Fourth Industrial Revolution in Bangladesh: Prospects and Challenges

The stream of globalization is impelling Bangladesh to adopt the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIR). This study examined the opportunities and problems created by the adoption of FIR in Bangladesh. Findings show that the adaptation of FIR can create enormous difficulties for the country with some new opportunities. Sustainable ICT development, increase in productivity, women, and citizen empowerment will bring positive effects. However, social inequality, colossal unemployment, a threat to social security, the domination of MNCs will increase that can harm the economy badly. FIR will also influence the political system. Hence, a comprehensive plan and sound policymaking can help to exploit the opportunity of FIR. Professional development training for human resources, job-based educational system, sensitive labor policies, alternative employment sector with updated technologies, investment in SMEs is expected to tackle the challenges of FIR in Bangladesh. Furthermore, the findings may be used to take the anticipatory role in the future for becoming a beneficiary of the FIR.


INTRODUCTION:
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIR) has now become a buzzword, but still, most of the people are not much aware of how this new digital landscape will have a significant impact on their daily life. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Virtual Reality, Biotechnology, Blockchain, 3D printing, and the Internet of things are taking the place of humans in different sectors (Park, 2018). However, the successful implementation of these modern technologies in a particular country depends on the cultures, norms, value systems, political and economic capacity of the country. Many scholars have predicted that the quality and productivity of industry products are enhanced by the successful transformation of the automation under the FIR (Ghobakhloo & Fathi, 2019;Zhong et al., 2017). The volumes of works and jobs will have been expanded with the invention and development of various new technologies such as robotics, nanotechnology, and the automation process. However, there are also some risks to automation.
But due to lack of skilled human resources, large scale investment, modern infrastructure, unstable political culture, and ineffective public policy, developing countries are lagging in the global market. South Asian developing countries such as India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are also moving towards FIR. They are trying to adopt innovations of the FIR to upgrade their local industries (Adhikari, 2020; Rashid, 2020). Gradually Bangladesh is emerging as one of the fastest-growing economic power in South Asia with notable progress in many fields.
If Bangladesh can sustain this development rate, it is expected that Bangladesh will leave the Least Developed Country (LDC) category by 2024 (Kim, 2018). Innovations of FIR can be a vital force that can help Bangladesh to achieve its goal. But the journey towards institutionalisation of FIR is a humongous task for the government. The government needs to take appropriate policies to cope with the technological advancement of the FIR. Otherwise, the FIR will be a curse instead of a blessing for us. This study will forecast the political-economic condition under the FIR and will identify the opportunities and problems created by the adoption of FIR in Bangladesh.

Study Objective:
The main focus of the paper waso To forecast the prospects and challenges created by the adoption of FIR in Bangladesh.

Literature Review
Industrial revolutions lead to economic, political, and societal changes over a few centuries by developing and introducing new technologies. These technological changes also represent the three major phases of revolutions. The first industrial revolution refers to mechanical production, which emerged in the United Kingdom in the late 18th century (Frey & Osborne, 2017). At that time, the workplace culture was dominated by men, and women were forced out of production positions (Philbeck& Davis, 2018). Macpherson (1962) stated that this revolution has rapidly increased capacity in production, which leads to urbanisation, the development of local and global market economies, the importance of democratic governments, and an increasing middle income in the western hemisphere. The second industrial revolution was known as a technological revolution that emerged from the late 19 th century to the early 20 th century due to natural resources, firm government policy, and abundant labor supply (Frey & Osborne, 2017;Smil, 2005).
Entrepreneurs and businessmen applied technology to manufacturing ends, and the period saw a boom with products that were the direct results with science and engineering themselves (Hughes, 2004

METHODOLOGY:
This study reported findings through a qualitative investigation. Qualitative data was collected to explain complex phenomena on the economic and political impact of FIR in the Bangladesh context. This study employs an explorative case study and a traditional qualitative approach that focuses on FIR. These data collection methods were essential to visualise the myriad information about the impacts of FIR on the political sector to adopt the new economic system of upcoming years. To conduct this paper, primary and secondary data were used. Secondary data was gathered from different journals, books, and international as well as government reports on this particular issue through inductive content analysis. Content analysis is the methodical explanation of the context by presenting the answer of 'who', 'what', 'where', and 'how 'questions following the defined rules to avoid any biases (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2008; Islam, 2013).
A multi-dimensional data collection method was used for this study. Here semi-structured interviews and documentation surveys were conducted for collecting data from respondents. The multi-method research protocol is especially useful when approaching topics in which intercultural interaction is obscured by phenomena grounded for a deep understanding of the political-economic impact of FIR.
We had selected three categories of participant's academicians, experts, and businessmen. These persons have more accurate knowledge to predict the future condition of FIR in Bangladesh. So, we choose purposively 30 participants to get more meaningful information in a limited time. As similar information was coming from the interviews, therefore we stopped taking further interviews after taking 15 interviews. The main themes of the report were identified based on the transcription of all the interviews. A triangulation approach was used for data procedure. The researcher (s) use a triangulation approach to avoid the limitations of a single method, which helps to increase the reliability and validity of data. For analysing data, a thematic approach was employed, which helps to expand the already established horizons of knowledge. For preparing this paper, all sorts of data were managed carefully; ethical issues were considered strictly and followed the ethical guidelines of Miles and Humberman (1995).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
Bangladesh is trying to raise awareness among the stakeholders about the FIR concept and encourage entrepreneurs to incorporate new technologies to get benefits from it. However, this transformation process towards FIR will create both positive and negative impacts in different sectors. Experts predicted five crucial sectors that needed to be focused by the government to take adaptation policies while going through this transformation. These sectors are briefly discussed below-5.1 Governance system in the upcoming decade -FIR will create an opportunity to adopt innovations in political systems. The pattern of vote casting, election time violence, as well as the political manifesto of the political parties, will be changed. Digital platforms will be used for election campaigning, and intelligent voting systems will be introduced. The country will move into a new administrative paradigm called the future digital e-governance system. According to Md. Atique Rahman, Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka (personal communication, January 20, 2020), "The manifesto of the government will be centralised to digital development, and there will be a paradigm shift of the administrative system from New Public Service to the future e-governance." Democracy will face a lot of challenges in the upcoming decade. The demand of the people will be changed, and political leaders will need new ideologies to tackle the modern social complexities under the FIR. Political polarisation will be so evident in national politics, which will create an extreme environment in the political arena. Due to the domination of capitalists in the political system, antigovernment populism will rise, and that will drive the mass population towards movement against capitalist systems. As per an interview with a senior professor of Dhaka University, "Acute social and economic inequality will force people to raise their voice to fulfill their demand, leading to resurrect socialism in Bangladesh" (M. Nuruzzaman, personal communication, January 22, 2020).
Automation in the service delivery system will make the public service more available for the citizens and ensure transparency in the working procedure of the government. Massive public sector reform will take place, and maintaining this transformation will be a tremendous challenge for the political leaders. Hence some radical change is brought under the government's flagship A2I program to make the government sector versatile, efficient, and competitive. For example, 4,554 Union Digital Centers, more than 100 streamlined public services, e-procurement, and smart health cards are moving Bangladesh along the FIR track (World Economic Forum, 2018, Rashid, 2020). According to the prediction of a Professor of political science, FIR will help citizens to participate in governments' policymaking and reduce the communication gap between the government and citizens (N. Parvin, personal communication, January 20, 2020).

Inequality forced by this new production system
-Under the new production system, through automation and artificial intelligence, the time and cost of production will reduce, and the benefits of industrialists will increase. However, the labor-based production system will alter with capital-based techniques, causing dehumanisation in the production line (Sun, 2018). In this matter, the president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry said (Kabir, 2019), "Due to automation, labor market trends will show a gradual shift to jobs that require higher skill levels. New technology does not simply make people redundant; instead, it reduces the labor required for a given level of production."A lot of people will be jobless. Concurrently, income inequality will rise drastically. Most of the respondents reflected the same and supported that statement in their discussion.
As women possess poor knowledge on the technical side, they will face difficulties in the era of FIR (Moktadir, 2018). So, it can be predicted that this revolution will also increase gender discrimination in our country. According to S. Noman (personal communication, January 23, 2020), "Automation will increase gender discrimination, but there is no effective gender-sensitive policy in our country to upskill the women workforce." As the FIR created social inequality, the general people possess a negative impression about this, where the industrialists are positive because they are the beneficiaries of the FIR. The government is in a policy dilemma as industrialists are the source of finance, and the mass people are considered as vote banks (Gordon, 1981).

Security concerns under the Fourth Industrial
revolution-FIR will have a crucial impact on state and private security. The security system of the country will be updated with the introduction of robotics in the security forces. The military force will be equipped with AI soldiers. The efficacy of risky operations will be increased by employing bomb disposing of robots, surveillance, and attack drones. According to an Risk of Automation in job sectors by 2041 associate professor of Jagannath University, "Because of reserving citizens' information on the public server, the crime rate will be reduced by using digital fabrication that helps the government to identify any criminals easily" (N. Mahfuz, personal communication, January 25, 2020).
On the contrary, information is said to be the most powerful weapon if they are in the hand of evil people. Misuse of technological Knowledge will create risk for national security. Moreover, we lack technical experts that force us to hire external experts from abroad, which will decrease the control of the state authority over some sectors. In this issue, an AD of NILG (National Institute of Local Government) opined, "The confidentiality of state policy will be confronted, and the government will lose control in the market because of cryptocurrencies" (M. Imran, personal communication, January 28, 2020).
Domination of Multinational Companies (MNCs) will also be a key concern for the government. MNCs collect the personal information of the employees & clients by introducing a biometric registration system and NID card information. In this issue, a Professor of Dhaka University opined, "Technologically developed countries are trying to dominate our economy through MNCs by using our low-cost labor and information" (S. Ahmed, personal communication, January 22, 2020).

Education and ICT sector change in future -
The FIR will bring a major challenge for the education sector as Bangladesh promotes education to its students through didactic pedagogy. A Large scale vocational and practical training program is needed to be integrated with the existing education system. A recent study report shows that 60% in low education, 48% in medium, and 19% in higher education jobs will be displaced by automation (Price water house Coopers, 2018). A lecturer of Jagannath University said, "

Global trade structure and future of business in Bangladesh -
The international community acknowledges the FIR positively, and they agree that numerous tech companies will dominate the global market in the upcoming period for their intellectual advancement in the field of international trade. At that time, the demand for software will rise. Former VC of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology opined, "The FIR will create new business opportunities like a software business. Bangladesh ranked 2nd in exporting software and expected to expand this business." (M.U.Ahmed, personal communication, January 15, 2020).
Besides this, our indigenous company will have an opportunity to compete with the MNC. Technical capacity and innovation will help them to establish a strong position in their market (Abdin, 2019). As per a senior professor of philosophy, University of Dhaka, "FIR will facilitate the SMEs in online business using new digital landscape, and also they will have to face the domination of MNC as they have more capital." (F. Uddin, personal communication, January 26, 2020).
However, many countries are using technological assistance instead of unskilled labor in their industries. The demand for labor will decrease, and the capitaloriented countries will adopt a protectionist policy in importing labor. Moreover, it will create an adverse impact in a country like Bangladesh, where foreign currencies by technologically unskilled labor contribute 35% of export earnings (Hasan et al., 2018).

CONCLUSION & POLICY IMPLICATION:
The FIR is adding significant dimensions in all spheres of the world. It is expected that the stream of the FIR is going to take the top place in Bangladesh in the upcoming decade. This flow will drop a significant impact on national politics and economics. This study has presented that Bangladesh is a little bit prepared to face the changes and challenges of the revolution. The challenges of FIR for a Graduating LDC like us are lack of talented resources, expertise, and better cloud networking, poor infrastructure, huge unskilled population, lack of legal and proper policy support, etc. Alternatively, FIR will bring some positive implications also, with the increase in productivity, sustainable ICT development, women empowerment, citizen empowerment, etc. The adoption of FIR will create significant complexities in our country. This study has revealed that inequality, gender discrimination, unemployment, cyber-crime, the dominance of MNC over SMEs will increase. The most important thing is that the Political system of our country will be influenced in the next decade by the stream of FIR. To minimise the problems and to get benefits from FIR, the government should take effective policies with defined plans at the current period. Despite revealing these results, this study has some limitations like every other research that created a barrier from getting a neutral, practical, and qualitative outcome. The main drawback of this research is that it was time-consuming, and the verification of the result was difficult. It was a labor-intensive study, and the analysis was complex. On the contrary, the findings of this study couldn't be extended to a broader population with the same degree of certainty. Despite these limitations, this study brought a more-clear picture about the impact of the FIR in Bangladesh.
The policies for accepting FIR in our country require it to be based on proper research, and for this purpose, integration of universities in research activities is emergent. This will help to take the appropriate policy and plan for any dramatic situation. In our country, the government takes jumping systems without any research to serve the interest of their political allies, and as a result, this creates difficulties for us. The government should make policies to transfer knowledge and information to the local industries and to collaborate with educational institutions. To achieve this goal, the private sector should also work along with the government. The private sector should take initiatives to develop and mobilise the skills of human resources according to the demand of the job market of both Bangladesh and other countries. They should also invest in infrastructural development and make a proper strike balance. Finally, it can be concluded that planning should be made in the adjustment or talking period, and the government needs to be anticipatory about the future of the country for becoming a beneficiary of the FIR.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
Authors would like to thank Department of Public Administration for providing continuous support and also grateful to Md Minhajul Abedin, A.M.M Mubassher Shah, Shukti Bala, and Md Shakil Hossain who contributed in data collection and processing them.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:
There is no conflict of interest from the authors' end.