The stark reality of life unfolded in a stranger-than-fiction style in the gynae ward of the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) this week when a mother and her sister were caught red-handed at the time of fleeing with her newborn at dead of night. At first, the baby boy's maternal aunt was arrested on suspicion of theft of the baby. When the mother's involvement in the attempt to escape was revealed, she was also taken to Shahbagh police camp for questioning but critically ill, she was sent back to the hospital where she was tied to the bedstead lest she made good her escape. Then a charge was pressed against the two women for their attempt to sell the baby for Tk 20,000 to a woman. All this happened against the backdrop of theft of one of the twin babies only a few weeks ago from the same gynae ward. The mother could not escape physically but a day later she took leave of the world altogether, and this time the guards there were powerless before her journey to the other world.
In another less dramatic but no less tragic story carried in a Bangla contemporary on Monday last, similar vulnerability of a section of people has been exposed. His name is Mehedi, a good looking young man of 19 years old. He does not know who his parents are. Found by a kind man on the footpath of Kawran Bazar, he was taken, when a mere baby, to a home for the orphans, where he grew up. At the home, the authority made arrangement for his schooling. In the early days, the truant boy used to leve the home without information but hunger brought him back to where he could eat his meals. At some point he concentrated on education and started doing well in examinations. When he was studying in class XII, the donor-financed home was closed. However, he was given Tk 18,000 to start a small shop on the footpath near Maghbazar. At the time of execution of the Hatirjheel Prokalpa, he was evicted and since then he has become a vagabond. Now he can eat a free meal at Kakrail Mosque and sleeps on the porches of mosques and at Kamlapur Railway Station.   Â
This is what life for babies, floating children and women at the lowest rung of society is like in this country. Earlier report says that the mother and her sister tried to flee the ward because they could not pay the hospital bill. In a government hospital, the amount should not be big, but for poor women like her managing even a small amount is beyond question. It also sounds credible when the fact that her parents live on begging is taken into consideration. Did the poor woman really want to hand over her baby for money? Can it be an afterthought on the part of those who implicated her for sale of the baby because their responsibility in the death of a caesarean patient cannot be denied? Was not it medically unwise and inhuman to take such a critically ill mother to the police camp for quizzing? There should be a thorough judicial investigation to find out if the 'baby sale' part is concocted or not.
The legal wrangles over this particular case apart, what emerges as a most frightening truth is the helplessness of the poor. The country is savouring its economic achievements. Right now it boasts a per capita income of US$ 1,190. Its gross domestic product of US$ 173.8 billion in nominal terms and $419.2 billion in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms with an average of 6.0 per cent growth over the past decade -and that too defying the worldwide economic downturn and internal political instability -should give enough cause for celebration. But has this economic prosperity been able to touch the lives of the floating boys like Mehedi and the deceased mother at the DMCC's gynae ward?
Market economy as pursued the world over today is showing its inadequacy to address the problems facing thousands of millions of the poor not only in the less wealthier part of the world but also in some of the frontline nations. What is most disconcerting is the fact that the world's richest one per cent is getting wealthier and the poor poorer. The richest one per cent fortunate few of the world's population have to their possession 48 per cent of the global wealth, according to the just published Credit Suisse global wealth report.
Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz observes with sadness the enormous inequality bedevilling American society. He argues that the economic system of the United States rather than the military power, once the envy of the world, has failed to deliver. Under the economic model now a majority of the American population have become a witness to their income stagnation, while it has soared for the people at the top. There should be little doubt that the same has happened in Bangladesh. The magnitude of inequality is no less pervading here.
The celebrated economist points out how vulnerable a section of Americans are. An illness in a family can push it, on the brink as it is, to destitution. All because the poor have no health insurance. If downward mobility is a real threat to poor families in the USA, it is no less frightening in this country. The Obamacare could not get the desired results because of opposition from Republican governors and legislators. In the absence of a health policy in Bangladesh, the weaker and poorer sections become even more vulnerable when confronted with illness. Social safety net programmes introduced by the incumbent government here could be able to better fight poverty but for the misuse of the fund. Even if it made its proper impact, there is no guarantee it could be of much help to mothers like the deceased at DMCC and her babies or the floating boy.
Readjustment in the economic model now followed here is a must. If the economic inequality continues to widen further, this large population in a small geographic boundary will run the risk of plunging into social anarchy. Already there are signs of social restlessness and intolerance. It should not be allowed to turn into simmering discontent and explode.
nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com