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Plight of the masses

Published : Saturday, 22 January, 2022 at 12:00 AM  Count : 1620

Shoriful Kabir Shamim

Shoriful Kabir Shamim

Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) Minister Md Tajul Islam recently expressed hope that the country's average per capita income would exceed USD 3,000 by this year.

The minister said, "Our average income has increased like magic in the past decade due to the leadership of Bangabandhu's daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina."

Although the per capita income has increased in one era, the question may arise as to how much the standard of living of the people has increased. There is a loophole in per capita income, which is not unknown to anyone.

A person earns 1 lakh taka in a month whereas another earns 10 thousand. Both have a monthly income of Tk 1,10,000. The average income of them is Tk 55,000 and this is the calculation of per capita income.
Billions of money is being squandered in various schemes. Trafficking is taking place from the country through various tactics.

The syndicate of a few PK Haldar, Shahed, Motajjerul Islam alias Mithu, Papia Gang, Enu-Rupon or Rubel-Barkat brothers are not unknown. But the unknown is just how you and I unknowingly become rich day by day!  At present the financial condition of a labouer, housemaid, garment and factory worker, transport worker, shop worker, private or private employee, non-MPO teacher is in a sorry state.

According to the statistics of the country, the economy is active, but the middle class is immobile. Reducing commodity prices rather than increasing per capita income can make immobile people active.

The salaries of most private companies have not increased, many do not have jobs. No one is safe except politicians and government service holders. 90 per cent of the people are out of government facilities. How does the per capita income increase?

If the index or statistic is created to implement the 'agenda', that is, to show the government well or to reduce poverty, the statistic works like Goebbels. According to various statistics, the gap between rich and poor in society has widened.

To be billionaires, there is an unequal, cruel, inhuman and fierce competition going on. These per capita income calculations are ineffective and painful for the general people. The poor and the middle class are realizing how difficult life is.

By taking away the happiness from many, one or two can increase their happiness a hundred times. So the number of happy people decreases.

If the middle and lower classes find out what they are spending their days on with their families, there will be no more hue and cry about per capita income.

People are getting poorer when it comes to medicines, doctors, rice, pulses, onions, soybean oil, and the government is bewildered by the illusion of statistics. The increase in per capita income is not visible to the naked eye, but the expenditure on the head is not unseen.

It should also be brought into statistics that how much per capita expenditure has increased and how much debt per capita has increased.  

There is a huge difference between the calculation of per capita income and the calculation of the poverty of the people. If the per capita income of the rich had been expressed separately, the real picture would have been captured.

The cruel truth of this robotic calculation of money is that someone eats it, enjoys it and leaves it for his unseen '14 men'! And no one can feed her baby.

According to a survey, the second wave of the Corona pandemic has pushed 19.54 per cent of the country's 3.3 billion people into poverty. This means that on the one hand, the average income of the people of the country is increasing at a time when a large number of people are becoming poorer. So whose per capita income has increased? The question is here.

Earlier, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network's Global Happiness Report stated that Bangladesh was 10 steps behind in the list of happiest countries in the world.

So isn't the relationship between happiness and per capita income a huge mess? Happiness will increase if growth increases. But the picture of Bangladesh is completely opposite. In this country, on the one hand, growth increases, on the other hand, happiness decreases.

When hundreds of people stand in line for hours before TCB's car arrives, it becomes clear how much money the country's per capita income has increased. Where is the per capita income of those who are committing suicide as they are unable to support their families due to rising commodity prices?

Every survey says that unemployment, poverty and income have decreased among the people with Covid. According to a BRAC survey, the daily income of 15 million people has dropped below 2.

The income of people across the country has decreased by 20 per cent in Corona. According to the BIDS survey, Wages 80 per cent of workers in various sectors including garments, leather and construction have been reduced, says the BBS survey.

According to a survey by PPRC and BRAC, 2.5 crore people have become newly impoverished during the last Corona period.

The results of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, published at the same time, showed that 50 per cent of the country's industries have been forced to lay off more than 6 percent of their workers during the epidemic.

Despite all this, per capita income will exceed 3,000 US dollars this year which means it's about to be the most delusional time of the year, as well.
Shoriful Kabir Shamim,
Journalist, the Daily Observer















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