Our film industry deserves a grave concern

Now-a-days every country is very much desperate about their economic expansion. To do this, various sectors are given priority by countries in the world. In our country, garments and textile, agriculture and export of many things including manpower, shrimps, frozen fish, pharmaceuticals, cement, jute etc are deemed to be the catalyst for rapid expansion of the economy. Often several sectors are given incentives to encourage and facilitate their businesses. But unfortunately as an industry film making has failed extensively to contribute to the expansion of economic growth. Even, it failed to attract the heed of the top brass of the government to prove itself as a factor of upsizing the economy.

We are very well informed about the film industry of the USA and India, popularly known as Hollywood and Bollywood respectively. Both the industries are successful in contributing to their own economies. Developing our own industry to that height is very difficult but not an impossible dream. Some of our films have gone to some prestigious platforms like 'Cannes' festival and 'Swiss' festival. But these events are not recurrent. In Bangladesh, traditional commercial movies are very poor in every category in respect to a good one. To be frank, the target customers of those films are the people of very lower class in society. There is nothing to learn, to enjoy, to be thrilled or even to watch with family. Myriad problems in the films include low class production, poor scripting, slipshod plot, substandard ideas, plagiarism, vapid acting and many others. It is not very long that our film industry was flooded with total insanity, nudity and vulgarity. But it is a good sign eventually that level of bareness in films is over. Still it needs a huge reform. Tactically, many film makers and most of the cast and crew are untaught in their field. However, a few creative, learned and cultured people still exist in our film arena but they are too little in number to dominate the sector. This learned and dedicated persons are out of fund and some cash-rich, dishonest and speculative quarters are abusing the industry with their fund. Now general people are not willing to visit the cinema halls for recreation and in good families, going to theatre halls is a taboo. But the cessation of going to cinema halls can hardly contribute to the economy. According to a BBC report, Bangladeshi film-making industry is worth $ 20 million and in recent years, the number of cinema halls in Bangladesh has reduced from about 1,500 to just over 600. (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15178289)

By nature, humans cannot work for long without taking recreation and entertainment. Film is the most ancient and acceptable way to be entertained. But the traditional commercial Bangla movies have lost their appeal to satisfy the appetite of viewers' minds. Thus, the Bangladeshi movies have been compelled to sacrifice their market to Hindi and Kolkata's Bangla movies (A.K.A. Tallywood). Empirically, to many people it is a matter of puncture of prestige to watch Bangla films. Frankly speaking, I observed in many places that Kolkata heroes 'Dev' and 'Jeet' are very popular in Bangladesh and their movie songs as well. Culture of watching Hindi movies are common from the very past. 

But it is a good sign that some Bangladeshi films like "Aha!", "Guerrilla", "Monpura", "Swopnodanay", "Moner Manush", "Matir Moina" and "Runway" had recently been acclaimed globally.In the age of satellite TV, it is even hard for a good film to take audiences in the theater halls while our commercial movies are still upholding their substandard quality. Sometimes the excellence of nation's culture is determined by their films since films express the nation's identity. If the aggression of Hindi films and production of substandard Bangla films continue to run, then we will lose our identity one day. The fettles of Bangla movies is now so vulnerable that some days ago The Bangladesh Motion Pictures Exhibitors Association urged the government to allow Bollywood movies to be screened in local cinemas to inject new blood into the business. The industry is on the brink of deterioration because of exorbitant increase in some protagonist's emolument, piracy, alleged non-collaboration from Bangladesh Film Development Corporation [BFDC] and alleged unfavourable behaviour of Bangladesh Film Censor Board.

Once, our film industry was very rich with creative people, exceptional thoughts and efficient technical minds. But we lost many veterans in our Liberation War which was deliberately done by the Pakistani perpetrators and their collaborators with a view to crippling the nation intellectually. We still could not fulfil their gap after 41 years of freedom. So it is not an easy task to revitalize this industry. To do this the government should take some needful steps to resuscitate the whole sector. The first step for the government could be to develop a long-run plan. The universities should launch separate departments on film, television and acting. Mechanical and technological matters are related with films. Hence, didactic courses should be commenced on those by government institutes. Scholarships should be provided to the students of films to earn the highest excellence in this sector. More governmental and private patronization is necessary for developing this industry. Film producers are eligible of receiving bank loans for funding films in India. But allegedly in Bangladesh, no banks have any policy of granting advances in this specific sector. Since film making has spillover effects in economy and stake of several industries (viz. audio, music channels) are related with film industry, specific laws should be passed to prevent piracy, plagiarism, and unfairness in film making. In many countries of Asia, the film exhibition business is stretched and evolved into a gainful concern on the ground of profitability, entertainment of viewers and improvement of social atmosphere. Ultimately, a rational approach to film industry is a must from the high-ups of government and from the society as well for the survival of Bangladeshi film and its contribution to economy.

This Article was published in The Financial Express, Saturday Features, (June 09, 2012)

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Sahara in Bangladesh: Opportunity or threat?

Subrata Roy Sahara

On May 23, 2012 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the housing and public works ministry of Bangladesh and India's large conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar for large-scale investment in the housing industry. The Sahara India Pariwar belongs to Subrata Roy Sahara, a mechanical engineer by profession, who has been named among the 10 most powerful people of India by 'India Today'. In 2004, the Sahara group was termed by the Time magazine as the second largest employer in India after the Indian Railways. Subrata Roy also owns Pune Warriors India (IPL cricket team), Grosvenor House Hotel(London), Aamby Valley City and has 42.5% stake in Force India (source: Wikipedia). Born in Bihar, aged 64, he loves to address himself as managing worker instead of managing director or CEO of Sahara group. Through subsidiaries he involves himself in a variety of businesses in India, such as-- real estate, media, film, tourism, healthcare, hospitality, sports, information technology and so on.

With the purpose of doing business in Bangladesh, Sahara developed a company titled Sahara MatrivumiUnnoyon Corporation Ltd and appointed an influential ruling party leader's son as its director and pioneer of their business in this country. Sahara sought 100,000 acres of land from the government to build a township. Though the government is still reticent about the content of the MoU but according to a newspaper report, the MoU would expire if no definite agreement is arrived within 36 months from the date of its signing. 

Mixed responses are heard from different quarters whether the advent of Sahara group in Bangladesh is a threat or an opportunity. Government is allowing Sahara in Bangladesh as per its policy of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the backdrop of high demand for housing in the city of Dhaka. Sahara corporation also announced to invest initially $100- 125 million. No doubt, this sounds good. But allowing FDI in a vital sector as real estate has reasons to be fraught with adverse reactions because we have a fast growing real estate industry of our own. Strategically, it is not sagacious to allow FDI in priority sectors where we have scope, strength and potential to flourish. It is a general perception that vital sectors like power, energy, irrigation, housing, real estate, telecom etc., should be kept off the ambit of foreign investment because the return will be siphoned out of the economy in the form of dividend and divisible profit. According to the REHAB, the association of the real estate developers, with their collective efforts they are successfully implementing their housing and real estate projects, handing over some 12,000 flats and 6,000 plots to the buyers annually. This definitely indicates the growing strength of this sector in Bangladesh. 

Every country, no matter the size of its economy, has its own strengths and potentials in some sectors which the respective governments try as far as practicable to protect. Countries in the Middle East are endowed with oil and minerals, so are China and Japan with the manufacturing of electronic goods, garments and car respectively. In Bangladesh, besides RMG, real estate must be reckoned with as our strength. Hence, permitting FDI in this sector is not viewed in good grace by all concerned, within and beyond the industry. While the local entrepreneurs developed the industry over a period of last two decades and made available skilled workforce and necessary logistics, allowing a foreign developer to reap the ready benefit is a sheer neglect to the domestic players, and more so, a negation of prospects in terms of income generation from a home-grown industry. 

Already Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has raised questions about the MoU and asked the government to divulge the conditions since land in Dhaka is sparse, and without a cost-benefit analysis and proper risk assessment it is unwise to sign any such contract. That Sahara's proposal will not be well received by many in this country is a fact that Sahara knows well enough. And if I am not wrong, the mega offer by Sahara to be the main official sponsor of the Bangladesh cricket team is a corporate trick to turn public sentiment positively towards them, let alone business. 

FDI is always welcome to us but not in the primal sectors by ruining our potentials. There are many underdeveloped sectors where investments, both foreign and local, are very crucial and the profits could be shared on a win-win basis. In the aforementioned context, our expectation to the government is that they will address this issue with utmost seriousness in order to ensure that nobody is be allowed to indulge in a zero-sum gain. A wrong step forward can destroy our real estate industry with dire consequences. Looking at the self interest of an individual or of a vested quarter is despicable, while looking at the collective interest of the country is commendable indeed.

This article is published in The Financial Express, Views & Analysis, (Sunday, June 03, 2012)

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Solar energy to mitigate the problem of power shortage

Solar home equipment

Bangladesh is populated by a huge 162 million people. The people are mostly rural based, poor and live their life doing cultivation and small businesses. Roughly 25 per cent people live in the urban areas. After 1990's, Bangladesh is experiencing a rapid growth in its economy. Industrialisation is mainly contributing to the economic growth by giving the pace in the wheel of development. Nevertheless, many problems encumber our economic development and the most acute one is power crisis. No less than 40 per cent of the total population is deprived of the blessings of electricity. The main consumers of electricity are residential places and industries. In the summer times like now the demand for electricity is the highest. Now-a-days total demand for electricity is about 6700 MW of which the government is capable of supplying roughly no more than 5000 MW against the soaring demand. Hence, we are undergoing an anticipated load shedding which also varies by duration in various neighbourhoods. It could be sour to hear but true that the government will not meet the full demand of residential houses by depriving the industries to retain the full swing of economic growth.

This is the high time to think about alternative energy production which could solve the problems. One of the options could be the solar energy which best fits with our country conditions as nature blessed us with relentless sunlight. More than one million households in off-grid areas use solar system but regrettably solar energy is not being used where it should be, in the megacities like Dhaka. People use diesel-based backup power in the apartments and commercial buildings at the time of power failures but the supply of diesel is limited in the world and its use adversely affect the environment, including air and sound pollution. Solar home system (SHS), on the other hand, is completely environment-friendly, reduce pressure on grid electricity, reduce load shedding and free up power to supply to the off-grid people. 

According to a report of April of this year, per unit price of electricity, for residential connections, ranges between Tk 3.05 and 7.90. Per unit price of electricity for small industries is Tk. 6.02. For lean periods, the rate is Tk. 5.11 per unit. For peak hours, it is Tk 7.33. For big industries, per unit price of electricity is Tk 5.90. The flat rate is Tk 5.16. During peak hours, it is Tk 8.08. According to the Power Development Board (PDB), per unit cost of electricity (on an average) is Tk 6.68. However, the cost for fuel-fired plants is Tk. 16. 

The government has to subsidise the power sector to supply electricity at a lower rate to the consumers. As a result, other sectors suffer fund crisis and the huge subsidy widens the budget deficit. If the government decreases the subsidy on electricity to develop other sectors; inflation soars on the ground of electricity price hike and it dwindles the purchasing power and swells the woes of the people. To meet the soaring demand the PDB operates some fuel-run power plants but it needs to spend Tk 200-240 million (Tk 20-24 crore), a day to produce power from the fuel-run plants. However, Tk 90 billion (Tk 9,000 crore) is needed to buy fuel, but the finance ministry is ready to pay only Tk 62 billion (Tk 6,200 crore) and due to this financial crisis, the PDB is not able to produce power to its capacity and there are frequent power cuts every day. 

High-rise buildings, both residential and commercial, are built in Dhaka city with no proper urban planning. Now-a-days building apartments by developers are very common. The landlords and developers in Dhaka are cash-rich and high-yield earner through house rent and flat sale respectively. The government should compel them to establish SHSs on rooftops to cover the maximum usage of power from solar systems. According to Dr A K Enamul Haque, Economics professor at the United International University, there is opportunity in Dhaka city alone to produce nearly 600 MW of electricity if all dwellers produce 10-20 per cent of their power consumption using solar systems.

Therefore, the builders and land developers should design the land area and buildings in a fashion that is environment-friendly and more prone to seizing the unhindered sunshine. Many developed and developing countries use solar system for meeting their demand of electricity. For instance, Gujarat in India has set up a Solar Park with 600 MW capacity. Approximately 8.0 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by the park annually.

The government has already taken some measures to popularise SHSs but the exposure is very low. What the government should do is to make a specific law on using SHS for power generation. 

This article was publishes on The Financial express, Views & Opinion, (Monday, May 28, 2012)

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