The
second IRBD entitled
Growth or Stagnation?
focused its attention on the
development of the economy in
various sectors in fiscal year
1996, giving special attention
to the quality aspects of the
development process. IRBD 1996
pointed out emerging issues
which had critical medium to
long-term implications for the
economy. Thus, for example, the
macro-chapter of IRBD 1996 gave
special attention to investment
stagnation and its implications
for realising the country's
growth objectives, the chapter
on education focused on quality
aspects of primary education and
the chapter on agriculture paid
close attention to the
stagnation in the crop sector
and the need for emphasis on the
non-crop sector of Bangladesh
agriculture. IRBD 1996 also
received valuable inputs from
discussions and dialogues on
IRBD 1995 which were held
earlier in the year. IRBD 1996
extended its focus to include
gender related issues including
the state of women in the
Bangladesh labour force and
economy, design of
gender-friendly policies, and
ways of engendering the growth
process. Yet another chapter,
for the first time in any
overview of the Bangladesh
economy, focused on the link
between development and the
environment with a focus on the
process of degradation of the
country's crop land, fisheries
and forestry resources. A major
new study was undertaken for
IRBD 1996 where an in-depth
study of 10 major public
development projects was
undertaken in order to examine
the quality of investment in
these public expenditure
projects. This was a very novel
initiative in the Bangladesh
context. The summary findings of
this study were presented in
IRBD 1996. The detailed findings
were brought out as a companion
volume. Since IRBD 1996 was
executed at a time of acute and
prolonged political disturbance
in the country, some of the IRBD
chapters also devoted their
attention to the economic costs
of such political
agitation-induced disruptions.
Contents of IRBD 1996
Chapter 1
OVERVIEW
Rehman Sobhan
Chapter 2
MACROECONOMIC UPDATE
Wahiduddin Mahmud
Chapter 3
THE REVIEW OF FINANCIAL SECTOR
REFORM IN BANGLADESH
M. Kabir Hassan
Chapter 4
A REVIEW OF THE FISCAL SECTOR OF
BANGLADESH 1996
Omar Haider Chowdhury
Chapter 5
POVERTY AND POLICY
Binayak Sen
Chapter 6
CURRENT EXTERNAL SECTOR
PERFORMANCE AND EMERGING ISSUES
Ismail Hussain
Mohammad Anisur Rahman
Mustafizur Rahman
Chapter 7
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN BANGLADESH
AGRICULTURE
Crop Sector
Abu Abdullah
Quazi Shahabuddin
Non-Crop Sector
Jahangir Alam
Chapter 8
BANGLADESH'S INDUSTRIAL
PERFORMANCE IN THE 1990's:
REVIEW OF RECENT EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
Zaid Bakht
Chapter 9
BANGLADESH'S MANUFACTURING SECTOR
IN THE 1990's: AN UPDATE
Debapriya Bhattacharya
Chapter 10
PRIMARY EDUCATION: FINANCE AND
QUALITY ISSUES
Muzaffer Ahmad
Chapter 11
HEALTH CARE: PROBLEMS OF QUALITY
ASSURANCE
Muzaffer Ahmad
Chapter 12
SUSTAINABLE POPULATION POLICY:
EMERGING ISSUES
Ataharul Islam
Chapter 13
AN ANALYSIS OF GENDER ISSUES IN
BANGLADESH'S DEVELOPMENT SINCE
THE 1980's
Nasreen Khundker
Chapter 14
RICE AND FISH: ENVIRONMENTAL
DILEMMAS OF DEVELOPMENT IN
BANGLADESH
M. Asaduzzaman
Kazi Ali Toufique
QUALITY OF PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN
BANGLADESH
Salahuddin Ahmad
Nurul Huq
Syed Makbul Hossain
Mohammad Abdur Razzaque
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