5-10-07, 9:21 am

Hardship in the daily life of the people continues to increase. The vast majority of people are facing intolerable economic distress, and the future shows no signs of brightening up. The present misery of the people has emanated particularly from the following causes.

(i) The price of all essential commodities, including rice, edible oil and other food items, has increased by an average of 10 to 20% at the wholesale and retail levels during the last 6 months. With earned income remaining static, and in many cases actually declining, the real income of the people has significantly decreased during this time. The trend has been persisting over the past year, and could not be arrested even after the vigorous anti-corruption crusade of the present care taker government During the initial phase of this anti-corruption crusade stern measures began to be taken against a few of the many corrupt businessmen and hoarders. The business community reacted furiously against this and united to defend and protect the corrupt business owners who were being lawfully persecuted. They started a counter-move of disrupting the market using all possible means at their disposal, including the slowing down of imports of essentials, reluctance to open letters of credit with the banks, sabotaging the mobility of commodities within the market, syndicated actions to artificially inflate price at the wholesale and retail level etc. The entire economy, particularly the market of essential commodities, became hostage to the profit-hungry business community which is desperate to force the government to stop further persecution against corrupt members of their community.

The government instead of taking effective counter measures and calling upon the people to resist the attack of the profiteers who were desperate to escape from the hands of the law, succumbed to this pressure and declared that business owners will henceforth be kept outside the periphery of the ongoing anti-corruption campaign. But even this capitulation by the govt. did not pacify the business community. The government then started to set up markets run by its paramilitary Border Forces and conduct open market sale of food grains by government agencies. The introduction of public distribution mechanisms were, however, only of a marginal magnitude. But even then it generated some soothing effects on the spiraling rise in the price of essentials.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) has demanded that fundamental policy reforms be undertaken to ensure control over price of essentials. The reintroduction of rationing system for the poor, opening of fair price shops, marketing operations by government institutions, introduction of consumer's cooperatives and other concrete measures to develop a strong corruption free public distribution system all over the country etc. are some of the concrete proposals put forward by CPB in this respect.

(ii) After the assumption of office by the present caretaker government, an extensive campaign was started for the eviction of illegal occupation of government-owned land and illegal constructions. Though a few of the large and wealthy property holders were affected, the main victim of this campaign were the millions of small roadside shop owners, slum dwellers, hawkers etc. This has precipitated a sudden havoc in the means of livelihood of millions. Extreme misery and destitution has suddenly engulfed them, generating in them agonizing frustration and desperation.

(iii) Closing down of factories, the falling stock and share market, economic deprivation has further added to the rise in unemployment. The member of helpless unemployed people has increased significantly due to the sudden addition to their ranks of millions of people who have been recently uprooted from their means of livelihood.

(iv) The government has decided to raise the price of petroleum fuel and electricity. This has immediately pushed up transportation costs thereby providing a new excuse to greedy businessmen for disproportionately increasing the prices of all commodities in the wholesale and the retail markets.

(v) Increase in economic hardship and agonizing destitution of millions is beginning to generate the consequential increase in crime, drug abuse, and other social evils.

Despite this continuing increase in misery and hardship, the people are not yet exploding out in fury into the streets. They are still enduring their hardship with the hope that the care taker government is going to root out corruption, reform the criminalization and commercialization of politics, pave the way for a rejuvenated democratic system in the country and ensure governance by a elected government. Agony on the one hand and patient waiting for a enhanced democratic process and an end of the agonizing misery on the other hand, this is the prevailing mood of the people. But how long will this critical balance of misery on the one hand and hope on the other prevail? No one can answer this question with certainty.

--From the Monthly Bulletin of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, April 2007 edition.

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