পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (দ্বিতীয় খণ্ড).pdf/৪৭৫

448 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ দ্বিতীয় খন্ড Report on disparity for the year 1968 placed before the National assembly records that disparity has continued to increase. The centralization of economic management has thus failed miserably to meet the objective of attaining economic justice. It has failed to meet the constitutional obligation to remove economic disparity between region and region. Instead, therefore, of persisting in centralized economic management which has failed to deliver the goods, we should adopt a bold and imaginative solution to this challenging problem. The Federal Scheme of the Six-Point Programme is, in my view, such a bold and imaginative solution. It is in essence a scheme for entrusting the responsibility for economic management to the regions. This proposal is born of the conviction that this alone can effectively meet the problems, which centralized economic management, has failed to overcome. The unique geography of the country, resulting in lack of labor mobility, as well as the different levels of development obtaining in the different regions, requires that economic management should not be centralized. The specific proposal embodied in the Six-Point Programme with regard to currency, foreign trade, foreign exchange earnings and taxation are all designed to give full responsibility for economic management to the regional Governments. The proposals with regard to currency are designed to prevent flight of Capital and to secure control over monetary policy. The proposals regarding foreign trade and foreign exchange are designed to ensure that the resources of a region are available to that region and to ensure it to obtain the maximum amount of foreign exchange resources for development purposes. The proposal regarding taxation is designed to ensure control by the regional governments over fiscal policy, without in any way depriving the Federal Government of its revenue requirements. The substance of these proposals is as follows: (a) With regard to currency, measures should be adopted to prevent flight of capital from one region to another and to secure control over monetary policy by the regional governments. This can be done by adoption of two currencies or by having one currency with a separate Reserve Bank being set up in each region, to control monetary policy, with the State Bank retaining control over certain defined matters. Subject to the above arrangements, Currency would be a Federal subject. (b) With regard to foreign trade and aid, the regional Governments should have power to negotiate trade and aid, within the frame work of the foreign policy of the country, which shall be the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (c) The foreign exchange earnings of each region should be maintained in an account in each Regional Reserve Bank and be under the control of the regional Governments; the Federal requirements of foreign exchange would be met by appropriations from the two regional accounts on the basis of an agreed ratio.