Some 5.5 million families buy rice at Tk 15 a kilogram every month. In September, inflation stood at 8.34 percent. The record of Tarique Rahman’s government after eight months sits between those two numbers.
According to the Election Commission’s gazette, the BNP won 209 of 297 seats, an absolute majority, and a new government was formed under party chairman Tarique Rahman. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, with 68 seats, became the main opposition in parliament. The National Citizen Party (NCP), formed after the mass uprising, entered parliament with six seats.
People expected reform, economic relief and jobs from the first elected government since the uprising.
Eight months on, the question is how far the government has come in meeting those expectations. Are its initiatives making a visible difference to ordinary lives, or is the weight of expectation becoming its biggest challenge?
New schemes for social protection and farming
The family card and the farmer card are among the government’s first initiatives. The family card is meant to give direct cash support to low-income and vulnerable households. In the first phase, monthly support has been arranged for selected families, and the government says the genuinely deprived will be given priority.
The farmer card aims to make it easier for farmers to get government subsidies, farm inputs, loans, crop insurance and other services. The goal is to cut reliance on middlemen and deliver state support to farmers directly.
The government has also announced a plan to waive loans of up to Tk 10,000, with interest, for about 1.2 million small and marginal farmers. The aim is to ease their debt so they can keep producing.
As part of farm and environmental management, canal re-excavation work has begun in several regions to improve irrigation, end waterlogging and restore the natural flow of water.
Cutting public spending, and the question of accountability
Bringing discipline to public spending has been one of the most talked-about steps of the government’s first months. Smaller delegations on official trips, cuts to unnecessary costs, lower hospitality spending at the Prime Minister’s Office and less pomp at state events have been presented as efforts to save public money.
The Prime Minister’s lunch and afternoon snack allowance being brought down to Tk 150 also drew attention. Cancelling parliament’s annual post-budget dinner saved about Tk 5 million, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Progress on food security and public services
The government has kept its cheap rice programme running for low-income people. Under the food ministry’s Food Friendly Programme, about 5.5 million families in 495 upazilas receive 30 kg of rice a month at Tk 15 a kilogram for six months of the year (August to November, and March to April).
The government has also announced several steps in education: action against schools that charge re-admission fees, doubling scholarship payments at various levels, and loans of up to Tk 1 million without a guarantor through Probashi Kallyan Bank for higher study abroad.
In health, the government has announced a plan to recruit 100,000 health workers, 80 percent of them women. It has also launched an e-health card, and ran an emergency vaccination campaign against a measles outbreak.
For social inclusion, the government’s progress report lists a 25 percent fare discount on the metro rail and trains for older people and people with disabilities. If carried out, it could cut their regular travel costs and widen their access to public transport.
Jobs at home and labour markets abroad
Youth employment is one of Bangladesh’s biggest challenges. The state minister for public administration told parliament that more than 468,000 posts were vacant across government bodies (as of December 31, 2023). The government says it has short, medium and long-term plans to fill them.
It has also opened talks with several countries to expand jobs abroad. Reopening the Malaysian labour market and new openings for Bangladeshi workers in Europe and elsewhere have been discussed. Technical training and language skills are being stressed so that skilled and semi-skilled workers can be sent.
But high migration costs, fraud and the protection of workers’ rights cannot be ignored. Alongside new markets, it matters whether workers can work on safe and fair terms.
Energy security and economic stability
Turbulence in world energy markets and the crisis in the Middle East have made fuel supply uncertain. The government has responded by sourcing fuel from other suppliers, keeping imports going and trying to hold supply steady.
Recovering money laundered abroad and identifying the assets involved has also been on the government’s agenda. Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury told parliament on April 21 that immovable assets of S Alam Group worth Tk 4,264 crore had been seized under court orders. But seizing assets is not the same as bringing laundered money back to the treasury. Completing the legal process to recover the money, acting against those responsible and building effective safeguards against future laundering will be the government’s real test.
Asked for his overall assessment of the government, M A Rakib, a former president of the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology unit of Chhatra Dal, the BNP’s student wing, told BD Global Times: “Despite the fragile economy left behind by 17 years of corruption and irregularities, the government led by Tarique Rahman has managed to bring Bangladesh’s economy to an acceptable level. Farmers are being supported through the farmer card, and efforts are under way to make women economically self-reliant through the family card.”
Prices: ordinary people’s biggest worry
Despite these initiatives, discontent over the cost of living remains. Low-income and middle-class families alike find it hard to run their homes on a monthly income. High prices of rice, chicken and other essentials are squeezing household budgets. According to data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), overall inflation stood at 8.34 percent in September 2026, up from 8.26 percent in August. Food inflation rose from 7.02 percent to 7.22 percent over the same period, while non-food inflation eased slightly, from 9.32 percent to 9.30 percent.
The big question for the government is whether social protection and cheap food schemes are enough to offset high market prices. Besides helping low-income families, it also needs effective steps on market monitoring, better supply chains and curbing hoarding and price manipulation.
Power and gas shortages hit daily life
Electricity has become a major challenge for the government. Power shortages have caused discontent in recent months. Long outages are hurting people in rural areas in particular, and factories in urban areas complain that power problems are disrupting production.
Thirty-five power plants were shut on October 8, and load-shedding reached about 2,500 megawatts. Officials say shortages of fuel and gas are among the main reasons the plants were disrupted.
On top of this is a gas supply crisis. People in various areas complain they cannot cook for lack of gas, and the uncertain fuel supply is also affecting transport.
Law and order, and the conduct of party activists
The government also faces criticism over law and order. Allegations of extortion, land grabbing and violence in different parts of the country have caused public anger. Allegations against some ruling party leaders and activists, and members of Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal in particular, have embarrassed the government.
The party has expelled many leaders and activists in response. But expulsion alone is not a solution. The allegations need impartial investigation, legal action where offences are proven, and enforcement of the law regardless of political identity.
Freedom of expression and political tolerance
Questions have also been raised over criticism of the government and freedom of expression. The detention and arrest of several people accused of making derogatory or offensive remarks about Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on social media have drawn attention, raising concern over political free speech and the role of law enforcement.
In Kushtia, after a teacher was detained over remarks about the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister himself ordered his release, his office said.
The episode can be seen as an example of the Prime Minister stepping in. It also raises a question: why should the right to free expression depend on personal intervention? Whether a statement broke the law should be decided mainly by a transparent and impartial legal process. In a democracy, the right to criticise the government matters. At the same time, threats, incitement to violence and other criminal acts require legal action. Keeping a clear line between the two is the government’s responsibility.
The July Charter and the referendum verdict
Political debate has also grown over the referendum result and the implementation of the July National Charter. A referendum held on the same day as the parliamentary election asked voters about the constitutional and institutional reforms proposed after the 2024 mass uprising.
The proposals included a bicameral parliament with a 100-member upper house, term limits for the prime minister, more representation for women, and stronger accountability for the judiciary and parliament. According to the Election Commission’s results, 60 percent of voters took part in the referendum and 68.26 percent voted “yes” to the reform proposals.
The referendum was held alongside the same election that brought the BNP to power, so any delay or uncertainty in carrying out its verdict naturally raises political questions. Part of the opposition and some critics accuse the government of not taking the steps needed to implement the July Charter. The government has two important duties here: to keep its political commitment to the referendum verdict, and to give people a clear picture of how the reforms will be carried out. A specific plan for which reform happens when, how, and through which legal process would reduce the uncertainty.
Political analyst Sardar Abbas Rana told BD Global Times: “In its election manifesto, the BNP said it would form a judicial commission to make the lower courts independent and further strengthen the Supreme Court’s separate secretariat. But as soon as it formed the government, it abolished the Supreme Court’s separate secretariat set up under Dr Yunus. The manifesto spoke of constitutional reform, but now it is trying to amend the constitution and claims that amendment can be called reform. The manifesto said it would follow the UN’s International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), but the BNP’s draft law does not.”
Questions over impartial appointments
Several government appointments have also drawn controversy, in particular the decision to appoint party figures as administrators of city corporations. Critics say the appointments give BNP leaders and activists a way to extend political influence locally and gain an advantage in future elections. The appointment to important posts of people who lost the parliamentary election or did not get the party’s nomination has also been discussed.
Similar controversy surrounds the appointment of vice-chancellors at several public universities. The appointment of some people linked to pro-BNP teachers’ associations to key posts has been criticised, and questions have been raised about the past political activities of some of them.
When party identity is given priority in key administrative and educational institutions, impartiality is at risk. In universities in particular, growing political influence threatens higher education, research and freedom of expression.
The government, for its part, says it has considered the academic qualifications, research and experience of those appointed.
Action against wrongdoing: how consistent will it be?
Some of the Prime Minister’s steps over allegations against party figures have also drawn attention. After an incident involving Liberation War Affairs State Minister Ishraque Hossain during an anti-narcotics drive embarrassed the government, the Prime Minister called him in on October 18 and asked him to resign. He resigned the next day, October 19.
Separately, the name of Ferdousi Ahmed Misti, a BNP member of parliament in a reserved women’s seat, came up over an attack, vandalism and attempted takeover at the RADDA MCH-FP health centre in Mirpur, Dhaka. After allegations of her involvement surfaced, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman told her to resign, his press secretary Saleh Shibli told BBC Bangla. She resigned on October 1. Misti has denied any involvement in the attack from the start, BBC Bangla reported.
The case has become a test of the government’s stance on accountability above party identity. But beyond action in isolated cases, consistent steps are needed on allegations of extortion, land grabbing, abuse of political influence and other wrongdoing.
The real test of expectations
Most important, the government’s initiatives cannot be judged by the number of announcements alone. How many families the family card is actually helping, how well the farmer card works, how many people get jobs as vacancies are filled, how far the energy crisis eases, and how impartially allegations of wrongdoing are handled: the answers to these questions will show the government’s real progress.
In the end, the BNP government’s success will be measured not by how many programmes it announced, but by how much easier ordinary people’s lives have become, how impartial state institutions are, and how effective accountability for abuse of power has been. That is where the real test of meeting people’s expectations now lies.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report