Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Ghulam Parwar said, “The budget should not be a tool of corruption and looting and for this the government should give clear guidelines.” He said this at the Economic Reporters Forum Auditorium in Paltan in the capital on Sunday at an exchange meeting titled ‘National Budget Ideas’ with economic journalists.
Despite the increase in the size of the budget, the fortunes and quality of life of the people have not improved – Mia Golam Parwar commented that the first budget of independent Bangladesh was Tk 786 crore. That budget is gradually increasing and the upcoming budget is being fixed at 9 lakh 38 thousand crores. But in 55 years of independence, the budget did not reflect the aspirations of the people. Rather, sometimes it was seen that the budget was a tool of looting.
Jamaat Secretary said, ‘Education is the main basis of social and economic change. Increased investment in moral and work-oriented education is essential to increase income, reduce corruption and create employment. Increasing allocation to education sector can transform manpower into efficient human resources, which will give manifold returns in future.’ That is why UNESCO advises developed countries to invest at least 6 percent of GDP in the education sector, he said.
Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Hamidur Rahman Azad said in the president’s speech at the meeting, oil on the head should be removed from the budget. The budget should be universal. All the post independence budgets were debt based budgets. The economy did not reach the peak of growth in the debt dependent budget.
Azad also said that Jamaat-e-Islami wants a budget that will ensure proper use of every penny of public tax and will have accountability and transparency. The wheels of the economy should be set in motion by reducing the dependence on debt.
Jamaat-e-Islami central executive council member Advocate Matiur Rahman Akander presented the main article in the meeting, Dean of School of Business and Economics of North South University. AKM Waresul Karim. Jamaat’s women’s department secretary Nurunnisa Siddika also spoke, former senior secretary b. M. Khabirul Islam, Executive Editor of Daily Naya Digante Masumur Rahman Khalili and others.
