The way the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka is being developed these days, this was inescapable. Every development, every ounce of growth, is densely concentrated and almost entirely unplanned. This has led Forbes Magazine to list Dhaka as the second dirtiest city in the world. The main culprit is lead-poisoned air. Traffic congestion in the capital continues to worsen, with vehicles emitting fatal amounts of air pollutants daily. Things are a total mess.

The unplanned growth of city, along with more and more people pouring in from rural areas and into the city slums, along with the ill-equipped infrastructure have augmented the misery.

The solution is simple - decentralize Dhaka. Transfer the Government Secretariats to the outskirts of Dhaka, including housing compounds, giving priority to other commercial cities like Chitatgong, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Sylhet. The government must also encourage businesses to shift major operations out of Dhaka, making special zones for garment industries and factories. Steps have to be taken now or otherwise the number one spot will soon be Dhaka’s.

Baku in Azerbaijan has clinched the top slot with its life-threatening levels of air pollution emitted from oil drilling. At least we’re not there yet.

Here is the complete list of the 25 dirtiest cities of the world:

• No. 25: Port Harcourt, Nigeria
  No. 24: New Delhi, India
  No. 23: Maputo, Mozambique
  No. 22: Luanda, Angola
  No. 21: Niamey, Niger
  No. 20: Nouakchott, Mauritania
  No. 19: Conakry, Guinea Republic
  No. 18: Lome, Togo
  No. 17: Pointe Noire, Congo
  No. 16: Bamako, Mali
  No. 15: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
  No. 14: Moscow, Russia
  No. 13: Bangui, Central African Republic
  No. 12: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  No. 11: Ndjamena, Chad
  No. 10: Brazzaville, Congo
  No. 9: Almaty, Kazakhstan
  No. 8: Baghdad, Iraq
  No. 7: Mumbai, India
  No. 6: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  No. 5: Mexico City, Mexico
  No. 4: Port au Prince, Haiti
  No. 3: Antananarivo, Madagascar
  No. 2: Dhaka, Bangladesh
  No. 1: Baku, Azerbaijan

From Rezwan…

The onset of life will always be a traumatic and life-shaping event. Our Bangladeshi correspondent and political activist know only as Rezwan takes RELATIVITY OnLine inside the fragile birth of a struggling democracy, unfolding within the borders one of our planet’s most impoverished countries.  It’s always in our most early days that we are most susceptible to sickness and suffering. The hobbled and humble nation of Bangladesh is no different.     

This past December 29th was the first anniversary of the landmark election that brought Bangladesh back to the path of Democracy.

So what change has this one year brought to Bangladesh? We have many young and energetic ministers who’ve promised a lot, but have yet failed to deliver up to the people’s expectations. The good thing is that they are not corrupt (not yet) like their predecessors and perhaps we need to give them more time. Furthermore, the government is yet to show any success in the energy sector and in the securing Bangladeshi labors’ laws.

The government has created a lot of controversy in the meantime, with its implementation of daylight savings time and its illogical rolling back (did they think of the technological challenges like changing the time of mission critical computer systems synchronizing with the world?), the indiscriminate renaming of major installations of the country for political motives (do these guys really care how tough and costly is it to change the name of the major international airport in all the records of the world?), and with the home minister sounding like the notorious BNP one.

The BNP has not learned from their past mistakes and are taking the same path of making the democratic process dysfunctional. They are not going to the parliament and taking the path to destabilize the country. The are reinstating their corrupt leaders.Their corrupt leaders like Nazmul Huda now vows to take revenge against those people who detained and questioned him. They think that Bangladesh is like their kingdom because they are powerful. Who are you to ask for their accountability?

Meanwhile, religious parties like Jamaate Islami is shrewdly trying to cash in on anti-Indian politics. Their recent politics includes honoring liberation war heroes, whereas they were in fact against the liberation of Bangladesh. They also are doing their best to stop the trial of war criminals. Other religious parties are harping on the Tipaimukh issue to publicize their agenda. The strategy is simple - play with people’s emotions and establish political Islam.

So - the Bangladesh political scene is returning to its old shape. Much time was wasted talking about reforms inside political parties and Bangladesh politics in general.  All in all we are slowly headed back to square to square one.

From Rezwan…

Born in Bangladesh in the port city of Chittagong and raised in the mega city of Dhaka, RELATIVITY OnLine’s newest contributor is simply known as Rezwan.  Growing up in an urban sprawl that reaches nearly thirteen million souls, the crowded, tough and dirty streets of Dhaka forged a man of principle and realism. He later left his home country for Europe, which included several years of study in Germany. He has since relocated once again, this time to Indonesia, where he now calls Jakarta home. A business executive who has worked with local conglomerates and multinational companies, Rezwan describes writing as the ultimate freedom of expression, which he in turn feels is a fundamental cog in the wheel of our own humanity. Like so many others, he sees the mainstream media as having lost much of its importance, especially in the foreign correspondent front, because citizen media is providing a much wider context and deeper perspectives. Rezwan is the current regional editor of Global Voices Online South Asia division and runs his own intriguing blog entitled The 3rd World View