WHEN the Economist awarded Bangladesh ‘Country of the Year 2024’ for “toppling a despot” and “taking strides towards a more liberal government,” it gave me further impetus to visit the country my parents hailed from (albeit before its independence).
So when a delegation of UK business investors looking to expand into Bangladesh invited me along to join them over parliamentary recess, I jumped at the chance, making me the first of the four British Bangladeshi MPs to venture to what is now termed “Bangladesh 2.0”.
Getting my visa at the Bangladeshi High Commission in London felt different to my last trip in May 2024 for a UN Population conference, which was only my sixth time ever in the country since I was born in London in 1972.
Gone are the omnipresent statues and pictures erected in Dhaka by the last regime. Instead, I encountered a much more constructive attitude towards me compared to the suspicion shown by the previous High Commissioner in London.
Strikingly colourful murals documenting last summer’s revolution festoon the whole of Dhaka, where cartoons were previously banned. Much is familiar though – the traffic jams, heat and dust. Everything has changed and yet nothing has changed.
The packed programme organised by the delegation hosts, the UKBCCI (UK Bangladesh Catalysts of Commerce and Industry), was filled with meetings at various government ministries. On the agenda were foreign affairs, diaspora matters, commerce and fisheries, plus dinners in international hotels to the point that one delegate moaned, “there’s no sightseeing programmed”.
Our group included businessmen primarily from the British Bangladeshi diaspora of Birmingham, Manchester, and Uxbridge, along with two Hindus and a female Chinese tycoon based in London.
I made a point of speaking to students wherever I could; sometimes departing from the programme and sneaking off.
In the evenings, I tried to meet cousins I end up seeing probably once every 10 years, on average. Aunts and uncles have mostly died, my parents too departed in 2014 and 2017, respectively.
Huq explores the city
One person I met was Christian. “You’re an oppressed minority?” I asked. “Don’t call me that; I’m a Bangladeshi citizen,” he replied, annoyed at the suggestion.
I was also shown around the quasipermanent exhibition of graffiti surrounding Dhaka University walls.
Later, I sat down with students at Jagannath Hall – a residence for minority students dating from the 1920s when contamination of food was a worry.
The Hindus in our impromptu campus focus group attested that minority discrimination has occurred, and Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have continually pulled up Bangladesh for this and for corruption, too.
Recent incidents are mostly linked to political affiliation. Such is the anger at the overthrown Awami League party that its members of all faiths have been targeted by mobs; they also attacked former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s palace and the shrine to her father; Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s first ruler. This ire extends to people in public sector roles as so many posts were provided on party lines, even teachers and doctors. Unjust “jobs for the boys” was the cause of the original summer unrest last year.
Attacks on senior Awami League leaders peaked in the immediate aftermath of the August ouster of Hasina.
Our delegation met all the influential people, right up to head of state. At the start of August 2024, professor Mohammad Yunus was a Nobel Prize winning economist, facing a lengthy prison sentence on spurious grounds alleged by the past Hasina government, while visiting Paris for the Olympics.
At the end of that month, he became acting prime minister (or “chief advisor”) at the request of students behind the “monsoon revolution” of August 5.
He is a reassuring consensual figure who commands worldwide respect for lifting women out of poverty and has even been a Simpsons cartoon character (when Lisa wanted to avail herself of one of his pioneering microfinance loans).
Among those who came to his defence during his persecution were the Obamas and Clintons, friends he made having taught in the US for a chunk of his career, so it is wrong he is being labelled as an Islamist by desperate supporters of the old order.
With the help of the BBC director general’s good offices, I found BBC Bangla, part of the World Service and went round. They described working under the extreme adversity of the last government who detested scrutiny and included critical journalists under the forcibly disappeared and extra judicially killed.
Huq engages with students at Jagannath Hall, Dhaka University
BBC Bangla continued broadcasting even when government forces shut down the internet last summer and imposed a curfew, bypassing restrictions with VPNs.
Our meeting with Yunus featured on national bulletins and made the front pages of newspapers.
My BBC interview too led to appearances on numerous national networks: R channel, Channel I, Channel 71 and Jumuna tv, among others.
As the visit progressed, I was recognised more and my rusty English-accented Bengali became more fluent with the many selfie requests.
At Atish Dipankar University Trust in Uttarah, I was mobbed like a rockstar. The talk I gave there began with an overly long introduction praising me for changing the course of history. I had to correct the students – it was they who had brought about change, not me.
I also learned about the business world, which was why I was there after all. Garments comprise 84 per cent of Bangladeshi exports, but things are diversifying and allowing for climate vulnerability.
Outside Dhaka, we saw the Japanesefunded special investment zone with hitech firms, surrounded by a trench and set eight metres above ground to equip it to be flood-proof.
One member of our delegation imports prawns, but was worried China is hoovering up the market because of red tape. Brexit is something my constituents hate, but Bangladesh sees it as opportunity.
Huq visits BBC Bangla
Above all, I witnessed relative calm – unlike the FCDO travel advice and the picture painted by some media outlets and which are read in the UK.
Police are maintaining law and order and unlike my 2017 visit with the Labour Friends of Bangladesh with other MPs, I had no police escort, so moved around freely, including on foot and by rickshaw when I could. I even rode the new Metrorail reportedly created by China with an inflated international loan concealing looted funds as so many infrastructure projects allegedly were.
Amid this, the seeds of democracy are being sown, with Yunus’ various commissions. A timeline for elections – hopefully by the first half of next year – is being set, but there is work to do to cleanse institutions of apparatchiks. Two Bangladeshi parties alternated in power until the Awami League changed the constitution, securing three consecutive terms and becoming increasingly authoritarian. To rush into elections would mean the other (BNP – Bangladesh National Party), whose past governments are similarly criticised, will simply win. To have one corrupt lot replace the others gains nothing.
My visit taught me much about international trade, society and politics, but surely a new way forward from the old stale duopoly is needed so that the lives of 800 (possibly more) dead students were not in vain.
His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan V
Anurag Bajpayee's Gradiant: The water company tackling a global crisis
In a world increasingly defined by scarcity, one resource is emerging as the most quietly decisive factor in the future of industry, sustainability, and even geopolitics: water. Yet, while the headlines are dominated by energy transition and climate pledges, few companies working behind the scenes on water issues have attracted much public attention. One of them is Gradiant, a Boston-based firm that has, over the past decade, grown into a key player in the underappreciated but critical sector of industrial water treatment.
A Company Born from MIT, and from Urgency
Founded in 2013 by Anurag Bajpayee and Prakash Govindan, two researchers with strong ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Gradiant began as a scrappy start-up with a deceptively simple premise: make water work harder. At a time when discussions about climate change were centred almost exclusively on carbon emissions and renewable energy, the trio saw water scarcity looming in the background.
Their insight was that some of the world’s largest industries—semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food and beverage—were facing acute water-related challenges long before the general public grasped the issue. “Without water, these industries don’t just slow down; they stop,” Bajpayee has often remarked. What Gradiant offered was not just a way to save water, but a way to rethink how it is used, recycled, and valued.
The Engineers Behind the Mission
Anurag Bajpayee, the company’s CEO, whose academic path took him to MIT, where he completed a PhD in Mechanical Engineering focused on water treatment technologies. It was there that he met Govindan, a fellow engineer and now Gradiant's co-founder and COO, whose expertise complemented his in fluid mechanics and process engineering.
Unlike many founders who drift towards the language of venture capital and corporate strategy, Anurag Bajpayee and his team remained grounded in the technical problem: how to make industrial water treatment more efficient, more affordable, and more sustainable. The company still bears the imprint of its founders’ engineering roots. Gradiant is less Silicon Valley startup and more MIT lab, albeit one that has quietly expanded across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America.
What Gradiant Actually Does
The company specializes in designing and building bespoke water treatment and reuse systems for industrial clients. Its technologies are aimed at enabling factories and plants to reclaim water that would otherwise be discarded as waste, reducing both the amount of water withdrawn from natural sources and the volume of contaminated water discharged.
At the heart of Gradiant’s portfolio are proprietary technologies such as Counter Flow Reverse Osmosis (CFRO), Carrier Gas Extraction (CGE) and Selective Ion Recovery (SIR), developed from the Gradiant founders’ early research at MIT. Unlike traditional methods like reverse osmosis, these systems are designed to handle highly contaminated or complex wastewater streams, enabling clients to extract clean water even from previously unusable sources.
But Gradiant does not sell “one-size-fits-all” machines. Each project is tailored to the customer’s unique needs. For a semiconductor plant in Singapore, this might mean achieving ultrapure water reuse levels of 98%; for a food and beverage factory in Texas, it might be about safely treating wastewater for discharge while minimising energy consumption. The company's approach—sometimes called "solutioneering" internally—is both its competitive advantage and its raison d'être.
Expansion Without the Usual Hype
Gradiant’s growth has been quietly impressive. From its first commercial project in the oil and gas sector, it has gone on to complete over 500 installations worldwide. The company has raised more than $400 million in funding from a mix of institutional investors and private equity firms, achieving so-called “unicorn” status, with a valuation reportedly over $1 billion.
Unlike many green tech firms, Gradiant’s expansion has not been accompanied by flashy marketing campaigns or grandiose statements. Instead, the company has preferred to build credibility client by client, particularly in Asia, where water-intensive industries and growing environmental pressures make its services indispensable. Anurag Bajpayee, never one to speak in superlatives, frames the company’s expansion as a “response to urgent need” rather than a triumph of business.
Inside Gradiant’s Operations
At its core, Gradiant is still an engineering-first company. Anurag Bajpayee and Govindan, both technically trained and heavily involved in the company’s operations, have instilled a culture where R&D is not just a department but the lifeblood of the business. The firm currently holds more than 250 patents globally, a testament to its ongoing commitment to innovation.
But Gradiant’s success is not just about technology. The company has differentiated itself by offering not just equipment but full-service solutions, including project design, construction, operations, and maintenance. This full-stack approach has been particularly attractive to clients in highly regulated industries, who need water management solutions that work seamlessly and reliably without requiring deep in-house expertise.
Gradiant’s clients include some of the world’s largest manufacturers, including Fortune 500 companies in sectors like microelectronics, pharmaceuticals, and energy. Some, like semiconductor producers, rely on Gradiant to help them meet stringent water reuse targets while maintaining ultra-clean production environments.
Navigating a Changing World
Gradiant operates at the intersection of several converging trends: climate change, regulatory pressure, and industrial decarbonisation. In many regions, water scarcity has become the limiting factor for industrial growth, sometimes more than energy availability or supply chain constraints.
While public attention often focuses on domestic water use, it is industries that consume the lion’s share of freshwater. Gradiant's pitch is straightforward: industries will have to do more with less, and Gradiant offers the tools to make that possible.
Anurag Bajpayee is keenly aware of the paradox that water, despite being vital, is often underpriced and undervalued, especially when compared to energy. “We don’t pay what it’s worth, only what it costs,” he told an audience at a recent conference. Yet, the landscape is shifting. Regulators, investors, and companies themselves are increasingly acknowledging water as both a business risk and a social responsibility.
What's Next for Gradiant?
Looking ahead, Gradiant appears poised to play a central role as industries adapt to water scarcity. Yet, Anurag Bajpayee remains cautious about the hype cycle. "The problem we’re working on isn’t going anywhere," he says. "It’s not a question of innovation alone, but of execution—of making sure these solutions actually reach the places that need them most."
In an era where water risk is increasingly material to business, Gradiant’s quiet, technically grounded approach may prove to be exactly what is needed.
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Eastern Eye. The publication does not endorse or take responsibility for the accuracy of any statements made by the author.)