that are not eaten by Muslims on grounds of religion. The committee should, besides consulting books on religion and sciences, also contact authorities of various sects in different countries with large Muslim populations to collect information. They would also find out the food-habits-in both qualitative and quantitative terms-of various communities living in Bangladesh so as to (i) avoid, as far as possible, competition for the same food-items by all communities and sects, and (ii) utilize fully all potential food-items of both plant and animal origins in order to release pressure on the same items.

In our quest for earning foreign exchange we have been exporting fish and fishery products. This has an adverse effect on the internal market as well as on the nutritional status of our people. We feel the Government should set up an expert body to examine the impact of export of fish and fishery products on the nation‟s health on the one hand and on the economy of the country on the other, with a view to striking a balance between the two. We can not afford to sell quality fish to buy vitamins.

It is not necessary to export quality fishes, by depriving our own nationals, for earning foreign exchange; we can still achieve the same objective by exporting live trash fishes, some of which have a good market abroad as aquarium fishes.

 

Agricultural Policy

During the decade since independence fisheries, next to crop production, have emerged as a sector of considerable significance

to the economy of Bangladesh. A time may soon come when fisheries will have to take over as the mainstay of our economy. This is already indicated in the importance being attached to the fisheries sector in the Second Five-Year Plan of the country. Here some of the issues requiring our special attention are: (a) Water- use pattern, (b) Joint-venture with foreign countries for fisheries exploitation in the Bay of Bengal, and (c) Use of agro-chemicals.

⦁ Water-use pattern: In our anxiety to produce more cereal crops we are using up water in the dry season from the streams and beels and, in many cases, even from ponds. The result is that there is hardly any water left there for fishes to survive. The cannel-digging programme initiated by Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman is a part-solution to the problem. But we would suggest that there should be some arrangement in the system there for construction of some sort of reservoirs at intervals along the length of the canals and in the beels where water may be kept stored not only for the fishes to survive, but also for sustained irrigation facilities for crop-production.

⦁ Joint-venture with foreign countries for fisheries exploitation in the Bay of Bengal: The scientific community in the country is not very enthusiastic about joint-ventures with foreign countries for exploitation of marine fisheries resources in the Bay of Bengal. The inherent weakness in the venture is lack of the needed supervision and control of the actual operations. Until and unless these have been assured, there is a danger of depletion of the fisheries resources in the Bay with little benefits accruing to Bangladesh resulting ultimately in her peril.

Further, the scientific community was very skeptical about the performance of the large trawlers acquired from a friendly country, since, in their opinion; these trawlers were going to turn to white elephants for Bangladesh. Their apprehension has by now come true. Taking into consideration the conditions peculiar to and prevailing in the Bay of Bengal, efforts should

 

be made to select the design and size of various types of fishing vessels that would ensure most efficient fishing.

⦁ Use of agro-chemicals: Use of agro-chemicals, as fertilizers insecticides and fungicides, has a very deleterious effect on the biotic and abiotic environments. The Government should consult relevant scientific personnel before they decide on the import/production and use of such agro-chemicals.

 

Industrial Policy

No country can become truly developed unless her development in the agriculture sector is backed by corresponding development in the industrial sector. Some of the industries in Bangladesh are passing through their infancy, and need all the patronage and policy-support for attaining adulthood. We feel that import of finished products and luxury items should be stopped, as far as possible, so that indigenous industries can get an impetus for development. Even the so-called “Zinjira”-type industries should be encouraged to come out in the open and participate with confidence in the industrial development of the country. We have here only to remember the case of “occupied Japan” during the post-Second World War period.

Import Policy

Continued dependence on imported items is most detrimental to a nation‟s growth and development. A well-thought out import policy, on the other hand, can go a long way towards accelerating the pace of growth and development of indigenous industries. The import policy of Bangladesh should be such as would encourage her citizens to develop a sense of national honour and prestige in plain living and high thinking, and would also encourage local industries to grow.