Staff Reporter:
The government has published a book titled ‘Reform Book’ with brief descriptions of the key re-form initiatives undertaken by the interim government since August 2024.
The Chief Adviser’s Press Wing disclosed the information yesterday.
Describing the background of the reforms, the press wing said on August 5, 2024, driven by the courage of millions of Bangladeshis led by young boys and girls who took to the streets to say “Enough is enough” to authoritarian rule, Bangladesh began to emerge from nearly sixteen years of fascist-style repression under Sheikh Hasina.
This led to the July Uprising, leading to the creation of an interim government headed by Professor Muhammad Yunus at a time when the nation found itself in deep crisis. The interim government inherited profound economic, institutional, and democratic breakdown.
Years of corruption and misrule had hollowed out the state. Hundreds of billions of dollars were siphoned from public institutions, the banking sector was crippled by massive non-performing loans, and core regulatory bodies—including the central bank—had been subordinated to private and political interests.
Law enforcement agencies were used for political repression, the judiciary was filled with corrup-tion and political manipulations resulting in the loss of its independence, voter-less elections be-came the fate of the nation, and media freedom and vibrancies of the civil society disappeared.
From this wreckage, the press wing said, the interim government—working alongside millions of citizens across sectors—has initiated a process of transformation.
Immediately after taking charge, it set up Reform Commissions consisting of experts from the rel-evant fields, and sought recommendations for sector-specific reforms.
On the basis of the reports furnished by these Commissions, and also on its own initiative, the in-terim government rolled out widespread legal and institutional reforms that would be feasible with-in its tenure.
In the eighteen months since assuming responsibility, it has enacted approximately 130 laws (comprising new laws and mending laws) and taken over 600 executive decisions, reflecting the urgency of institutional reform and reconstruction.
Roughly 84 percent of these measures have already been implemented, reflecting genuine and tan-gible reform, rather than rhetorical and cosmetic change.
