The government of Bangladesh and the common citizens are aware that at present there are two mainstays of Bangladesh's economy. One of them is the textile sector and the other is foreign remittances. In addition, I will try to explain more wildly the foreign remittances issue that have helped keep Bangladesh's backbone straight. Since the economic base of our country has not been so strong till date and the development of the country is largely dependent on foreign remittances, the question remains whether we are getting as much foreign remittance from abroad as we were supposed to get. The answer to this question may be known to many, but I will try to explain it in a little more detail in the next part of this article.
A few days ago I was talking to a close friend of mine who lives in Canada. He was one of the few close friends in my student life. Like many close friends, he was lost for a long time because of the busyness of life. As I was scrolling contacts on my mobile phone that day, his name suddenly came to my notice and I immediately called him. We were both very excited to be able to talk after a long time. At one point in the long discussion I asked him when he would come back to his own country. He replied that he is unlikely to return to his country because he and his family would soon settle in Canada. I was shocked hearing the news because I will never be able to meet one of my closest friends face to face again. But the next moment another thought came to my mind.
This friend of mine studied all education in government school and college in his entire student life. After paying a nominal amount of money as school fees, he completed his studies and later went abroad with a scholarship. Now that person is thinking of staying abroad and settling down there. All that he has achieved in his life has been funded by government which ultimately came from the hard working workers as Vat, Tax or other sources. Today, in exchange of common people effort, he is highly educated and has been able to migrate abroad. This applies not only to my friend but also to many others. So now the question remains how much we have been able to do for those people. Isn’t it our responsibility to repay their debts?
Today, the lion's share of foreign remittances come from migrant workers. They are selling their land and property to go to abroad, eventually sending money home to their families, and as a result, the country is prospering. But those who are employed in high class jobs abroad, how much money they are sending or how much they are investing for the country. I am sure that amount is very low. If that money was properly invested in the country then the country could be much more prosperous today.
So, as a conscious citizen, I want to say that we have no problem people living abroad for better life, but they should show some kind of responsibility for the country. At least they should invest some of the money in this country which they are earning abroad. Otherwise, they will be born indebted for what they have taken from this country.
