decorate or not decorate: the decision of bangladesh government

8/7/2019 Decorate or not decorate: The decision of Bangladesh Government

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Decorate or not decorate: The Decision

of Bangladesh Government


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Recurring every four years, the World Cup Cricket is the Worlds 3rd

largest gaming event only

after Olympics and World Cup Football. This year (2011), the World Cup cricket is being hosted

by the Asian Trio- India, Bangladesh and Srilanka. Bangladesh, among them, will feature 8

matches including 2 quarter final matches and the opening ceremony. This flagship event has

not only drawn global attention to Bangladesh but also injected colossal amount of foreign

currency in the economy as a by-product among other benefactions. Nevertheless, to the

Bangladeshis, cricket is no longer a mode of mere entertainment. It is now gravely intertwined

with our happiness, sadness, leisure and living. Bangladesh government has allocated a budget

of Tk. 5 billion for ensuring proper facilities, convenient transportation, heightened security and

decoration of two major cities of Bangladesh-Dhaka and Chittagong. Many believe that since

Bangladesh is a cash-strapped nation, this expense was superfluous and unjustified. Rather the

government should have helped the poor people living in acute conditions in various slums.

However, I believe that the expense was rather a necessity and the government has taken a

rational decision instead of being emotional.

To begin with, the expenditure for beautification was a reflection of respect, sincerity and

gratefulness on Bangladeshs part, as a country, for vesting them with a responsibility of such

importance. There are two pithy reasons why Bangladesh should be humble to ICC. For one, ICChas provided Bangladesh a proven platform where it can showcase itself to the whole world.

The other, ICC will be paying Bangladesh a certain percentage of aggregate revenue obtained

from both the sale of tickets and in-stadium advertisement. It is noteworthy that, according to

the forecasting done by ICC, the Bangladesh government should get a share of ICCs revenue

that will equal to almost double their expenses. So it is quite rational that Bangladesh

government should pay their allegiance to ICC by ensuring a sound cricketing environment.

Secondly, the World Cup is an instrument through which Bangladesh could sell itself. By

investing in beautification, Bangladesh government tried to enhance the countrys image to the

World so that more and more people are attracted to visit Bangladesh as a vacation spot. It is

worth mentioning, in this regard, that Bangladesh government spent around Tk. 2 million just


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for creating the Beautiful Bangaldesh advertisement which featured the major tourism spots

of Bangladesh. This ad emitted a positive aura of Bangladesh and has greatly enhanced the

country image. It can be expected that with this sort of promotion, Bangladesh will now earn

more foreign currency through tourism in the offing. In short, this expense should be seen as an

investment as it should help Bangladesh generate more revenue from tourism.

Last but not the least, if scrutinized, the flow of funds allocated for decoration by the

Bangladesh government would deter the major claim of the opposition- this investment was a

needless investment and this funds could have been used for helping the needy people. Ask a

question to yourself- where did this invested money go? Well, obviously some of it was used to

buy decoration equipments, some for arms and other security gadgets. But the most part of

this money actually went to poor people who worked day and night to make this country look

beautiful. So, it is obvious that a lot of poor people were benefitted indirectly by this decoration

expenditure. In addition, under the government plan, to keep the city streets clean and tidy,

every beggar will be paid tk.300 each day in return for remaining off the radar whereas their

average daily income was predicted to be tk. 100. So to say, the poor people were also

benefitted by this investment in varying ways.

To sum up, this decoration expense ratified by Bangladesh government was a rational decision

and that it was unavoidable under any circumstances, to sustain a credible country image. After

the liberation war, no other event has influenced the people of Bangladesh so much to develop

harmony and unity. 11 players will be playing in the field but they will be supported by an army

of 14 crore Bangladeshis. They all have the same aspiration- to see their team win the World

Cup.

decorate or not decorate: the decision of bangladesh government

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