Institute of Social Welfare and Research (ISWR)

University of Dhaka

Group Assignment on
“Industrial Revolution and Bangladesh RMG Sector.”

Supervise by:
M. Rezaul Islam, PhD (Nottingham)
Professor
Institute of Social Welfare & Research
University of Dhaka
Submitted by Group E
1. Md Zillur Rahman, Roll No: 16
2. Md Amjad Hossain, Roll No: 39
3. Prasenjit Barua, Roll 62
4. Ms Srabony Das, Roll 61
5. Kazi Arafatun Mamun, Roll 52
6. Tanver Hosain, Roll 15
7. Umme Salam, Roll 36
8. Jahangir, Roll 13
MSS in Industrial Relations and Labour Studies
University of Dhaka
Acknowledgement
0
We are the students of University of Dhaka of M.S.S. in IRLS program; We have completed the
assignment name ‘Industrial Revolution and Bangladesh RMG Sector”.

To make our study more practical, our honorable supervisor has given us group work on “
Industrial Revolution and Bangladesh RMG Sector ”. We believe, the work will help us to
increase our knowledge about subject matter. In this work we have tried to give our level of
effort to gather the information’s and present in appropriate manner. Through the procedure
of preparing the assignment we have developed a clear understanding of the fact which is
related with training program.

We grateful to my teacher to give me such topic as an assignment.

Thank you for consideration.

Yours sincerely,

All Group Member

Group E
MSS in IRLS
Year 2017-18, University of Dhaka

Table of Contents

1
 Subject Page No
Acknowledgement 1
Table of Contents 2
Abstract 3
Introduction 3
Conceptual Definition of Industrial Revolution and RMG 5
Bangladesh RMG ( Pakistan & Bangladesh period) 6
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION VS RMG: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE 8
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION/RMG IN BD: IMPACT- POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE 10
- Positive Impact of Industrialization and Industrial revolution 10
a. Increasing the number of garments factories 10
b. Increased employment opportunity 10
c. Increasing the export earnings 10
d. Low cost of production and product variety 11
e. Policy Reformation 11
f. Urbanization and Infrastructure Development 11
g. Increase Female participation in job sector 11
h. Increased the percentage of literacy and Self-sufficiency 12
i. Improved standard of living and change of human life style 12
j. Intellectual Advancement: 12
k. Strengthening the fire service 12
l. Garments industry contribution to different sectors 12
NEGATIVE IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
a. Decline of cottage industry 13
b. Mass migration from rural areas 13
c. Depletion of natural resources: 13
d. Environmental Pollution 13
e. Increase child Labor 13
f. Forced Labor condition 13
g. Discrimination, Harassments and abuse 13
h. Increased working hour 14
i. Extreme Poverty & Crime 14
j. Violence in Society 14
CONCUSION 14
Recommendation 15
References 15
Appendix-1 16
Appendix-2 17

ABSTRACT
There are many arguments related to the origins of industrial revolution process that we
are more deliberately experiencing for the last few decades. But few of them focus on the
effects of industrial revolution. In this paper, we will try to set a direct connection between
industrial revolution and garments industry in Bangladesh. For this aim, transformations as a
result of industrial revolution in Europe will be reviewed within the context of capitalist mode
of production, use of technology, wider market, government policy & political stability and
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consumption. We all agree that industrial revolution in UK-Europe, France, USA, Japan, Russia is
directly link and facilitated Bangladesh RMG revolution that resulted many positive and
negative impact.
Key Words: Industrial Revolution, Readymade Garments, Britain, Europe, Positive and
negative impact.
INTRODUCTION
Industrial revolution in a big and wider topic and it is cover a lot. It is started around
1700 century and still contentious. In this discussion our main objectives of this paper are to
highlight and linkage between the concept, cause, consequences, historical background of
industrial revolution and IR and RMG in Bangladesh. It is first started in Great Britain and
eventually progressed to the United States in the early 19th century. The industrial revolution is
considered a major turning point in world history because it impacted almost every aspect of
daily life across the world. Industrialization changed the economy, transportation, health and
medicine and led to many inventions and firsts in history. Prior to the industrial revolution,
societies across the world were merely surviving. Disease was rampant, famines were common,
poverty was widespread, and trade was limited to neighboring geographic regions. Before the
revolution, the majority of people lived on
farmland, small towns, or villages where
there was little manufacturing. A farmer
usually also was able to make shoes, and
the women spent their days making soap
and candles or spinning yarn or making
clothing. The manufacturing that did take
place was in homes or rural areas and it
was done by hand. Some products made in
the home (including clothing, furniture,
tools, cloth, hardware, jewelry, leather,
silverware, and weapons) were even
exchanged for food. But, people lived in
fear that the crops they grew might fail, as
many of them already suffered from mal nutrition. In addition, diseases and other epidemics
were unfortunately common. In the late 1700’s, the first sign of a revolution occurred when the
steam engine was developed. It introduced the concept of companies and factories being able
to create goods using machinery, as opposed to a family working together at home. One of the
purposes of the Industrial Revolution was to have more goods produced at a lower cost. An
immediate change included the production of goods; what was produced, as well as where and
how, its cost, and efficiency. The Industrial Revolution was beginning to turn an agricultural
economy into one with machines and manufacturing, these new technological advancements
helped societies finally grow and thrive. Food production increased, certain diseases were
eradicated or minimized, life spans were extended, populations rose, economic changes led to
a wider distribution of wealth and international trade increased.
The most important factors were the
technological innovations that made
industrialization possible. The old sources of
energy like water- and wind-power were
replaced by steam power. The fuel for the steam
engines was provided by coal. Other technical
innovations included processes for producing

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wrought iron, Heargreave's spinning-jenny and Cartwright's power loom. Coal was at the heart
of Industrial Revolution. Industries like iron-making were based on coal mines and the growth
of the textile industry was linked to the coalfields. The spread of canals and railways cut the
cost of transporting coal from mines to factories which were sited near coalfields. The use of
iron instead of woods, the use of large steam engines, new mass-production methods were
responsible for the development of large-scale factory manufacturing. The cotton and woollen
industries became concentrated in huge factories in Lancashire and Yorkshire (Inftub.com). The
below table-I & table II will give us some information about the industrialization and outputs:
Share of Total world manufacturing output(percentage )
Region 1750 1800 1860 1880 1900
Europe 23.2 28.1 53.2 61.3 62
USA 0.1 0.8 7.2 14.7 23.6
Japan 3.8 3.5 2.6 2.4 2.4
Reference: Kennedy, Paul (1987). The Rise and Fall
of the Great Powers. New York: Random House.
p. 149.

Wikimedia commons
2004

Table - II
Industrial revolution in BD and RMG:
Garments industry has long history, according to (Martin 2015) early 1860 the manufacture of
ready-to-wear clothing became one of Cleveland's leading industries. The ready-to-wear
industry grew enormously from the 1860s to the 1880s for a variety of reasons and reached its
peak during the 1920s. Bangladesh as a country with a poor land-person ratio is unlikely to
prosper through agricultural growth alone. The average productivity of industry is higher than
in agriculture. the industrial sector has been the driver of growth as countries have moved from
low- to middle-income status. As people move out of agriculture into industry, the sector can
provide high-wage employment for large numbers of workers and can raise social productivity
by producing high-value goods on a mass scale. Besides, the country can also earn valuable
foreign exchange by exporting manufactured products and the ensuing foreign exchange can be
used to invest in new vintage of machines and technologies so that a rapid move up the
technology ladder becomes possible. The importance of industrial development as an engine of
Bangladesh's economic growth is also reinforced by a growing realization that the development
of agriculture sector, one of the mainstays of the country's economy, critically hinges on its

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backward and forward linkage with the industrial sector. During the post-independence period,
Industrial development of Bangladesh has been directed by several Industrial policies: Industrial
Policy of 1973, the New Industrial Policy of 1982, the Revised Industrial Policy of 1986,
Industrial Policy of 1999 followed by a number of other policies, with the latest being the
Industrial Policy of 2010. All these policies have attempted to revamp the sector with a view to
creating a strong manufacturing base in the economy. The Readymade Garment is one them
and now it is top export item. Please see the table-III.
Garments growth in Bangladesh (Table-III)
YEAR NUMBER OF GARMENT FACTORIES EMPLOYMENT IN MILLION WORKERS
2017-18 4560 4
2016-17 4482 4
2015-16 4328 4
1986-87 629 0.28
1985-86 594 0.2
1984-85 384 0.12

CONCEPTUAL DEFINITION OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND RMG

The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the
period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. This transition included going
from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production
processes, the increasing use of steam power, the development of machine tools and the rise of
the factory system (https://en.wikipedia.org). The world has produced 103 times more silver
per year than from 1493-1600. However, the next chart shows the total silver production for
each period. From 1493-1600, the world produced a total of 747 Moz of silver, compared to
13,000 Moz (13 billion oz) in just 18 years from 2000-201 (Wikipedia)

(https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2017/12/18/world-silver-production-charts-001321)

The term
“Industrial
Revolution” is rather misleading, because this process was a slow evolution
rather than a “revolution”, and it did not only concern industry. It included developments,
o in the sphere of finance, as sufficient capital had to be accumulated;
o in transport: a network of canals, roads and later railways had to be built to speed up
transporting raw materials and goods;
o in agriculture: small strips of land were enclosed and changed into large fields to enable
the use of agricultural machines; new methods of farming were introduced too;
o in manufacturing, the factory system replaced the formerly used domestic industry, first
in the textile industry and coal mining and later also in iron and steel industry; the

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 invention of a number of machines made this change possible, the most important of
them being James Watt’s steam engine (1765-66).
As a result of the Industrial Revolution:
o Countries became the economic, financial and commercial superpower; it had no
serious rivals until the second half of the 19th century;
o the centre of the economy shifted from the agricultural south and east to the centre
(the “Black Country”) and to the north; these areas also became the most densely
populated parts of the country;
o two new social classes emerged: factory workers and industrialists.

Ready-made garments are mass-produced finished textile products of the clothing industry.

They are not custom tailored according to measurements, but rather generalized according
to anthropometric studies. They are made from many different fabrics and yarns. Their
characteristics depend on the fibers used in their manufacture. Ready-made garments are
divided into the following types: outer clothing, which includes workwear and uniforms, leisure
wear, and sportswear (e.g., suits, pants, dresses, ladies' suits, blouses, blazers,
jackets, cardigans, pullovers, coats, sports jackets, skirts, shirts, ties, jeans, shorts, T-shirts, polo
shirts, sports shirts, tracksuits, bathing shorts, bathing suits, and bikinis); and undergarments,
which include jersey goods and lingerie (e.g. underpants, undershirts, briefs, socks, stockings,
and pantyhose).

The first readymade garment factory was established in New York in 1831 during the American
-- war the need for readymade uniforms helps the garments sector growing the united states.
Near the end of nineteenth century they were change in social views towards readymade
garments. They were no longer seen as only for the lower classes but also for the middle
classes. This trend started in the United states. In the beginning they were more popular with
man and woman. In the late 1860s twenty-five prevent of garments produced in the us were
ready made but by 1890, the portion had risen to sixty percent. By 1951 ninety percent of
garments sold on the us were ready made. During the same time two third of garments sold in
France were ready made (wikipedia.org. industrial-revolution).

Bangladesh RMG ( Pakistan period & Bangladesh period)

After the partition of Bengal in 1947, East Pakistan inherited a small share of industries of
Bengal. East Pakistan got none of 108 jute mills, 18 iron & steel mills and 16 paper mills of
Bengal. Only 90 of Bengla 389 cotton mills, 10 of its 166 sugar mills and 3 of its 19 cement
factories fell in the territory of East Pakistan. The cement factory Chattak, Sylhet had to depend
on limestone supplied from Ashaam, India. The cotton mills of East Pakistan had to depend
upon imported raw materials. The 1951 census revealed that East Pakistan had 63,234 unskilled
non-agricultural labourers, 115,480 skilled labourers engaged in manufacturing sectors,
184,535 mining and quarry workers and 121,522 professional persons. The manufacturing
sector comprising mainly of food, drink and tobacco processing units employed a total 602,875
persons (4.67% of the total labour force), of whom 433,148 were involved directly in
production process and 172,727 in subsidiary activities. There were a total of 360,603 cottage
enterprises which employed 949,074 persons. Of the manufacturing units only about 200 of the
enterprises used power (Sumon 2012).

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Bangladesh a country filled with hope and dreams of 160 million, surfaces as one of the most
prominent, lucrative emerging markets in the world. Despite more than its fair share of
challenges, the country has shown remarkable resilience to register a steady economic growth
of 6% consistently over the last ten years – an accomplishment. The rapid growth of the private
sector has increasingly played a significant role in this exciting growth. The services sector has
the biggest contribution to GDP growth - 54% followed by Industry sector-29% and Agriculture
sectors – 17%. The government is trying to facilitate this amazing economic revolution by
building super infrastructures. While other industries add to this revolution such as Footwear,
Frozen Food, Pharmaceuticals, Power Generation, Tourism as well as Real Real Estate are set
and poised for exponential growth. Most industry leaders have expressed optimism for
Information Technology followed by Healthcare, Ready made Garments and Financial
Institutions.

In Bangladesh Industrial revelation lead by RMG sector and the readymade garments (RMG)
industry acts as a catalyst for the development of Bangladesh. The "Made in Bangladesh" tag
has also brought glory for the country, making it a prestigious brand across the globe. The
country with its limited resources has been maintaining 6% annual average GDP growth rate
and has brought about remarkable social and human development. After the independence in
1971, no major industries were developed in Bangladesh, when it was known as East Pakistan,
everything goes to West Pakistan. So, rebuilding the war-ravaged country with limited
resources appeared to be the biggest challenge. The industry that has been making crucial
contribution to rebuilding the country and its economy is none other than the readymade
garment (RMG) industry which is now the single biggest export earner for Bangladesh. The
sector accounts for 81% of total export earnings of the country.

When our only major export earner "the jute industry" started losing its golden days, it is the
RMG sector that replaced it, and then, to overtake it. The apparel industry of Bangladesh
started its journey in the 1980s and has come to the position it is in today. The late
NuroolQuader Khan was the pioneer of the readymade garment industry in Bangladesh. He had
a vision of how to transform the country. In 1978, he sent 130 trainees to South Korea where
they learned how to produce readymade garments. With those trainees, he set up the first
factory "Desh Garments"  to produce garments for export. At the same time, the late Akhter
Mohammad Musa of Bond Garments, the late Mohammad Reazuddin of Reaz Garments,
MdHumayun of Paris Garments, Engineer Mohammad Fazlul Azim of Azim Group, Major (Retd)
Abdul Mannan of Sunman Group, M Shamsur Rahman of Stylecraft Limited, the first President
of BGMEA, AM Subid Ali of Aristocrat Limited also came forward and established some of the
first garment factories in Bangladesh. Source: BGMEA web http://www.bgmea.com.bd/.
Following their footsteps, other prudent and hardworking entrepreneurs started RMG factories
in the country. Since then, Bangladeshi garment industry did not need to look behind. Despite
many difficulties faced by the sector over the past years, it has carved a niche in world market
and kept continuing to show robust performance (Hasan 2018).

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION VS RMG: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

The textile industry, in particular, was transformed by industrialization. Before mechanization
and factories, textiles were made mainly in people’s homes (giving rise to the term cottage
industry), with merchants often providing the raw materials and basic equipment, and then

7
picking up the finished product. Workers set their own schedules under this system, which
proved difficult for merchants to regulate and resulted in numerous inefficiencies. In the 1700s,
a series of innovations led to ever-increasing productivity, while requiring less human energy.
For example, around 1764, Englishman James Hargreaves (1722-1778) invented the spinning
jenny (“jenny” was an early abbreviation of the word “engine”), a machine that enabled an
individual to produce multiple spools of threads simultaneously. By the time of Hargreaves’
death, there were over 20,000 spinning jennys in use across Britain. The spinning jenny was
improved upon by British inventor Samuel Compton’s (1753-1827) spinning mule, as well as
later machines. Another key innovation in textiles, the power loom, which mechanized the
process of weaving cloth, was developed in the 1780s by English inventor Edmund Cartwright
(1743-1823).

Developments in the iron industry also played a central role in the Industrial Revolution. In the
early 18th century, Englishman Abraham Darby (1678-1717) discovered a cheaper, easier
method to produce cast iron, using a coke-fueled (as opposed to charcoal-fired) furnace. In the
1850s, British engineer Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) developed the first inexpensive process
for mass-producing steel. Both iron and steel became essential materials, used to make
everything from appliances, tools and
machines, to ships, buildings and
infrastructure. The steam engine was also
integral to industrialization. In 1712,
Englishman Thomas Newcomen (1664-
1729) developed the first practical steam
engine (which was used primarily to pump
water out of mines). By the 1770s, Scottish
inventor James Watt (1736-1819) had
improved on Newcomen’s work, and the
steam engine went on to power machinery, locomotives and ships during the Industrial
Revolution (Yunus 2012). The Ready-Made Garments (RMG) industry acts as a catalyst for the
entire development of Bangladesh. It does not exaggerate in any way if anyone strongly
assumes that this sector provides the single source of growth in Bangladesh’s rapidly
developing economy. The “Made in Bangladesh” tag has also brought glory for the country,
making it a prestigious brand across the world. Bangladesh maintains a strong position in
Ready-Made Garments (RMG) export market. Obviously, it’s a kind of development revolution
in this sector.

According to the latest report of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of Bangladesh, Ready-Made
Garment sector has generated 2 thousand 813 Crores BDT (28.13 billion USD) in export of
different countries in 11 months (July-May) of current financial year. Exporters expect the
export of this sector to exceed 3 Thousand Crores BDT (30 Billion USD) by the end of this fiscal
year.

Bangladesh has continued to increase the export revenues, largely on the basis of RMG sector.
Currently, Bangladesh is in the second position of the world in RMG export industry. China is in
the first place. The distance between the export earning of the two countries is 116 Billion US
Dollars. Financial analysts believe that the excellent new pace of US and EU economy enhance
and create a very positive impression on RMG export earning as because they are the main
8
marketplace of this sector. Besides, Former Governor of Bangladesh Bank and renowned
economist Mohammed Farashuddin said, the dollar’s expansion against the Taka contributed to
keeping the growth of export earnings.

According to the Bangladesh Bank data, in the last one year, the dollar has increased by more
than 4 percent against the value of Taka. In which it has increased by 3 percent in the last six
months. Opinion is expressed by The Vice President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and
Exporters Association (BGMEA) Mr. Faruk Hasan that this trend of export earnings growth will
continue at the end of the last month (June) of the fiscal year. He said, “Owners have invested a
lot of money in the development of factories. They have sacrificed a lot. Over 80 percent of the
factories have already come under advanced work environment (Compliance). As result, buyers
are also very satisfied. We are getting positive feedbacks. Although overall exports increased by
6 percent, the export of garments increased by 10 percent as well. This year, the export of
garments will exceed 30 billion dollars.” Very noticeable fact is during the current financial year
(July-May period) 83.4 percent of the export earnings came from Ready-Made Garments sector.
Therein the export of Knitwear sector products generate 1 Thousand and 394 Billion US Dollars
and Woven sector amounted 1 Thousand and 419 Billion US Dollars. During the 11-month
period, exports increased by 11.48 percent in Knitwear and 8.15 percent in Woven sector
( Hasan 2018).
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT ON EXPORT OF RMG AND TOTAL EXPORT OF BANGLADESH, Table IV
YEAR EXPORT OF RMG (IN TOTAL EXPORT OF BANGLADESH  % OF RMG’S TO
MILLION US$) (IN MILLION US$) TOTAL EXPORT
2017-18 30614.76 36668.17 83.49
2016-17 28149.84 34655.9 81.23
2015-16 28094.16 34257.18 82.01
1985-86 131.48 819.21 16.05
1984-85 116.2 934.43 12.44
1983-84 31.57 811 3.89
This information is a clear indication of the rapid prosperity of RMG sector in Bangladesh. To
tackle the sudden disaster which occurred just some years ago and the heroic comeback was
not that easy for Bangladesh. This journey meets the optimum success only because of the
Adept governance, Perfect sincerity of the owners, and obviously the tireless toil of the
Workers.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION/RMG IN BD: IMPACT- POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE

The Industrial Revolution brought about dramatic changes in nearly every aspect of
society, including demographics, politics, social structures and institutions, and the economy.
Technological change also made possible the growth of capitalism. Factory owners and others
who controlled the means of production rapidly became very rich. Bangladesh is a
predominantly agricultural country. The well-being of Bangladesh economy is directly
connected with RMG. With the scientific and industrial development, we had to adopt a
vigorous industrial policy. The introduction of heavy industries has both positive and negative
impact on Bangladesh society and economy. Working conditions were often much less than
satisfactory for many of those employed in RMG industries. Work places were often poorly
ventilated, over-crowded, and replete with safety hazards. Men, women, and children alike

9
were employed at survival wages in unhealthy and dangerous environments. Workers were
often able to afford no more than the simplest housing, resulting in the rise of urban slums.
One consequence of these conditions was that action was eventually taken to protect workers
especially women and children—from the most extreme abuses of the factory system. Laws
were passed requiring safety standards in factories, setting minimum age limits for young
workers, establishing schools for children whose parents both worked, and creating other
standards for the protection of workers. Workers themselves initiated activities to protect their
own interests, the most important of which may have been the establishment of the trade
unions.

5.1 POSITIVE IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALIZATION AND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Bangladesh is huge population country, but employment opportunity is very limited.
Public service job is most attractive opportunity for the job seeker, but the scope is very limited
due to miss mass of demand and supply. The industrialization is become blessing for job seeker
and it has many positive impact in our country. Now we will mention some point as positive
impact.

a. Increasing the number of garments factories

We know that over the past twenty-seven years, the number of garment factory has grown
from 384 to over 4560 (BGMEA web, Appendix-1). The factory growth rate was 1187.50% in
Fiscal year 2017-2018. It was also mentionable that factory growth rate was never negative
in past. The major advantage of RMG sector is its cheap labor force which provides a
competitive advantage over its competitors.
b. Increased employment opportunity: 
It clear that in synonymous of factory establishment (BGMEA web, Appendix-1). In FY 1984-
85 the total employment was 0.12 million which has increased to 4 million in FY 2017-18.
The growth rate of worker was 66.67% in FY 1984-85 and shows the positive trend
continuously. It is also mentionable that 90% of the workers are female. This sector opened
up employment opportunities for many more individuals through direct and indirect
economic activities which eventually helps the country’s social development, woman
empowerment and poverty alleviation.
c. Increasing the export earnings
It can be observed that the export is in upward trends which indicates that the value of
export is increasing day by day (BGMEA web, Appendix-2). Despite the concern and fear of
negative impact on in the aftermath of quota removal, the whole scenario of RMG sector in
Bangladesh appears with positive trends. Bangladesh mainly exports garment, knit and
woven goods including shorts, trousers, shirts, sweaters, blouses, skirts, tea-shirts, jackets,
sports attire and many more casual and fashion items with the changing times. In FY 1984-
85 the value of export was 116.20 million 2017-18 the value of export was 30614.76 million
which is continually increasing. Despite removing privileged quota system, the number of
RMG industries rose up over the periods. RMG export of Bangladesh was 3.89% of total
export in 1983-84 while in 2013-14 it was about 83.49%. After quota removal in 2004
average more than 16% growth were observed from 2004-05 to 2008-09 and during this
period total export growth rate were also more than 15%. There were negative growth rate
in 1985-86, 1990-91 and 2001-02. In 1985-86 and 2001-02 growth rate was negative due to

10
decrease in RMG export while in 1990-91 negative growth was due to decrease in total
export and this was probably due to severe flood in 1988.
d. Low cost of production and product variety
Industrialization led to the decrease in the cost of production of many RMG items. The
decrease in cost is the result of economy of large scale production. It allows to
save time and labor. RMG goods have become more affordable for common people.
Beginning of 18th century and earlier the consumable products was focused on agriculture
based but the industrialization and industrial revolution it has been changed and new
products include in consumable items. Every day new products is coming in our food list.
e. Policy Reformation
Government role in terms of letting conducive policy environment for flourishing the
industry in less developed country has very little success story. In this prospect Bangladesh
government policy setting has been point on especially in case of RMG sector. Most
extraordinarily Bangladesh government formulate policy in such way it let more or less the
sector alone, not regulating it while almost everything else in the manufacturing sector was
heavily regulated. Most importantly the sector ‘s success was designed by some innovative
policy designs which enable the external financing through back-to-back letters of credit
and the provision of special bonded warehouses to access inputs at international prices.
Interestingly these innovative policies were only effective for RMG sector while the regime
was predominantly representing weak domestic financial sector and Bangladesh’s the then
high tariff walls. The following policies help IR in Bangladesh (Bangladesh labour Act 2006,
National Labour Policy 2012, Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Act, 2013 and Bangladesh
Labor Rules, 2015)
f. Urbanization and Infrastructure Development
Industrial revolution attracts people to migrate rural area to city because of opportunity. It
is directly affect urbanization and to expand city area. Pre-requirements of industrialization
was infrastructure development, without it we can’t think about industrialization. The rapid
infrastructure development directly contributes to the industrial revolution.
g. Increase Female participation in job sector
Industrialization start and run slowly and its require huge number of manpower to run the
industry. To fulfill the sudden demands and crisis, female engagement become resources
and they join in this sector. So, the female participation gradually increased in the industry
and now a day it is become almost 80% in our garments(RMG) sector.
h. Increased the percentage of literacy and Self-sufficiency
Industrialization creates opportunity and opportunity demands of skilled professionals and
educated personnel. To meet the change of demand and to catch the opportunities, the
young and new generation gathered required knowledge and skills as required. It increased
the percentage of literacy. Before industrialization, we used to spend hundreds of millions
of TK over import of cloth only, as we had no heavy industries in the real sense of the term.
With the advancement of textile industry in our country, we are able to manufacture
clothes at a much lower cost. In this way, we made ourselves self-sufficient in providing our
basic needs.
i. Improved Standard of Living and Change of human life style

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 Greater numbers of RMG factories created a whole new vista of jobs in the cities and towns,
making the industrious significantly better off. Development of tools and machines, and
better transportation and communication made life much easier for the common person.
Stronger homes were being built, and the governments started to take notice of hygiene
and sanitation. Toward the end of the century, labor laws protecting the rights of the
workers were put into motion.
j. Intellectual Advancement:
With more money coming by RMG export, the middle class was created, and they paid
more attention to education and appearances, giving way to great achievements in the
fields of science and literature. Since industry was the keyword, fresh ideas were being
welcomed, and people took more interest than before in science and engineering.
k. Enhancing occupational health and safety:
After industrial revolution RMG industry building a culture of Occupational Safety and
Health. Efforts are therefore underway supported by ILO to reinforce the capacity of
workers, supervisors and managers in the sector to improve the safety of their workplaces.
Through training and education and the support of broad awareness campaigns and
materials, workers and employers will benefit from improved safety practices and be better
able to fulfil the objectives of the National Action plan on fire & building safety. An initiative
launched under the ILO’s RMG programme has seen a core group of 114 master trainers
formed from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers Export Association (BGMEA),
Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers Export Association (BKMEA), Bangladesh Employers
Federation (BEF) as well as the private sector.
l. Garments industry contribution to different sectors
Growth of RMG sector has spawned a whole new set of linkage industries and facilitated
expansion of many service sector activities. The RMG industry not only propelled the
growth of spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing industries, production of accessories and
spare parts, but also rendered large externalities by contributing to other economic
activities in such areas as banking, insurance, real estate, packaging, hotels and tourism,
recycling, consumer goods, utility services and transportation. RMG sector has over
whelming high backward linkages. It has important backward linkage with utilities such as
electricity, gas, and machinery and spare parts supplying. (Hossain 2014).

5.2 NEGATIVE IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALIZATION

Mechanized, heavy and large-scale RMG industries have negative impact which adversely
affects the environment, society and economy of this country. There are many negative impact
we have seen in RMG sector after industrial revelation, now we will mention some from the list:
a. Decline of cottage industry: 
Throughout, Bangladesh has been proud of her rural cottage industries. The silk produced
by the village-weavers had been a source of attraction all over the world. With the advent
of heavy mechanical industries began the chapter of the decline of our village cottage
industries.
b. Mass migration from rural areas:

12
Another attack is that with the creation of heavy mechanized industries in the urban areas,
the rural population would start mass-migration into town and cities, thereby making the
unemployment problem more acute and complex.
c. Depletion of natural resources:
Due to industrialization, there is constant depletion of natural resources. Many RMG
industries are powered by thermal power plants that consumes coal. Since, large RMG
industries are spread over many acres of land, agricultural lands and forests are often
cleared to make available the required land.
d. Environmental Pollution: 
In lieu of globalization, more factories are setting up with other different sub-sectors.
moreover, there is no ETP in most of the factories. These are producing much more waste
to the environment. It is an ample challenge for the sustainable development of
Bangladesh. As consequences, the cost will be increased both in private and public to
mitigate the environmental problem as a whole.
e. Increase child Labor:
After industrial revolution use of child labor had been a common phenomenon in apparel
manufacturing. In the 1990s about 13% of apparel factory workers were child workers and
the majority was girls Child labor in RMG factories mainly took place in the informal sector,
in so-called sweatshops that have simple production technology and are operating as sub-
contractors for other firms.
f. Forced Labor condition:
Though the Bangladesh Labor Law bans forced labor. However, the enforcement of these
laws is poor. After industrial revolution Forced labor has apparently disappeared in large
scale companies but not in other parts of the country. Studies on labor rights practices in
Bangladesh agreed that not providing workers an appointment letter, which is considered a
mild form of forced labor, is an ongoing problem. About 70% to 80% of employers continue
to hire workers informally and only half of the large employers provide them with an
appointment.
g. Discrimination, Harassments and abuse:
Female workers earn significantly less than their male counterparts even with the same
education and experience. This implies that there is greater gender wage discrimination in
the garment Industry than outside. The RMG industry is considered to be a sector largely
apathetic about the welfare of its workers. The industry is characterized by a wide variety of
deprivations of women workers. States that discrimination, harassment or abuse of workers
was more prevalent in Bangladesh than elsewhere. Verbal abuse, penalties for mistakes or
failure to achieve production targets were some of the common harassment problems and
were accompanied by lack of written Disciplinary policy or training for supervisors.
h. Increased working hour:
After industrial revolution in most of the garment factories, workers are forced to work 14
to 16 hours per day ignoring the labor law that states a maximum of 10 hours per working
day. Mentioned that workers are usually compelled to work for 12 hours and overtime
payment is calculated after 12 hours instead of 8 hours. During the shipment time workers
have to work longer. Overtime payment is also a problem: workers are often not paid as
they should be according to the law. Male worker has no complain to work till ‘8am to

13
 10pm’ or 14 hours a day if they get the overtime payment regularly. Female workers are not
generally willing to work after 6pm as they have some household works.
i. Extreme Poverty & Crime:
After industrialization introduction of machines in RMG goods production rendered a
number of jobs redundant. Plus, rapid industrialization attracted people from surrounding
areas to the cities. Availability of a huge workforce made most workers replaceable, and
reduced stability among workers.  Money did not come in regularly, and unlucky immigrants
were reduced to begging and other criminal activities. Prisons were soon overflowing, and
slums were born.
j. Violence in Society
The industrial revolution directly responsible to increase family violence. The causes of
violence’s are empowerment, increase the individual purchasing power and self-
dependency and easy access to information, the individual purchasing power.

CONCLUSION
This paper discussed the causes and consequences of Industrial Revolution and
Bangladesh RMG Sector. We found that the causes and consequences of industrial revolution in
Bangladesh is almost same with some exception. Though the literature of IR and Bangladesh
RMG is not well documented, but the available literature shows that IR are related with low
cost labour and tax holiday. Bangladesh is a developing country with high growth opportunity
and RMG industries are playing a very important role in the economic development of
Bangladesh. Garments is prospective sector but there are many shadow areas which may
destroy the sector because the workers paying deferent wage package, economic disparity,
culture barrier, politic, low quality labour administration, and poverty. Despite their claims to
the contrary, some garment owners neither give salaries, nor overtime allowances to the
workers on time. The core problem behind this lack of intra organizational relationship, any
healthy working environment involves openness and transparency. With the limitations the
garments industry in Bangladesh has been expanded year by year until Multi Fiber Agreement
(MFA) was phased out at the end of 2004 and remains internationally competitive after that.
The initial high presence of foreign capital has been diluted as local garment producing firms
grow. In globalization and industrial revolution, Bangladesh is become a prospects country
because the availability of low cost labour, easy to establish industry for business, welcoming
environment by the government, geographical location of the country and establishment. It
has huge opportunities in its industry specially in garment & textile industry. This benefit low
wages helped the country to become the world’s second largest apparel exporter after China.

Recommendation:
Though Bangladesh has high foreign demand for its garments, it has to brings
improvement in some areas like labor wages, health hygiene issue, sanitation and medical
facilities of worker, working hours, safety and security, Insurance, business climate, trade
logistics and skills of the workers. Without healthy and happiness of the main working forces,
the sector will not sustain, workers will not feel interest to come to contribute and work.
Minimum wages are a right of worker, to live with family with and minimum standard of living
condition, If the country can eliminate all limitations related to garment export, it can become
world’s number one largest exporter. Also, the quality of the product has to be ensured to

14
sustain in the long run. Once Bangladesh can ensure best and high-quality products along with
better labor condition, then it can be the market leader for exporting the RMG in the world.

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Appendix 1: (Data of export of RMG (in million US $), number of garment factories and
employment (in million workers)
YEAR NUMBER OF GARMENT FACTORIES EMPLOYMENT IN MILLION WORKERS
2017-18 4560 4
2016-17 4482 4
2015-16 4328 4
2014-15 4296 4
2013-14 4222 4
2012-13 5876 4
2011-12 5400 4
2010-11 5150 3.6
2009-10 5063 3.6
2008-09 4925 3.5
2007-08 4743 2.8
2006-07 4490 2.4

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 2005-06 4220 2.2
2004-05 4107 2
2003-04 3957 2
2002-03 3760 2
2001-02 3618 1.8
2000-01 3480 1.8
1999-00 3200 1.6
1998-99 2963 1.5
1997-98 2726 1.5
1996-97 2503 1.3
1995-96 2353 1.29
1994-95 2182 1.2
1993-94 1839 0.83
1992-93 1537 0.8
1991-92 1163 0.58
1990-91 834 0.4
1989-90 759 0.34
1988-89 725 0.32
1987-88 685 0.31
1986-87 629 0.28
1985-86 594 0.2
1984-85 384 0.12

Appendix 2: (Data of export of RMG (in million US $) COMPARATIVE STATEMENT ON EXPORT OF

RMG AND TOTAL EXPORT OF BANGLADESH
YEAR EXPORT OF RMG (IN TOTAL EXPORT OF BANGLADESH  % OF RMG’S TO
MILLION US$) (IN MILLION US$) TOTAL EXPORT
2017-18 30614.76 36668.17 83.49
2016-17 28149.84 34655.9 81.23
2015-16 28094.16 34257.18 82.01
2014-15 25491.4 31208.94 81.68
2013-14 24491.88 30186.62 81.13
2012-13 21515.73 27027.36 79.61
2011-12 19089.73 24301.9 78.55
2010-11 17914.46 22924.38 78.15
2009-10 12496.72 16204.65 77.12
2008-09 12347.77 15565.19 79.33
2007-08 10699.8 14110.8 75.83
2006-07 9211.23 12177.86 75.64
2005-06 7900.8 10526.16 75.06

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2004-05 6417.67 8654.52 74.15
2003-04 5686.09 7602.99 74.79
2002-03 4912.09 6548.44 75.01
2001-02 4583.75 5986.09 76.57
2000-01 4859.83 6467.3 75.14
1999-00 4349.41 5752.2 75.61
1998-99 4019.98 5312.86 75.67
1997-98 3781.94 5161.2 73.28
1996-97 3001.25 4418.28 67.93
1995-96 2547.13 3882.42 65.61
1994-95 2228.35 3472.56 64.17
1993-94 1555.79 2533.9 61.4
1992-93 1445.02 2382.89 60.64
1991-92 1182.57 1993.9 59.31
1990-91 866.82 1717.55 50.47
1989-90 624.16 1923.7 32.45
1988-89 471.09 1291.56 36.47
1987-88 433.92 1231.2 35.24
1986-87 298.67 1076.61 27.74
1985-86 131.48 819.21 16.05
1984-85 116.2 934.43 12.44
1983-84 31.57 811 3.89

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