Nationalisation of industries in Bangladesh : political and administrative perspectives

The pattern of nationalisation and free enterprise in Bangladesh has been primarily shaped by the environmental conditions in the country. The poor industrial structure, slow economic growth, existence of a sizeable public sector, chaotic political and economic condition, presence of a strong, radical and militant student and labour front, sentiments generally against capitalist owners of the means of produc-tion were factors leading to the decision of nationalisation in 1972. This decision generated expectations in the people of Bangladesh for building up a society free from poverty and exploitation. Within a short time this optimism gave way to a sense of dissillusionment and disappointment. Nationalisation gradually lost its force and sharp-ness particularly since the military took over government in 1975. The practice of nationalisation did not match its precepts during the Awami League Administration and the leanings of the military rulers towards free enterprise became evident despite reticence about their social policy. In this situation nationalisation programmes were based on expediency rather than principle, resulting in a lack of clear perception of goal and structure with respect to their legal, administrative and operational aspects which vitiated their performance. Inconsistencies were also discernible in respect of ideological or pragmatic justification used for the genesis, organisation and operation of the nationalised undertakings. In the developing circumstances of the Third World countries it is especially difficult to demarcate the boundaries of ideology and empiricism particularly when political and economic grounds for nationalisation are interrelated. Studies in nationalisation focus on both ideology and expediency as factors in it. In instances where this is not clearly differentiated, it leads to a dichotomous situation. This dichotomy has been found to exist in different forms. The developing countries provide the best known examples, although others are available in developed western nations as well. The British model has symbolised this dichotomy as a central feature and much of the structural framework of the model depends on resolution of this dichotomy. This study selects the experiences of nationalisation in Bangla-desh, one of the world's poorest countries, as the base of its empirical research. The findings tend to show that nationalisation involves experiences of diverse kind. Ideology and pragmatism often overlap in respect of formulation and implementation of a nationalisation programme and both grounds are individually or jointly applicable to specific situations. Nationalisation as implemented in Bangladesh has become a support to fragile private enterprise, even at the cost of the nationalised industries themselves. The role of nationalisation can, however, be perceived not as a weapon in the ideological armoury, but more as an empirical need of the economy. While its success or failure depends on a variety of factors, a moot question is the political willingness to use it for a clearly defined purpose.