1.

1 ICT (Information and Communications Technology)

ICT is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or
application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and
network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the
various services and applications associated with them, such as
videoconferencing and distance learning.
The ICT sector of Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing sectors of its
economy. ICT has been declared as the thrust sector by the Government. A
comprehensive ICT Policy has been formulated and a National ICT Task Force,
headed by the Honorable Prime Minister, has been formed. The Government
organization entrusted for the development and promotion of the ICT sector
is the Ministry of Science and Information & Communication Technology.
Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC), the apex body for promotion of all
kinds of ICT activities in the country, works under the Ministry of Science and
Information & Communication Technology.

1.2 ICT Policy of Bangladesh

National ICT is headed by the Honorable Prime Minister. ICT has been given
considerable importance from the Prime Ministers Office in the last few
years. The Ministry of Science and Technology has been renamed as the
Ministry of Science and ICT which has been entrusted the duty of working as
the primary hub for ICT policy and implementation in the country.
Broad Areas of ICT Policy:
ICT Infrastructure
ICT Capacity Building
Support to ICT Industry
Applications of ICTs for Socio-Economic Development
Regulatory Issues
Financing of ICT-Related Projects
Research and Development in ICT
The council of ministers endorsed the draft national information and
communication technology (ICT) policy-2015, which clams The ICT policy
will be less regulatory but more developmental and promotional. The policy

will be implemented in three phases -- short goals are expected to be

attained by 2016, mid-term goals by 2018 and long-term ones by 2021.

1.3 Objectives of ICT

This Policy aims at building an ICT-driven nation comprising of knowledgebased society by the year 2006. In view of this, a country-wide ICTinfrastructure will be developed to ensure access to information by every
citizen to facilitate empowerment of people and enhance democratic values
and norms for sustainable economic development by using the infrastructure
for human resources development, governance, e-commerce, banking, public
utility services and all sorts of on-line ICT-enabled services. The objectives
are:

Provide effective incentives for development of ICT sector to both local and
foreign entrepreneurs
Develop an efficient ICT infrastructure that provides open access to international
and national network
Promote and facilitate use of ICT in all sectors of the economy for transparency,
good governance and efficiency improvement
Establish legislative and regulatory framework for ICT issues like IPR, data
security and protection, digital signature, e-Commerce, ICT education etc. as
well as to ensure quality ICT education provided by different private
organizations
Set up national databases that are reliable and easily accessible to all the people
of the country
Promote use of ICT by providing special allocations for ICT project
implementation in the public sector. Train the decision makers in ICT use and
promote a ICT culture
Develop a large pool of world class ICT professionals to meet the needs of local
and global markets
Set up a very high quality ICT institution to continuously promote and foster ICT
Industry
Enact Laws and Regulations for uninterrupted growth of ICT, in conformity with
World Trade Organization (WTO) stipulations.

1.4 Importance given to ICT

This Policy aims at building an ICT-driven nation comprising of knowledgebased society by the year 2021. In view of this, a country-wide ICTinfrastructure will be developed to ensure access to information by every
citizen to facilitate empowerment of people and enhance democratic values
and norms for sustainable economic development by using the infrastructure
2

for human resources development, governance, e-commerce, banking, public

utility services and all sorts of on-line ICT-enabled services.
The executive committee of the national ICT task force, headed by the
honorable principal secretary, administers the implementation of
decisions taken by the task force.
A program called the support to ICT task force (SICT) has been initiated,
with financial support from the government, to provide implementation
and monitoring support to the task force.
The ministry of science and ICT has come up with a comprehensive ICT
policy in 2002.
The ministry of post and telecom has also come up with a national
telecom policy in 1998 (time for a revised policy).
Bangladesh government adopted the national ICT policy in 2008. It includes
action items for realizing the goals of national development. The constitution
of Peoples republic of Bangladesh has edified social equity. The national ICT
policy of 2008 has clearly indicated the development goals for Bangladesh.
The vision and objectives are aligned with the general national goals while
the strategic themes are areas within the broad objectives that can readily
benefit from the use of ICT. The action items are generally meant to be
implemented either in the Short term (18 months or less)
Medium term (5 years or less) or
Long term (10 years or less)

1.5 ICT Vision 2021 (Digital Bangladesh)

The Government of Bangladesh has declared Vision 2021 with a target to
make Bangladesh as a middle income country using Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) and development of favorable business
environment for innovative companies. ICT has been considered as a thrust
sector. Vision 2021 lays down goals and strategies together with a
framework for mobilizing our natural and human resources to achieve those
goals. Vision 2021 calls for Bangladeshi socio-economic environment to be
transformed from a low income economy to the first stages of a middleincome nation by the year 2021, when poverty would have all but
disappeared, where society would be full of caring and educated people
living healthy and happy lives.
The Digital Bangladesh vision, arguably, runs parallel to the Information
Society vision advocated by the World Summit on Information Society
(WSIS). The Honorable Finance Minister of Bangladesh elaborated on the
concept in his budget 2009-10 speech as a socio-economic transformation
3

process, enabled by information and communication technologies. In the

same year, the Honorable Prime Minister outlined the Digital Bangladesh
having four key priorities
(a) Developing human resources ready for the 21stcentury
(b) Connecting citizens in ways most meaningful to them
(c) Taking services to citizens doorsteps
(d) Making the private sector and market more productive and competitive
through the use of digital technology
(e) Expand and diversify the use of ICTs
to establish a transparent, responsive and accountable government
develop skilled human resources
enhance social equity
ensure cost-effective delivery of citizen-services through publicprivate partnerships
and support the national goal of becoming a middle-income country
within 2021
join the ranks of the developed countries of the world within thirty
years

1.6 ICT Policies and Regulatory Framework

A plethora of acts, policies and guidelines are in place, some are more robust
than the others, which is guiding the nation towards the realization of Digital
Bangladesh. Hence, it was only natural that the 6th Five Year Plan (6FYP)
places an equal importance to Digital Bangladesh as part of the nations
development strategy. During the 6FYP period, the country has made
important strides in utilizing technology to bring in tangible transformation in
all four areas mentioned by the Prime Minister. Progress made in bringing
government services to the doorsteps of citizen is probably the area where
Bangladesh registered most significant progress. Vertical (with government
ministries and agencies) and horizontal (i.e., with citizens) policy advocacy
and development interventions have resulted in a number of citizen-centric
e-initiatives and services such as multimedia classroom and teacher-led
education content development in public schools, mobile phone based health
service from Upazila Health Complex, agricultural and other livelihood
information and services (e-Tathyakosh) online through grassroots outlets.

Digital BD policies and regulatory framework

ICT policy 2009
Right to Information Act 2009
Perspective Plan
ICT Act 2013 (amended)
Strategic Priorities of Digital Bangladesh
Cyber Security Policy 2010
Rural Connectivity Policy Guideline 2010
Broadband Policy
Mobile Keypad Standardization Policy
Guidelines for Utility Bill Payment
e-Krishi Policy
National e-Governance Architecture
Mobile Banking Policy Guideline
National Telecom Policy 2010
Guidelines on Mobile Financial Services (MFS) for
the Bank
Secretariat Instructions 2014 (amended)
Proactive Information Disclosure Guidelines 2014
Innovation Team gazette
National Portal management gazette

Because
of
the
cross-cutting
nature of the vision, these work plans encompass priorities in almost all
development sectors. Hence, the 7th Five Year Plan (7FYP) needs to consult
and align with thoseat the same time, it also needs to identify scope for
revising those documents in light of changes in the national priorities set in
the 6FYP.

2.1 Contribution Towards Middle Income Country

The Perspective Plan targets annual real GDP growth rate to rise to 8.0 per
cent by 2015, and further to 10.0 per cent by 2021, significantly improving
living standards of the population by drastically reducing unemployment and
poverty, riding on substantially higher output and export growth. Per capita
annual income is projected to rise to about USD 2,000 (at constant 2013
dollars) by 2021, thus crossing the middle income threshold. Among others,
a prudent macroeconomic policy will be required to ensure internal and
external stability, low inflation and high economic growth. Accordingly, this
chapter presents a macroeconomic framework, spelling out the key targets,

and articulating strategies and policy guidelines underlying the Perspective

Plan FY2010-FY2021.
2.1.1 Macroeconomic Framework
The macroeconomic framework of the Perspective Plan will support the
strategies and policy guidelines to achieve the development vision through
ensuring of macroeconomic stability over the long-term. For Bangladesh, the
journey to middle income country and high HDI status requires sustained
growth and its equitable and inclusive nature. The technical framework
designed to achieve growth and related dimensions of the macro economy
shows that the economy needs to grow at a consistently high rate over the
next eleven years for the vision to be realized.
Key Macroeconomic Indicators
Benchmark
Target FY15
Target FY21
FY10
Real GDP Growth (%)
6.1
8.0
10.0
CPI inflation (%)
7.5
6.0
5.2
As per cent of GDP
Gross Investment (%)
24.4
32.5
38.0
Gross National Savings (%)
30.0
32.1
39.1
Total government revenue (%)
10.9
14.6
20.0
Total government expenditure
14.6
19.6
25.0
(%)
Exports (billion US$)
16.2
38.8
82.0
Imports (billion US$)
21.4
52.8
110.5
Remittances (billion US$)
10.9
17.8
38.5
Unemployment rate (%)
30.0
20.0
15.0
Poverty (head count, %)
31.5
22.5
13.5
Source: Perspective Plan projections

2.1.2 Inflation control

Bangladesh has generally succeeded in maintaining reasonable price
stability. Occasional spikes in the inflation rate arose mainly as a result of
supply disruptions due to natural disasters, and global price shocks. Since
high inflation, especially led by food price inflation directly hurts poor people,
the target will be to maintain a moderate rate of inflation of around 5-7 per
cent per year by ensuring well-coordinated monetary and fiscal policies;
improvements in productivity; attention to supply augmentation; enhanced
public sector role and strengthened competition policies.
2.1.3 Reducing Poverty and Inequality
The poverty profile measured by head count ratio using the cost of basic
needs approach revealed that 31.5 per cent of the 2010 population, lived
6

below the poverty line. It also indicated a 1.8 per cent annual poverty decline
between 2005 and 2010. At this rate, the head count ratio of national
poverty will stand at 22.5 per cent of the population in 2015, thereby
achieving one of the major MDGs. The projected higher growth of around 9.2
percent during FY16 and FY21 is expected to reduce head count poverty rate
to about 13.5 percent of 2021 population. Antipoverty, anti-inequality
measures need to target removal or reduction of inequalities in advancing
opportunities for people in different income brackets. This particularly
includes targeting the opening of blocked advancement opportunities for
disadvantaged rural and urban poor people.
2.1.4 Agricultural Development
Agricultural land is limited and is reducing at 1 per cent per annum. Modern
methods of production, including water resource management, high yielding
drought and submergence resistant seeds, increase in land productivity
through efficient irrigation, flood control and drainage, are among the key
factors in achieving a higher level of self-sufficiency in food production to
feed the ever increasing population and to save foreign exchange for food
imports.
With a view to enhance agriculture production and ensuring food security,
the target is that, by 2021, food deficiency will be eliminated and the country
will attain self-sufficiency in food production enabling to meet nutritional
requirement of the population.
2.1.5 Remittance Inflows
Besides strengthening our balance of payments position, remittance inflows
have had significant impact on poverty reduction. Remittance inflows in
2011, at $11.5 billion, were about 10 per cent of GDP. Sustaining the growth
of remittance inflows could be a major source of external finance in the
march up to the countrys middle income threshold by 2021. Government is
strengthening institutional arrangements to facilitate remittance. However,
increase of remittance flow will depend on the speed of economic recovery of
the labor taking countries.
2.1.6 Foreign Direct Investment
Bangladeshs projected needs for investment in infrastructure for an
expanding transport network and burgeoning urban centers cannot and need
not be met from domestic resources alone. With improved economic
management and a highly liberalized investment regime, and with strategic
locational shifts in labor-intensive industries, Bangladesh could become an
attractive destination for private capital flows over the next decade.
7

2.1.7 ICT and Science and Technology for National Development

The new Science and Technology Policy focuses on scientific research and
production using indigenous resources as much as possible. It focuses on
finding solutions to the emerging problems in agriculture, health,
environment and climate change. The new Policy suggested access to quality
educational materials for studying science, mathematics, engineering and
other subjects requiring instruments. To encourage innovation and
production of new technology a proper institutional system of copyright and
patent should be established. In view of the expanded agenda for research in
science and technology, a higher share of GDP will be allocated for research
and development.
2.1.8 E-Governance
Digital democracy is the computerization of political discourse, policy-making
and the political process. It ultimately increases, enhances and deepens
citizen participation in government policy and decision-making processes
through electoral campaigns, voting, consultation, public opinion polling and
communication exchange between elected officials and constituents.
2.1.9 Company Productivity
Technology enhances company productivity in multiple ways and the rapid
growth of cloud-based computing has reinforced the impact and expanded
the possibilities. The early impact of technology in emerging markets on
company productivity was at the basic level of greater PC usage, office
software, and email. The rapid decline in the cost per unit of computing
power as microprocessors become faster and cheaper is growing at an
exponential pace as well. Technology has helped companies improve how
they interact with and take feedback from their customers. The cloud gives
companies of any size access to capabilities and services that previously
were available to only the largest enterprises, at a fraction of their historical
cost.
2.1.10
Internet Facility
The Internet has become a big leveler allowing small companies to operate
on a level playing field with large ones. The Internet has made it easier for
producers to procure inputs (raw materials) for their production processes
and reduced production costs. Price discrimination (targeting marketing,
products, and prices to specific individuals) has been made much easier by
the Internet.
2.1.11

Social Networking
8

In developed countries, ICT has transformed the print, movie, music, and
gaming industries with an increasing number of consumers now creating
their own content through blogs, wikis, podcasts, Facebook, Instagram, and
Vine. Authors can publish their books digitally on Amazon for a fraction of the
cost of using traditional publishers. Musicians and filmmakers likewise have
web-based access to potential customers through YouTube and other online
platforms.
2.1.12
Banking sectors
By using various types of ICT services banking sectors of Bangladesh make
their task easy in different sectors that take long time in the past. Now bank
can easily transfer money from anywhere in the country. Now banking
system can maintain the database for their clients and make easy access
when it is needed. Also, verify the sign of the accountholders by maintaining
the digital signature of the clients.

3.1 Improvements from ICT Policy

In 2021, Bangladesh will take its place amongst middle income nations of the
world, where progress is not just reflected in higher living standards but also
in a wide range of human development indicators. And all this will be
achieved with the recognition that the state must play a key role in
sustaining economic development. Bangladesh intends to use ICT as the keydriving element for national development.

3.2
Growth

ICT and Economic

3.2.1 E-Commerce and online/mobile transactions

Mobile phones and internet have the potential to inter alia expand market
access and level the playing field for small producers. At the same time,
consumer prices will be driven down and the quality will increase due to
increased competition. Specific focus on rural e-commerce and low-cost
online transactions must be devised and popularized.
3.2.2 No one left behind civil registry and financial inclusion
The vision for Digital Bangladesh is to establish an equitable, inclusive
society and economy. Development of a comprehensive civil registry that is
linked to all service delivery by the government, and preferably also by nongovernment service providers, will ensure inclusion. A whole-of-government
approach, possibly steered by the Cabinet Division, will be necessary to
establish and use the civil registry across all service delivery organizations.
9

True financial inclusion mechanisms that provide extremely low-cost

mechanisms at citizens doorsteps for banking, money transfer including
safety net payments and local and foreign remittances, credit including
microcredit, insurance including crop, health, life, disaster and other kind,
must be formulated and popularized.
3.2.3 Business productivity
ICTs have proven to increase productivity in virtually all sectors of economy
and business ranging from agriculture, manufacturing and services.
Appropriate productivity tools must be adopted alongside incentives for
quick adoption.
3.2.4 Rapid expansion of the IT industry
ICTs hold immense promise for a country like Bangladesh which boasts a
booming youth population, with a sharp interest to learn ICT tools and put
them to the purpose of gainful employment. A collaborative approach is in
process to develop technical and soft skills which is necessary for the sector,
generate employment for local, foreign and outsourced jobs. Additionally,
establishment of necessary infrastructure, international brand image of the
country, and access to finance for entrepreneurs is required to tap into the
imminent demographic dividend.

3.3 ICT and Education

The 6FYP envisaged restructuring the education system to make it more
attuned with the technologically evolving global landscape. The role of ICT
in boosting the quality of education will be emphasized and steps will be
taken for narrowing the ICT skills between urban and rural people. Steps
taken for enriching the education system are:
3.3.1 Education quality improvement through IT-enabled learning
All classrooms in primary, secondary, tertiary and professional education
must be turned into multimedia classrooms with appropriate infrastructure
consisting of reliable power, high-speed internet and necessary equipment
with teaching staff well equipped to use them to improve teaching-learning.
Massive local content generation must be undertaken through industry
participation and crowd-sourcing of teachers, teacher trainers and learners.
MOOCs may become a viable, low-cost, high-outreach form of educational
content delivery which is participatory and learner-centered.
3.3.2 Teacher empowerment in primary and secondary education

10

Experiences of introducing technology in education in the world over have

produced a consensus that no amount of technology can replace or
marginalize the teachers role. Thus, technology should be used to empower
teachers with on-demand and on-the-job capacity development, peer
collaboration and learning. The Teachers Portal has played a particularly
effective role in developing both collaboration amongst teachers and
competition for educational excellence. Other innovation avenues must be
explored to incentivize teachers for modulating their behavior and preparing
them to improve teaching-learning in classrooms.
3.3.3 Strengthening vocational stream
Vocational stream is not attractive for the youth, as was explained earlier in
the document. However, there is a national target to increase enrolment in
the vocational stream to 20 per cent of the entire student cohort. This will
require re-branding of the vocational stream in order to ensure that the
curriculum is market-ready, linking graduates to the job market more
effectively and making appropriate use of ICTs for training purposes.
3.3.4 Expanding IT graduate pool
If Bangladesh has to meet the increasing demand of local and outsourced IT
jobs in the world, tertiary educational institutions, industry and the
government must work together to rapidly increase the number of qualified
IT graduates who are industry-ready every year. In-house training may need
to be established in companies (perhaps funded by the government) and
accreditation mechanisms must be in place to ensure high quality with
regard to the establishment of a National Certifying Authority.

3.3.5 Building E-learning infrastructure

A model is being implemented meeting two interrelated objectives:
(a) Creation of smart/multimedia classrooms
(b) Training teachers to create digital contents for their use in classrooms.
The Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Primary and Mass Education
(MoPME) undertook two initiatives multimedia classroom (MMC) and Teacherled Digital Content Development after successful prototypes. Two separate
projects under MoE and MoPME are currently underway aimed at establishing
20,500 MMCs and 7,000 MMCs at the secondary and primary level
respectively. The Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) has set up computer
labs in 3,544 educational institutions in order to expand ICT education at the
grassroots level. Bangladesh Research and Education Network (BdREN) has
11

been established in 6 universities and gradually, all universities will be

brought under this network.
3.3.6 Vocational ICT training
Finally, in terms of spurring ICT related vocational training, 4 MMCs in each of
64 Technical School and College (TSC) have been set up and teachers
training is underway for all teachers. Bangladesh Open University (BoU) has
undertaken an initiative to launch e-learning/online program for its target
audiences. Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) is also set
to launch e-learning courses for migrant workers. Under the 7FYP, proposals
could be made to enable delivery of such e-learning courses through Digital
Centers which have been established across rural and urban Bangladesh.

3.4 ICT for Greater Transparency, Good Governance and

Improved Public Service
The Perspective Plan stipulates, e-governance will manage the way that
citizens deal with the government and with each other, allow citizens to
communicate with government, participate in government policy making and
planning, and to communicate with each other. It articulated that work
flow in government and semi-government offices will be fully integrated with
ICTs through re-engineering of governments business process. There are 23
targets under four interrelated components of the Digital Government
category:
(a) E-Administration - business process re-engineering of government
agencies
(b) E-Citizen services - converting traditional service delivery into e-service
delivery system to take service at citizens doorsteps.
(c) An inclusive information and knowledge management system
(d) ICT for equity
As the ensuing discussion reveals, Bangladesh has witnessed significant
progress in the area of Digital Government, although the latest eGovernment Development Index (e-GDI) ranking, prepared by UNDESA,
positioned the country low at 148 (UNDESA, 2014). It is, nevertheless, to be
pointed out that in 2012, in spite of Bangladeshs low 150th rank, the
country got placed alongside the US, China, India, Brazil, Japan and other
giant economies, i.e., in the category of countries with populations larger
than 100 million, that succeeded in making a special effort to improve
service delivery to large swathes of their populations (UNDESA, 2012).

12

3.5 Resource Mobilization: 7FYP

It is predicted that by 2020, as a result of high internet speed facilitating ICT
induced service delivery, human development and employment
opportunities, Bangladeshs GDP will attain an additional 2.6 per cent of
growth. The sources of this additional growth is directly attributable to the
IT/ITES industry and indirectly through service delivery reforms, which will
allow citizens to be more productive as a result of increased predictability,
transparency and accountability in public service delivery.
The strategy of developing the ICT sector is to reduce investment risk and
strengthen market forces in order to increase productivity and efficiency of
all conceivable governance activities and wealth creation sectors of the
nation. To ensure inclusive growth, public investment is only recommended
to deal with market failure which inhibits delivering ICT benefits to those
market segments, where profitable private investment is not feasible for the
time being.

3.6 Enabling Environment

3.6.1 Reliable and secure infrastructure
ICTs require reliable infrastructure consisting of power, high-speed internet
connection and appropriate equipment - at a minimum to be functional.
When service delivery and businesses become dependent on ICTs, this
reliance is paramount and unavoidable leading to the requirement that the
infrastructure needs to be ubiquitous. This means that redundant
infrastructure must be ensured in all service delivery and business
organizations that have adopted ICT-based service delivery. Information
security becomes a critical priority of the government with appropriate
measures in place to prevent against cyber-attacks which will be increasingly
common with citizens identity and financial information becoming
increasingly online. The country will need to build international alliance for
software infrastructure from open source and proprietary technologies. These
are elaborated in section.
3.6.2 Policy and legal framework and whole-of-government approach
An innovation may start with experimentation but there is no getting around
to the fact that policy framework, and often legislation, is necessary to scale
up innovation. Institutionalization of an innovation almost always requires
policy and/or legal reform. Years of e-Governance investment has been
known to fail globally because required policy and legal safeguards were not
developed to institutionalize the new ways of doing old things. The countrys
13

ICT Policy and ICT Act only facilitate certain fundamental issues regarding
ICTs. In order to scale up and institutionalize ICT-based service delivery,
administration, business productivity, a number of policy and legal reform
may be necessary by sectoral ministries ranging from Cabinet Division,
Ministry of Public Administration, Law, Education, Health, Agriculture,
Banking, Election Commission, etc.
3.6.3 Financing
Making Digital Bangladesh a reality will ultimately require undertaking of
large investments. However, it is possible to mobilize finances in a flexible
way. The ICT Policy allows the provision for a percentage of the revenue
budget and development budget to be used for ICT-based expenditures.
Many large projects have ICT components which can be more effectively
designed and sourced often by pooling funds or sharing plans and activities.
Mechanisms may be devised for a whole-of-government approach in ICT
implementation especially when connectivity, hardware and software
infrastructure components are concerned. Since a large portion of ICT
activities are funded by development partners, more aid effectiveness can be
obtained by coordinating across development partners as well. Lastly,
private investment can be mobilized directly or in the form of universal
obligation funds. For ICT industry entrepreneurs, special investment funds
need to be set up. Mechanisms for valuation of intellectual property are a
high priority for the industry.
3.6.4 Partnerships
For both service delivery and industry development, partnerships within the
government, with non-state and global actors, can be of high value at least
in terms of resource mobilization. There is a great value to be gained by
striking partnerships across government organizations: infrastructure
sharing, expertise sharing, complementary implementation, etc. Partnership
with private sector may bring in private investment through PPP
arrangement where the risk is shared across the partners. Partnership with
reputable international companies has the additional benefit of developing
the brand image of Bangladesh.

3.7 Enabling E-Governance

The increasing role of ICTs in accelerating delivery of public service is running
parallel to the growing demands for transparency and accountability in all
regions of the world. E-Governance attempts to deal with two interrelated
and mutually exclusive objectives
14

(a) Internal, focusing on processes (operations)

(b) External, fulfilling peoples needs and expectations by simplifying
processes
The concept of e-governance epitomizes horizontal and vertical connectivity
by providing a virtual, yet, de jure platform for streamlining government-togovernment (G2G), and G2C/C2G interactions, respectively (business-togovernment (B2G) and vice versa, i.e., G2B interactions).

3.8 Key projects of ICT policies are shown below

Union information centers by ministry of ICT A2I
500 UISC has been
established by 2012.
Run on a PPP operational
model

Provided with means of ICT

facilities

Loyal youths are

operating these centers
with Govt support.
Women participation is
increasing.

ICT facility in rural postal offices

E-centers in 8500 rural
post offices within 2015

These e-centers would be

Rural people have more
equipped with desktop pcs,
attachment to these
laptop, printers & others ICT
post offices than any
facilities with internet
other ICT facility
connectivity
Assembling of low cost laptop & fiber optic
Started from 2010,
Primarily the educational
Expanded the capacity
producing 03 models of
institutes & govt agencies are
to other IT equipment
laptops.
supplied.
Computer facility in schools
2100 secondary schools
Thousands of teachers of these Approved projects to
are provided with
schools are rained on
implement the theme
multimedia classrooms.
computer skill & contents.
connect a school,
Others thousands are
connect a community.
provided with computer
labs with internet
connectivity.
Projects undertaken by other ministries & governmental agencies
Local govt ministry is
Ministry of health is working to ICT ministry has
developing
connect health complexes with connected all district
infrastructure (building,
video conference facility,
commissioners office
rooms in union offices)
especially for rural complexes. with a secured network.
in remote administrative
Extending this project
15

units.

connect other govt

offices.

It is to be highlighted here that 41 indicators, cutting across global and

national domains, are proposed to incorporate the gender perspective of
Digital Bangladesh. The proposed set of indicators will not only aid to fill this
critical void but more pertinently, allow making necessary policy reforms and
adjustments to capitalize on any particular momentum. For instance, the 318
action items pertaining to gender priorities under ICT Policy 2009 could be
reviewed through these indicators. At the same time, efforts should be made
to make sure that the progress achieved in Bangladesh is comparable to
others in the world so that the country can further build its ITES image and
also emerge as a role model for implementing e-governance reforms in
revamping traditional public service delivery processes.

4.1 Limitations in ICT Policy

Although the Government of Bangladesh is committed to implementing ICT,
the process is hindered by a number of limitations. The limitations are
categorized as external or internal. External limitations include lack of
equipment, unreliability of equipment, lack of technical support and other
resource-related issues. How these external and internal limitations
negatively influence the use of ICT are described below.
4.1.1 ICT Supported Infrastructure and Lack of Resources
Bangladesh is one of the developing countries that lack the resources and
appropriate infrastructure for implementing ICT. The effective use of ICT
would require the availability of equipment, supplies of computers and their
proper maintenance including other accessories. Most of the rural areas in
Bangladesh do not have electricity and therefore one cannot even run a
computer in the first place. On the other hand most of the cities of
Bangladesh lack continuous of electric supply. The development of the ICT
infrastructure in a country is dependent on the availability of a reliable
electricity supply. Implementing ICT demands other resources, such as
computers, printers, multimedia projectors, scanners, etc - which are not
available in all institutions. Besides, ICT requires up-to-date hardware and
software.
4.1.2 Insufficient Funds
Effective implementation of technology involves substantial funding, that is
very hard to manage in developing countries like Bangladesh, where many
people are living below the international poverty line. ICT-supported
hardware, software, internet, audio visual aids, teaching aids and other
accessories demand huge funds. The lack of funds to obtain the necessary
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hardware and software is one of the reasons people do not use technology in
their daily usages. Efficient and effective use of technology depends on the
availability of hardware and software and the equity of access to resources.
These costs are in most cases inflated and cannot be provided by most
developing countries, including Bangladesh.
4.1.3 Costly Internet Connection
The Internet usage in the country is very limited and confined to cities, and
the costs are high but the speed is not satisfactory. The bandwidth fee for
the Internet is around US$250, which is considered high in terms of socioeconomic condition of the operators and users. The current state of access to
ICTs (below in text box) in Bangladesh clearly reveals the poor condition in
the internet connection.
4.1.4 Technical Condition of Government
The technical conditions to support e-Government initiatives in Bangladesh
seem very poor as the initiatives to e-Government, especially, offering eservices to the citizen is scattered, and so far there exists no integrated and
sustainable services. A study reveals that lack of internet access and
sustainability of e-services, top-level management initiatives, technical
integration and interoperability and budget and finance are hurdles to
overcome on the way to introducing and practicing e-Government in
Bangladesh. In any e-Government services, access to ICTs is the key factors
in all respects, but the condition and scope of accessing ICTs in Bangladesh is
very poor and in some cases problematic.
4.1.5 Social and Cultural Factors
Half of the population of Bangladesh are women who are relatively deprived
of access to the advantages of technology. Women are underrepresented in
almost every aspect of ICT implementation in Bangladesh. One of the most
significant social factors influencing the use of ICT in Bangladesh is the low
social status of women and hence the use of ICT to women is not considered
important. Women are supposed to be primarily the caretakers of family and
children. Men disproportionately occupy academic, management and
technical roles, which by virtue of the nature of the work provide easier
access to the internet and related technology. Even if women have the
necessary hardware and software, they may find little time to use them due
to being busy with domestic chores.
4.1.6 Political Factors
One of the most notable of the limitations to the use of ICT in developing
countries seems to be the political will of the people in the corridors of
power. The allocation of sufficient funds for ICT does not seem to be very
attractive to the leaders. It can be seen from the budgetary allocations in
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third world countries that greater allocations may be for the defense forces
rather than on ICT. If the political leaders favor the technology, it will bloom.
The new Government of Bangladesh came with Bangladesh as a digitalized
one in all sectors. Hence they are also trying to implement information
technologies in education as well. Unfortunately if this political government
will change after five years due to the democratic election then Vision
2021 might be changed due to antagonistic attitudes among the political
parties of Bangladesh.
4.1.7 Corruption
The situation in Bangladesh represents a distinct case where corruption has
found a remarkably safe space in which to proliferate, despite the vigilance
of control mechanisms. Corruption is so pervasive that it has evoked
widespread condemnation, both inside and outside the country.
Consequently, Bangladesh has been consistently ranked by Transparency
International as one of the most venal among the researched countries. As a
result, corruption can be identified as one of the strong barriers to the
implementation of ICT. The misuse of government funds which could have
been used to develop other sectors like the integration of ICT is channeled in
other directions i.e. few people benefit from those funds by pocketing all the
money. Huge budgets are passed to buy modern teaching and learning
materials for the improvement of the teaching and learning process, but in
the end only minor improvements are found in the overall technical and
vocational sector.
4.1.8 Lack of Time
Bangladesh, a developing country, has a shortage of teachers, and they are
already burdened with heavy workload. Some of the institutions have already
introduced two shifts, without increasing the number of teaches. So teachers'
teaching load has been increased due to conducting classes in both the
shifts. Moreover, most of the teachers are also responsible for administrative
tasks. In these circumstances teachers dont have time to design, develop
and incorporate technology into the teaching learning situation. Teachers
need time to learn how to use the hardware and software, time to plan, and
time to collaborate with other teachers. Some teachers are unable to make
appropriate use of technology in their own classrooms, while others are
unwilling to try because of anxiety, lack of interest, or lack of motivation.
4.1.9 Lack of Knowledge and Skill
Teachers lack of knowledge and skills is one of the main hindrances to the
use of ICT in education both for the developed and underdeveloped
countries. Integrating technology in the curriculum requires knowledge of the
subject area, an understanding of how students learn and a level of technical
expertise. Lack of knowledge regarding the use of ICT and lack of skill on ICT
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tools and software have also limited the use of ICT tools in teaching learning
situation in Bangladesh.

5.1 Suggestions
As Bangladesh proceeds boldly to implement its ambitious and yet
achievable Digital Bangladesh Vision 2021 priorities, it faces several
challenges. These are precisely the areas where the government needs to
work with the development partners to gather international best practices,
transfer technology and knowhow to the government, and build institutional
capacity. It must be realized by both the government and the development
partners that ICTs have emerged as a non-threatening approach to catalyze,
not force, administrative reform through various productivity enhancement
tools and knowledge management platforms, but most importantly, by
providing a natural vehicle for re-engineering business processes both for
service delivery and for administrative decision making.
Elimination of the digital divide between rural and urban areas and between
Bangladesh and other nations is essential in order to be at par with middleincome nations. A peaceful political environment is essential for intellectual,
social, cultural and economic development. Time and time again, the
nation's dream for Vision 2021 and Digital Bangladesh has been shattered by
the turbulent political situation. The country dearly needs a tranquil political
environment for the development of all sectors, including ICT, and for the
realisation of Vision 2021 and Digital Bangladesh. Suggestion that I mostly
recommend from my point of view are:
5.1.1 Human resource development
The policy makers in Bangladesh have woken up to the reality that
humanware is far more important than hardware and software to realize the
Digital Bangladesh vision. The HRD challenge appear in different forms: first,
the service providers especially the government must be much more aware
of the service delivery options and benefits ICTs present; second, the
government officials must embrace ICTs in their day to day work the
younger officers seem must more amenable to developing an ICT work
culture; third, the general literacy of the population being less than 50%
presents a significant challenge in adoption of computer technologies.
5.1.2 Financial allocation and institutional capacity
The still lacking institutional capacity to identify, design and manage ICTbased projects within the government deters the policy makers to allocate
significant budgets that would be required to implement Digital Bangladesh.
Some of the demonstration initiatives called Quick Wins facilitated by the
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Access to Information (A2I) programme and other programmes such as

Managing at the Top (MATT-2) are recently creating an appetite for calculated
risk-taking for larger ICT-based projects within the civil service. Institutional
capacity must be enhanced to formulate conducive policies and procedures
as well.
5.1.3 Affordable Connectivity
The cost of internet connectivity is still one of the highest in the region and is
well below the affordability of the common citizen. Broadband access is still
in its infancy because of lacking last mile connectivity and high cost of
access. Development of a policy for Universal Service Fund is still an area of
exploration.
5.1.4 Locally relevant and local language content
The new media and internet open up the user to a world of information and
knowledge, but unfortunately, very little is in the native language and much
of the content is not locally relevant, contextually meaningful or culturally
sensitive to the teeming millions.
5.1.5 Public-Private Partnerships framework
It is seen that ICT projects especially e-governance or e-service delivery
projects tend to sustain themselves much better when the private sector
takes a financial stake. Such public-private partnerships minimizes risk on
the government side and creates natural incentives on the private side to
ensure the quality of service and responsiveness to citizens. A PPP
framework that complies with Public Procurement Rules 2008 to
accommodate ICT projects is still very much in its infancy.
5.1.6 Reliable and continuous power
The country currently suffers from a chronic shortage of about 1,500 MW of
power. In locations of the country, power is not available when it is needed to
conduct a digital porgramme such as during office or school hours. With
Digital Bangladesh implementation, this shortage will one hand impede
progress of digitalization, and on the other, will make the power shortage
more acute unless power generation can be boosted in the short term.

5.1.7 Legal reform for businesses and consumers

ICT-based service delivery requires modifications to many existing laws.
Several development partners are already working on legal reform. Such
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effort may be linked to the reform necessitated by Digital Bangladesh efforts

for larger impact.
5.1.8 Branding
Bangladesh
as
a
software/ITES
outsourcing
destination
For international market access for export focused software/ITES companies,
linkage is a critical factor, rather than presence of a potential market. It has
been found that NRBs (Non Resident Bangladeshis) have played a significant
role in creating that linkage. In majority of cases with respect to successful
export in key markets, particularly in USA, Japan and Australia, the NRB
entrepreneurs have played the main role in creating market access.
However, this linkage remains person dependent and very small at a national
level. With national sponsorship, involvement of selected international
missions, and a high-level committee to market the country, a national
momentum for country branding is very possible.

Conclusion
The main vision of the policy is to promotion and multipurpose use of ICT to
ensure transparency and accountability of the government, human resources
development, ensure public services through public and private sector
participation and achieve national development goals by 2021. The policy
has 10 special objectives, 56 strategic themes and 306 action programs
which will be implemented by different organizations under short, medium
and long term timeframe by 2016, 2018 and 2021.
A dependable information system is essential for efficient management and
operation of the public and private sectors. But there is a shortage of locally
generated information needed for efficient performance of these sectors. In
order to meet this objective, ICT used in every sector shall have to be
accelerated in terms of information generation, utilization and applications.
Considering the gravity and importance of ICT Honorable Prime Minister has
already declared ICT as the thrust sector. Over the last few years, many
nations have taken advantage of the opportunities afforded by ICT within a
policy framework, laid down guidelines and proceed with the formulation of a
national ICT strategy as a part of the overall national development plan.
Bangladesh intends to use ICT as the key-driving element for socio-economic
development.
Thus in 2021, Bangladesh will take its place amongst middle income nations
of the world, where progress is not just reflected in higher living standards
but also in a wide range of human development indicators. And all this will
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be achieved with the recognition that the state must play a key role in
sustaining economic development.

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Reference
Hasanuzzaman Zaman and Rokonuzzaman (2014) Achieving Digital
Bangladesh by 2021 And Beyond
Basu, S. (2004). E-government and Developing Countries: An Overview.
International Review of Law Computers and Technology
The Daily Star - Lutfar Rahman (2015) Digital Bangladesh: Dreams and
reality
Available at: http://www.thedailystar.net/supplements/24th-anniversary-thedaily-star-part-1/digital-bangladesh-dreams-and-reality-73118
Bangladesh ICT Forum (2012) National ICT Policy-2009 of Bangladesh
Available at: https://bdictforum.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/national-ictpolicy-2009-of-bangladesh/
Shahiduzzaman Khan, (2004), Bangladesh: Ensuring transparency and
accountability
Available at: http://ifg.cc/en/current/news/regions/281-bd-bangladeschbangladesh/6507-bangladesh-ensuring-transparency-and-accountability
Bangladesh Cabinet (2015) Bangladesh Cabinet approved National ICT Draft
Policy 2015
Available at: http://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/bangladesh-cabinetapproved-national-ict-draft-policy-2015-1423059006-1
Md. Abdul Karim, Principal Secretary (2014) Digital Bangladesh for Good
governance

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