পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (তৃতীয় খণ্ড).pdf/৪৩৬

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বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ তৃতীয় পত্র

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

 The Awami League is committed to democracy. “A real living democracy shall be established in which people shall live in freedom and with dignity, and in which justice and equality shall prevail", so runs the Awami League manifesto. The Awami League is solemnly resolved to secure to all citizens social, economic and political justice. To establish “a real living democracy" a member of important proposals are embodied into the manifesto. These include: universal adult franchise, direct and free elections, equality before the law, rule of law, independence of the judiciary, fundamental right and freedoms, secular social order, full right and citizenship for the minorities, parliamentary government in which the legislature shall be supreme and to which the executive shall be responsible. On the political plane this is the programmed to translate into reality the two basic democratic values-liberties and equality.

 The Awami League knows and believes that the liberty and equality of political democracy are hollows unless they are completed by economic liberty and equality. Freedom, if it is to be real, implies freedom from the economic constraint of want, poverty and hunger, and this is as much fundamental as freedom from the political constraint of military autocracy and dictatorship. To establish economic justice and to give fruition of the longing of the common men for freedom from want, the Awami League is committed to a socialist economic order. In the Awami League manifesto it is laid down “the basic aim of the economic programmed is the creation of a just and egalitarian society free from exploitation. The vision is that of a socialist economic order, in which economic injustice will be removed, rapid economic growth will be promoted and provision shall be made for the just distribution of the fruits of such growth among all sections of the people". To realize this objectives some specific proposals are embodied into the manifesto and these are: private enterprise as the sole vehicle of economic growth with private profit as the main motive leads to the concentration of wealth in a few hands and to the control of the key sectors of the economy by powerful private coteries, making it impossible for the goal of social justice and equality to be realized; this is to be altered and removed by nationalization and extension of the public sector, by the development of cooperative enterprises, and by the evolution of new institutional arrangements.

 The Awami League is thus committed to a socialist economic order based on democratic principles and values. Its main task is to bring about a social and economic revolution through democratic process.

 The villages, more than 65,000 in number, seem to be the appropriate center where these political, economic and social goals can be translated into action. Let us have a hard look at the objective conditions prevailing in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is predominantly a rural and agrarian society, depending on agriculture for its sustenance, employment and exports. More than 65 percent of the national income of Bangladesh is derived from agriculture, and the industrial sector contributes only 10 per cent to the total national income. Only 5.2 per cent of the total population lives in the urban areas and 94.8 per cent in the villages. It has one of the highest density of population, 922 persons per sq. mile.