Ill-gotten wealth
Mahmud I. Hasan, Bronx, NY, USA
Recently, the caretaker government (CTG) hit headlines for forcing certain sections of our countrymen who are corrupt and wealthy into disclosing their wealth. Upon finding discrepancies in their so-called 'wealth statement' and their evident wealth, the CTG seized many of their properties. Up until now, the CTG has not entirely revealed its plans for the seized properties, other than scant mentions of depositing liquid assets with the Bangladesh Bank.If the CTG has yet to formulate a concrete plan as to how to make use of these funds, I would like to suggest a novel solution. The steel magnate Andrew Carnegie had said that, "There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration." Since the plan of the CTG has been professed to be an experiment in shoring up democratic principles, this may be important to note that in a country of 150 million people, Bangladesh has no nation-wide free circulating library system. A free library system is the bedrock of democracy as it allows people, regardless of class and rank, to gain knowledge of the world beyond the horizon. It frees up any limitations or obstacles to moving up the ladder of success in life. Carnegie also practised what he preached. He built 2500 libraries in the English-speaking world. The New York Public Library system, one of the greatest free circulating system in the world, was created with the help of the generosity of individuals like Carnegie, Astor, Lenox and Tilden. Since the wealthy in our country have the unfortunate tendency to leave their gaudy amounts of wealth to their children only, let the CTG use this opportunity to use some of the ill-gotten wealth of the rich and corrupt to establish a free library system which will help create a more egalitarian society.
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