In Bangladesh poverty still persists
Despite political will for enhanced growth and greater employment, it is evident that there is a great scope for improvements in Bangladesh regarding mechanisms which could address inequality issues
Rayhan Ahmed Topader
Equality of opportunity is about treating people fairly and without bias and about creating conditions in the workplace and wider society that encourage and value diversity and promote dignity. It is also about trying to redress past imbalances and ensuring that dealings with clients, customers and suppliers are conducted in a constructive way that supports appropriate inclusion and does not give rise to unjustified discrimination. The statement above holds true for all countries irrespective of economic conditions or political system. At the Davos forum this January, Oxfam revealed the alarming fact that the worlds eight richest people own as much wealth as the poorest 50 percent. The culprits of the income gap are thought to be aggressive wage restriction, tax evasion and influence of companies on rival producers. Globalisation may have changed the lives of the present generation in positive ways but it is also correct to infer that the benefits of economic processes have been unfairly distributed, affecting poverty reduction efforts and allocation of human capital.Justice is blind but the law is not, except for the most decrepit, whose sense of moral values and ethics are completely corrupted. The maxim that civilised nations uphold as the most fundamental of values, that the rule of law should guide all human actions, and justice is blind, is being constantly proved wrong in Bangladesh by the way it has been wantonly disregarded and is being trampled and defiled.
Theodore Roosevelt must surely be turning in his grave, and were he alive today he would surely have modified his immortal saying that nobody is above the law and nobody is below it, with but not everywhere. Nicholas Nicklebys, the Dickensian character, words aptly describe the situation in our country in his very crisp but ironic description of equality before law. He says, There are many pleasant fictions of the law in constant operation, but there is not one so pleasant or practically humorous as that which supposes every man to be of equal value in its impartial eye, and the benefits of all laws to be equally attainable by all men, without the smallest reference to the furniture of their pockets. Regrettably, those who are close to or a part of power, and those who have shiny furniture in the pockets dictate how laws should be applied. And unfortunately, those whose job is to prevent the abridgement of this universal principle, are willing complicit with the powers that be in the defilement of the system. Education and its access can be a way out of poverty; there needs to be distribution of the mainstream school system for tackling inequality of opportunities.This is contrary to commitments to international platforms to allocate six percent of the GDP or at least 20 percent of the national budget for education. Expenditure on schools is still not considered investment, as evident in the low quality of teachers and classrooms, low salaries and dropout rates. The overall wage system has to be streamlined to adjust to the price level and provision made for workers to be members of unions, so that their voices for fair wage can be heard. Only about 10 percent of Bangladeshs 4,500-plus garment factories have registered unions.
In July 2013 the Bangladesh government committed to a Sustainability Compact with the European Union. Yet laws and rules governing labour rights and export processing zones still have union constraints, in violation of international law. After noteworthy disasters in the readymade garment premises, the Bangladesh government made legal reforms that have helped increase the number of unions. Despite this, workers met with threats and intimidation when trying to form unions according to a Human Rights Watch report titled, Whoever Raises Their Head, Suffers the Most: Workers Rights in Bangladeshs Garment Factories. This report highlights the violations suffered by workers in Bangladesh, including physical assault, verbal abuse, forced overtime, denial of paid maternity leave, and failure to pay timely wages and bonuses. If this is the case in the sector that emerged as a significant earner of foreign currency, it speaks volumes about the overall working conditions in Bangladesh. A very few countries in the world, when it comes to the most important index of a countrys civilisational status, determined by the rule of law and respect for it and application of it without discrimination, would fare worse than ours. If there were a similar Kardashev Scale to determine the development in socio-cultural-humane index, like it does in classifying civilisational progress in terms of its level of technological advancement, based on the amount of energy a civilisation is able to use for communication, we would rate very poorly too.
It would be difficult to find another system where the truth that all men are equal, but some are more equal, so blatantly manifest than in ours. It seems that most of the state institutions are on a race to the nadir of most indices that define the state of governance that express the quality of life of the people.There is a plethora of instances where the rule of law was abridged by its selective application, because the alleged accused were related to the political establishment. And all of the cases one is talking about, fall in the criminal category.
In the latest case we saw virtual enactment of the Sharia Law where blood money, as reported, of two million taka was paid to the family of the victim of a hit and run case. But the dnouement of the case is as peculiar as the handling of the case. In spite of the witness, who had followed the runaway car in his motorbike up to its final destination, i.e. the MP Hostel, going to the police station to register a case, the OC refused to register the case, and even denied that anybody had gone to the police station at all. Compensation can be paid, but the police cannot not register a homicide case, which may not have amounted to murder. But that was only for the court to decide. The matter of compensation comes later. Another golden boy spawned by an MP felt so frustrated on a sultry night of April 2014, that he took out his pistol and fired a few shots to vent his anger. Little do political brats realise that their frustration is suffered by the public on the road, almost every day of the year.
Thank God they do not fire shots to vent their spleen. Two people died as a consequence, and the police said that it was a watertight case and they would have no problem in getting a conviction. But lo and behold! The verdict which was to be announced on May 8 this year was deferred by the Sessions Judge of Court-1 of Dhaka, reportedly, as he could not prepare the judgment. This after four years of the incident. We are still waiting for the judge to announce the date of delivery of the verdict. Taqi, a bright young man who had just passed his HSC in 2013 was brutally murdered around March 8 or 9, of 2013.
No charge sheet has been given even after five years of the gruesome killing. Interestingly, according to press reports, two of the aides of the alleged mastermind a scion of a very powerful political family of Narayanganj, were arrested, and their confessional statements had exposed how the killing was carried out upon his order and under his direct supervision. Rab had admitted that he was hiding abroad and they were trying to nab him. Public knowledge has it that the gentlemen is in Narayanganj now, perhaps invisible, to the law enforcers only. These are only a few instances of how the administration has gone out of the way to protect the perpetrators of cognisable offenses, because they were all linked to power, without realising that in doing so, they have become abettor of and complicit in the crimes. This is a phenomenon that is not regime specific, but one that has vandalised morality and made the system of justice a farce.
And unless there is a collective expression of indignation we will quickly approach, as described by Aristotle, to the level that human beings can degenerate to. He says, At best, man is the noblest of animals, separated from law and justice he is the worst. A thoroughly reprehensible prospect. Economic, social and political marginalisation is a reality for the indigenous population living in Bangladesh. Their existence is at stake, let alone opportunities for livelihoods; their rights have to be uplifted by capacity building and greater advocacy. The Human Rights Commission can play a crucial role in advocating for their rights to land ownership and security. People with disabilities are also on the fringes of economic activity. According to data of Handicap International, 15 percent of the population lives with a disability. Of the nearly 30,000 NGOs that exist in the country, around 300 deal with this matter, mainly providing capacity development assistance. Persons with disabilities now have a right to work in the Bangladesh Civil Service. Even then, it is important to have amended infrastructure allow people with challenges get access to the workplace. In spite of transgender people being referred to as members of a third gender and recognition in state documents such as passports and IDs, they are not welcomed in the workplace due to rigid ideas of gender etched in the societal psyche. The state must rethink sectors where they can make valuable contribution. Dialogue with positive examples can gradually ease the acceptance.
For instance, there has been the refreshing initiative of the government to recruit transgender people in the traffic police force, as a means of rehabilitation and independent existence. Despite political will for enhanced growth and greater employment, it is evident that there is a great scope for improvements in Bangladesh regarding mechanisms which could address inequality issues. Parallel to fiscal or private sector reforms and adjustments to foster growth, there should be greater socioeconomic attention on poverty and its eradication should thrive. Stringent policies are crucial to empower the bottom percentile of income earners and to promote economic inclusion of all regardless of gender, race or ethnicity, and emphasis is needed on economic growth that is inclusive and contains the holistic dimensions of sustainable development.
The writer is a contributor to
The Independent
