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NRBs or non-resident Bangladeshis comprise people of Bangladeshi origin who live outside Bangladesh. The émigré community that has settled in various parts of our planet fall under the NRB category.

Wherever they have settled as the new residents (eg, citizens, dual citizens, permanent or temporary residents), the NRBs and their children and grandchildren are perhaps amongst the best educated and successful communities in the world. Today, the NRBs or the Bangladeshi expats constitute a significant and successful economic, social and cultural force in the world. They have made significant contribution to the economy of the country of residence and have added in considerable measure to knowledge and innovation. They have also been a major source of foreign remittances for Bangladesh.Ìý

According to the government of Bangladesh, some 12 million are estimated to be NRBs. There is hardly a country today in the world where Bangladeshis, once dumped asÌý‘ghar kuno’Ìý(ie, averse to leave home), cannot be found.

There was a time when a very few Bangladeshis thought of ever living overseas under an alien culture. When they lived overseas, it was often a temporary stay in which they were expected to return home after their education or job ended. Typically, their spouses did not accompany them. Immigration to foreign countries was also difficult in those days. As a result, a large fraction of those NRB families who settled with their families in Europe, Australia and North America in the 1960s–1980s included professional engineers, doctors, technologists and educationists. The number of illegal immigrants and those asking political asylum was too small.

However, with the ever-increasing globalisation, since at least the early 1990s, and the acute need for cheap and skilled labour from the third-world countries and low population growth rate within the indigenous population, new immigration laws were enacted that allowed immigration to many of the western countries. The character of migration began to change and a ‘new diaspora’, led by high skilled professionals (especially in the high-tech sector) moving to the western world and semi-skilled contract workers moving mostly to the Gulf states emerged.

As the political situation deteriorated drastically in Bangladesh, adding, inter alia, to insecurity and the politicisation of employment opportunities, many of those NRBs who had originally come to western countries temporarily, eg, as foreign students to pursue higher studies, were forced to find gainful employment and ultimately settle in the more prosperous western countries that allowed their easy integration.Ìý In this regard, it is worth sharing here that the top 80 per cent of the BUET engineering graduates earning first class who had come for graduate studies in the United States and Canada in the late 1970s ultimately chose to settle in their host countries. The record for subsequent graduating classes was similar. Many of their classmates who had at one time worked in the Middle East in engineering projects in the late 1970s and 1980s would later join them, rather than settling back in Bangladesh. The same is true for other disciplines and other western countries, perhaps not at the same scale. Such an ‘exodus’ can only be described as a colossal ‘brain-drain’ phenomenon. In 2023 alone, according to UNESCO, more than 52,800 students left Bangladesh, most of whom will never return unless conditions within the country will change for the better. Politicians have failed to make them feel secure and needed for the good of their country. Even the best of the intentions of the NRBs has been questioned as if they are the winter-time migratory birds who are not going to stay too long.

The emergence of significant diasporas has in recent years brought into sharp focus two key facts.

— First, there is a large expatriate population of skilled people from emerging economies in the developed world.Ìý

— Second, overseas communities can constitute a significant resource for the development of the countries of origin.Ìý

What was, thus, once a ‘brain-drain’ phenomenon for the native countries can easily be transformed into a ‘brain-gain’ or brain-retain phenomenon if there are willing undertakers on both ends.Ìý

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Points to ponder

THE diaspora community can serve as an important ‘bridge’ to access knowledge, expertise, resources and markets for the development of the country of origin. As experts would tell us, the success of this bridge is often predicated upon two conditions:

— the ability of the diaspora community to serve as goodwill ambassadors of their native country in developing and projecting a positive image that is coherent, intrinsically motivated, and progressive; and

— the capacity of the home country to establish conditions and institutions for sustainable, symbiotic, and mutually rewarding engagement.

As to the first of the above two conditions, the NRBs have earned the trust of their hosts, projecting an image as good neighbours and workers and are, accordingly, recognised for their positive contribution made both inside and outside their workspace. Many NRBs are recognised professionally as great teachers, researchers, scientists, doctors, engineers, bankers, accountants and business entrepreneurs. Many of them are practically running many of the major corporations in their host countries. They have not forgotten their birthplace; they crave for opportunities to help the people of Bangladesh in every way that is legal and possible. Despite demoralising government red tapes, they continue to fund many institutions and projects either at individual or collective level,Ìýthrough local and foreign NGOs. More importantly, these caring and highly talented and experienced NRBs are capable of transforming Bangladesh into an envy of the entire South Asia.

Sadly, as to the second condition, the Bangladesh government did not prove to be a sincere partner to grab the stretched arms of the NRB community. In fact, their irresponsible self-serving policies penalised them making the lives of their family members living inside Bangladesh unbearable. Their paternal properties became easy targets for illicit land grab by those affiliated with the ruling parties and the government. The sad experience has left many NRBs bewildered and utterly frustrated. Nothing good could come out of such a painful experience when their precious time and money are lost fighting land-grabbing criminals and forced to bribe corrupt and greedy bureaucrats who are seemingly oblivious of their accountability.Ìý

It is, however, never too late to modify and correct such mistakes and deficiencies. And what could be a better time than now when the five-week student-led protests morphed into people’s uprising, toppling the most corrupt and criminal government in the history of Bangladesh on August 5. Never in the history of Bangladesh its people has seen a movement of this magnitude that drew supports from every segment of the population — the majority that was not led by either a party or a personality. This latest movement is uniquely different from the movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Muslim League against the British raj that established Pakistan on August 14, 1947. This movement is also different fro the two-decade struggle for political and economic rights of the people of East Pakistan that was led by politicians of various shades against the military junta, culminating in the liberation of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971. This movement is also different from the political movement in 1990-91 that was led by major political parties such as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the Awami League and Jamaat-e-Islami, which toppled the Ershad regime, burying the ‘military democracy.’

Sadly, the people’s aspirations for a better, safer and secure life with equal rights and opportunities continued to be dashed by the ruling parties who with a ‘winner-takes-all’ attitude plundered the country as a private fiefdom. Every new regime was in a competition to outdo its predecessor in setting new records on thuggery, crimes, and corruption.

The toppled Hasina regime, thus, turned out to be the worst regime in which human rights for non-partisans simply did not exist; no dissent was allowed; abduction and extortion defined the norms of her autocratic government. The police and the Rapid Action Battalion, let alone the hoodlums affiliated with the ruling party, became the enforcers to prolong the life of her hated regime that was out of touch with the realities faced by the suffering masses. Sycophancy and not honesty and meritocracy defined the character of the government and its agenda.

In most major investment projects, appointment and policy matters, the appeasement of India ultimately sealed the fate. The constitution of the country was soiled beyond recognition to justify and sanctify the state crimes and solidify her hold onto power by any means plausible. In essence, under Sheikh Hasina Wazed of the Awami League, Bangladesh was turned into a republic of fear and unmatched crime and corruption. She destroyed the very image of her father, once revered as the Bangabandhu. The destruction of Sheikh Mujib’s home, museum and statues reflects people’s fury with Hasina’s 15-year misrule.Ìý

Sheikh Hasina’s removal from power is a welcome event in Bangladesh’s history. The NRB community is hopeful that the interim government would work diligently with utmost sincerity and well-thought-out plans that fulfil people’s expectations. And the list-to-do is too long. It will take years, if not decades, to properly put together the stepping stones for Sonar Bangladesh where everyone feels happy, productive, and energetic to become a force of change for the better. People in Bangladesh do not like to be revisited by the bad experiences of the past regimes; they do not like dynasty or family-centric politics; they do not like to see a return of chandabaziÌý(extortion) and thuggery; they do not like a government bureaucracy and judiciary where without bribery nothing gets done; they like to see a patriotic and not a puppet establishment that is uncompromising when it comes to the interest of Bangladesh.Ìý

Based on a crude survey that we conducted recently, we found that the NRBs are willing to give the interim government enough time to deliver some of the essentials for a better future. They want comprehensive reforms before an election is held.

The NRB community is committed to transforming what was a ‘brain-drain’ phenomenon to a ‘brain-gain’ phenomenon as a comrade in this new journey. We hope that the interim government recognises the value in such a collaboration to transform Bangladesh into a global player of significance in all areas of development. The time has come for a strong and sustained engagement between government agencies within Bangladesh and the NRB experts that live in developed countries. Ìý

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Dr Habib SiddiquiÌýis a human rights and peace activist.ÌýDr Mohammad Karim is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Both are associated with the Esho Desh Gori – Let’s Build Bangladesh as members of its steering committee.