Articles by Anu Muhammad

Bangladesh is now known as the land of the largest non-governmental organisation (BRAC), and the largest microfinance institution (Grameen Bank). In the last four decades since independence, Bangladesh has become more marketised, more globalised, and more urbanised than ever. It has had spectacular success in garments export, remittance and food production. The country also has seen a dramatic growth of microcredit and NGOs. Nevertheless there has been very slow progress in poverty reduction, and there has been catastrophic destruction of environment and increase of inequality. An attempt has been made to explore the role of NGOs, their emergence with the rise of the neo-liberal world view and new economic order, as also their retreat, polarisation, integration and subsequent corporatisation.

This article examines myth and reality vis-à-vis natural resources and energy security in peripheral economies, with special focus on Bangladesh. It highlights the fact that resource abundance does not automatically translate into development; countries like Bangladesh suffer because of their local hegemonic rulers and global alliances which, in the name of development, extract disproportionate private profits from common property through the use of corrupt practices and skewed policies. The article also insists that natural energy resources should be considered common property, and in order to make development meaningful and sustainable should remain so. Planned development of the national capability is an essential precondition to maximise the potential use of natural resources. In the context of Bangladesh, a ban on exporting mineral resources and open-pit mining is also necessary to ensure energy security and sustainable development. It concludes that energy-sovereignty is the key to energy security, and therefore to sustainable development.

The Grameen Bank's microcredit programme has been recognised internationally as a successful model. This model has become an integral part of development thinking and has earned global attention as a new form of banking. But it has been hailed more as an effective tool for alleviating poverty and empowering women. To find out if this is correct, gb's publications and studies were analysed, its declared objectives were scrutinised, and international experiments of the model were also studied. The findings from inside and outside Bangladesh contradict the current myth around the model. The model created a good opportunity for expanding the market for finance capital, thereby ensuring gb's spectacular success. However, it failed as a tool for poverty alleviation and empowerment of women.

The several highly expensive, huge projects promoted and funded by various aid agencies to control river waters have not been able to save Bangladesh from disastrous floods, whose frequency has increased over these years. The last such programme was the World Bank-aided Flood Action Plan launched with great hope. Today three-fourths of Bangladesh is under floodwaters.