Seminar by BCS: Digital Government is the First Step of Establishing Digital Bangladesh

Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS) organized a seminar titled “Digital Government is the First Step of Establishing Digital Bangladesh”. Mehdi Hassan and Biplob Kishore Deb of SouthAsiaFair attended the seminar and I am putting a report on the seminar written by them.

Mr. Md. Moinul Islam, BCS Vice President, thanked every one for attending the seminar. He said that the first and foremost job a government is to run the country. The government collects data from its officials, processes it and then takes the decision. The main advantage of digital technology is that it makes the data acquisition and data processing faster, it makes the government operation transparent and it increases accuracy because the computer does not make any mistake unless wrong data is provided.

BCS President Mustafa Jabbar said that for the first time in Bangladesh, any seminar is held to discuss such an important topic like the digital governance or E-governance. Digital Bangladesh is not a dream, it is a necessity and we need to have that for the benefits of the future generation of our country. Mr. Jabbar said that he dreams of a Bangladesh where digital technology will help people in every walk of their lives. From a simple farmer to an educated person, every body will reap the benefits of digital technology. However, this dream would not come true unless the government itself establish the use of digital technology in its institutions. Mr. Jabbar said that in the last couple of years Bangladesh government spent huge amount of money to establish E-governance but could not become successful. Mr. Jabbar said that government has failed to stop corruption and establish itself as an accountable, transparent and reliable government. Digital technology can play a major role in stopping corruption and spread government service to large number of people. Mr. Jabbar said that the young generation has a major role to play in establishing the digital Bangladesh.

Mr. Jabbar also praised the steps taken by the present government. He said that this government understood the significance of information technology and took some good decisions in the last eleven months which includes making computer education compulsory in all schools and colleges, establishing a road map for E-governance. Mr. Jabbar strongly believes that if the young generation works hard then within few years we can have a digital Bangladesh.

Former BCS President and Current Vice President of ASOCIO, Abdullah H. Kafi, said that the computer age where we are now is not a dream anymore. Bangladesh may not have become digitized but there are many private organizations in Bangladesh that entirely depends of digital technology. Mr. Kafi said that if these organizations can successfully implement digital technologies then it is very much possible to establish a digital Bangladesh vis a vis digital government. In order to establish a digital government people of Bangladesh especially, the youth will have to work hard. In the last century, Bangladesh was quite advanced in the IT sector in this continent. In the 1960s Bangladesh brought the first computer in this subcontinent but it could not continue that advancement. Mr. Kafir strongly believes that within the next 30-40 years, the IT sector will become one of the leading sectors in Bangladesh. Like Mr. Mustafa Jabbar, Mr. Kafi has great faith on the youth of our country and only they can build a digital Bangladesh and as a member of the leading ICT organization, Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS) Mr. Kafi will do every thing in his power to help the youth.

Executive officer, ICT Business Promotion council, Mir Shariful Bashar, thanked BCS members for organizing the fair. He said that from now on the people of Bangladesh should dream of living in a digital Bangladesh and they should work toward making the dream come true. Emphasizing on the benefits of having E-governance, Mr. Bashar said that people of Bangladesh can get instant information on the activities of government officials through e-governance. It will make the government more transparent and would give a feel happiness and reliability to the people. E-governance also increases the speed of work and accuracy and it will significantly decrease the corruption of government officials. Mr. Bashar said that establishing e-governance is not a very difficult matter but it is a matter of right attitude. The policy makers and government officials should have the right attitude to establish e-governance. According to Mr. Bashar, availability of skilled man power is one of the major obstacles on the way of establishing e-governance in Bangladesh. He said that government and private institutions should work together to build up a skilled workforce. In addition, the education system of the country should be changed so that from a very young age, students can get in touch with information technology and get necessary trainings and skill building scopes.

Shaikh Abdul Aziz of Leads Corporation Limited was the chief guest and last speaker of the show. Mr. Abdul Aziz believes that establishing a digital government is not an easy task but a difficult one. Mr. Aziz agreed with Mr. Bashar that leadership is a very important factor in establishing digital government. Policy makers and bureaucrats should have positive attitude toward building a digital government. Using the example of neighboring country, India, Mr. Aziz said that India had leaders like Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajeev Gandhi who had great contributions in the development of Information technology. Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India and during his reign institutions like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) was established which is considered to be one of top institutions for Engineering and Information technology in the world. A student who studies in IIT does not have to worry about getting job in any part of the world. Before the completion of his study, he gets job offers from different organization. The first IIT was established at Kharagpur in West Bengal. His grand son, Rajiv Gandhi, in the early 80s, established a department named “Department of Electronics,” whose major task was to spread technology all over India. Today, in order to build up a digital Bangladesh we need such leadership. Mr. Aziz said that the young generation liberated Bangladesh in 1971 and now, they can be the major force behind establishing a digital government. If the young generation decides that they should not allow the use of papers in government offices then it is very much possible. Mr. Aziz also agreed with Mr. Moinul Islam that implementing digital technology will increase the speed of the work, increase accuracy and transparency and accountability. It will decrease corruption in government offices.

In the end, it was a useful seminar and we hope that the dream of digital Bangladesh will be implemented soon.