History's great teaching is that no one learns from history. Mighty empires rose and fell. Building empires needed extraordinary sacrifice, leadership, vision, shrewdness and pillage. But their fall was largely due to extravagant use of the accumulated wealth and indulgence in material comfort. Human civilisation has never really come out of the temptation of maximising bodily satisfaction. Sure enough, possession of enormous wealth has often facilitated the transition from sensuality to sensuousness on the part of the lords of the lands they surveyed. That they had at their disposal so much wealth was instrumental in creating great works of art and sculpture. The Sistine Chapel in Rome and Tajmahal at Delhi are two of the examples of such Renaissance and aesthetic spirit patronised by powerful men whose driving force was either love or devotion to religion. Well, people wielding enormous power also felt the urge to immortalise themselves through marvellous or awe-inspiring structures or art work.
What however was amiss is the coercive revenue collection in order to steady the supply of wealth to the rulers' fund. The working class involved with the means of production has contributed to their king's coffer, themselves remaining deprived of the minimum they required for their survival. The tale of tears, sweat, blood and deprivation has never quite made it to the history book, although the legacy of art and sculpture has come down to people through generations with the creators and patrons occupying enough space. Maybe, they have done so deservingly but the untold story of pangs the mass suffered and exploitation they had to endure have gone abegging.
Clearly, on the one side are extravagance, wastage, misuse and injustice to conscience and on the other is extreme penury, sufferings, wretchedness and ignoble dehumanisation. If the gulf between the wealthy and poor classes before machine had took over the means of production was yawning, it has turned into a limitless chasm afterwards. In the past, the kings and emperors were a few in numbers but in the modern era, the number of ultra rich has swelled beyond imagination. The character of the means of production has radically changed and consumerism has taken over the modest living of the past.
Machines have quantified production many times more but consumerism also has gone up by leaps and bounds. In between, yet another highly negative development has taken place rather unnoticed. This is what is casually referred to as wastage. The super rich of the world spend billions of dollars on luxury and entertainment. They can afford because just one per cent of them now have at their disposal as much as 48 per cent of the planet's wealth. Even in a poor country like Bangladesh, there are people who simply wallow in wealth. Just imagine a family now has the ability to spend Taka 10 million on a marriage ceremony. The ceremony is held at the Radisson Hotel and the post-nuptial reception at Sena Kunja. The decoration alone costs Tk 0.4 million. In the West, facilities of varying modes and forms have been invented to attract the super rich and dispose some of their wealth of. The palace Reliance-famed Mukesh Ambani has built in Mumbai testifies to the type of luxury and flaunting of wealth such people are enamoured with.
Apart from such lavish spending on luxury and material comfort, the issue of wastage has started drawing attention in recent times. About 40 per cent of foods prepared in the USA go waste simply because people could not care less. Affluence has made societies less caring and mindful of the need to ensure proper use of foods prepared from farm produces. In the USA now farm hands are in severe shortage and the government has to pamper those involved with cultivation and even subsidise agriculture. The culture of food wastage has also caught up with societies in countries like Bangladesh. Foods going waste in restaurants, hotels and banquets could sustain hundreds or even thousands of families for a year. If taken into account, such wasted food could perhaps feed the entire population now going hungry on this planet.  The new class of the rich now throws parties on occasions their forefathers had no idea about. On some account, this is a sign of wealth creation but beneath this veneer of glitz and affluence, there lies a large number of people who have to make do with a dollar or so a day.
Inequality is awfully stark and it highlights the malaise of the modern civilisation. On this count, today's enlightened society has not come a long way off since the time of infamous Roman emperor Nero. But something is happening from the land where consumerism had its origin and still raging. Microsoft-famed Bill Gates is standing against the tide. Well, he may have procured a personal jet but then it is so heart-warming to learn that the money he donated through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for mosquito nets in Africa has virtually brought down the incidence of malaria to almost zero. His contribution to other healthcare areas is equally significant. Then Warren Buffet and Bill Gates have formed a league of the super rich to donate the major portion of their wealth to the cause of the distressed humanity. Wealth procurement is a passion and addiction but then some can overcome the temptation and make their lifetime's savings available for the service of the mankind. Ranada Prasad Saha illustrates the point better than anyone in this part of the world.
However, such generosity and benevolence are not expected of every human being. So the need is no less than rational distribution of wealth. Sure enough, some people, because of their financial acumen and other qualities, will need a better living than others but at no point should this be at the expense of a sizeable population's bare minimum needs. Â
nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com
Inequality, wastage and rational distribution of wealth
Nilratan Halder | Published: February 06, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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