Narrowing political, economic inequality

Eminent and influential thinker on social justice and a leading figure in moral and political philosophy John Rawls (1921-2002) argued for social justice as 'a balance between social equality and individual freedom'. Nonetheless, social equality and individual freedom are frequently seen as in angst, and debate continues as to how, and to what extent, they can be balanced.  A socially just society is one based upon the principles of equality and solidarity. Such a society values human rights, as well as recognises the dignity of every human being.
The United Nations affirms that "social justice may be broadly understood as the fair and compassionate distribution of the fruits of economic growth" and "social justice is not possible without strong and coherent redistributive policies conceived and implemented by public agencies. All societies have a basic structure of social, economic, and political institutions, both formal and informal. Social justice is, therefore, justice exercised within a society particularly as it is applied to and among the various social classes of a society.  
In essence (a) Freedom of thought; (b) Liberty of conscience as it affects social relationships on the grounds of religion, philosophy, and morality; (c) Political liberties (e.g. representative democratic institutions, freedom of speech and the press, and freedom of assembly); (d) Freedom of association; (e) Freedoms necessary for the liberty and integrity of the person (viz: freedom from slavery, freedom of movement and a reasonable degree of freedom to choose one's occupation); and (f) rights and liberties covered by the rule of law are the major ingredients for social justice in a society.
Equity is a core principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, successive UN conventions and the constitutions of many nation states, including that of Bangladesh. Social justice, and with it the promise of economic, social and cultural rights, is the embodiment of development with equity. The aim of these commitments is to promote peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations, based on human dignity and non-discrimination.
Although these rights - to shelter, to food, education, health, decent work and livelihoods - have been controversial in the past, their place is now well-established in international law. To be clear, these are cast in terms of access to opportunities and capabilities, based on the principle of fair provision of public services and exercise of law between people and groups. It is recognised also that resource constraints may limit achievement of these rights, yet it is, nevertheless incumbent on governments to take all necessary action to secure them.  For the United Nations, the pursuit of social justice is at the centre of their global mission the UN seek in all, to support governments in meeting these obligations. For Bangladesh, these types of commitment also have a strong grounding - notably in Article 15 of the Constitution which states:
"It shall be a fundamental responsibility of the State to attain… a steady improvement in the material and cultural standard of living of the people, with a view to securing to its citizens… the basic necessities of life, including food, clothing, shelter, education and medical care; the right to work, that is the right to guaranteed employment at a reasonable wage having regard to the quantity and quality of work; the right to reasonable rest, recreation and leisure; and the right to social security, that is to say to public assistance in cases of undeserved want arising from unemployment, illness or disablement, or suffered by widows or orphans or in old age, or in other such cases."
 Given, the constitutional commitment outlined above, and the demonstrable actions of successive governments in Bangladesh to put these principles into action and placing of social justices as corner stone of development thinking.  Socio political pundits advocate for not merely seeking middle income status but equity and social inclusion! It is fair to say that pro-poor thinking is hardwired in Bangladesh: the challenge is to modernise and strengthen this policy orientation. The endeavour should focus on guaranteeing fair outcomes for all, through employment, social protection, social dialogue, and fundamental principles and rights at work, supporting development and improving human welfare and dignity, assisting national actors to deliver cradle to grave support across the human life cycle, alongside giving assistance and advice on effective and fair governance, and on secure on-going improvements in prosperity and reductions in poverty.
Over the last 10 to 15 years alone, poverty has fallen from just short of 50 per cent of the population to just over 30 per cent. In the social sphere, this has included combating maternal and infant mortality, supporting children's development via better education and health, targeting improved food security and nutrition,  facilitating better livelihoods through employment reform, social protection and skills development, building resilience to natural disasters, and in assisting effective population management. Bangladesh is on-track or close to achieving the vast majority of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Within the social goals, strong performance is still more striking.
On the question of social protection reform, this lies at the heart of securing social justice, especially during a time of transformational economic change. As Bangladesh moves towards middle income status, an effective system of social security and transfer payments will be a crucial dimension to ensure economic development continues apace and that it remains equitable. It also sits at the nexus of making progress on a broader development agenda - encompassing health and nutrition outcomes, resilience to shocks and access to livelihood opportunities. In essence, social protection is a form of collective insurance, a hedge against risks and contingencies that individuals and families face throughout their lives.  A sound social protection system provides both safety nets and social ladders, underwriting economic opportunities and securing basic welfare levels. Moreover, the programmes should have a special resonance for Bangladesh, the level of vulnerability accruing from exposure to environmental and climatic risks. Today around 15 per cent of our revenue budget equivalent to around 2 per cent of national GDP is being spent on social transfers and allowances.   
Bangladesh has pioneered many innovations in this field - including the educational stipend allowances targeted on school attendance, a focus on poverty graduation and the building of resilience and a system to respond to environmental and climatic shocks. However, the system has many weaknesses. The number of programmes has proliferated and there is some degree of administrative fragmentation, with over 80 schemes being delivered by more than 20 ministries. Both coverage and targeting have been weak, and too large a proportion of the benefits do not reach the intended, most needy recipients. Most significantly, the system is not well-attuned to the rapidly changing nature of Bangladesh, i.e., major forces in play such as industrialisation, urbanisation and mass-migration. These pose enormous consequences for social and economic changes in the coming years. The pattern of spending is rather too dominated by relief-type programmes focused on disaster response. While there were and remain, very good reasons for this focus, the system needs to evolve to meet new needs and build-in resilience to shocks as well as offering direct responses.
Again advocating for broadly based and inclusive development, founded on the promotion of human dignity and the principle of non-discrimination, the tenets which are central to the philosophy of our liberation war in 1971 and national commitment is evidenced by the long-running record of achievement and commitment to social justice.  The coming years and decades will see very dramatic changes in the nature and shape of the economy, and, in turn, in Bangladeshi society.  While this period will be challenging it also offers up opportunities for the country to craft the future it wants - one of prosperity alongside equity and social cohesion.
Economic emancipation  
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman  (1920-1975) concluded his  historic 7th March (1971)  speech, by pronouncing the  word 'freedom' twice because he knew that achieving economic emancipation is equally important to freeing the country from then Pakistani occupation, his struggle was for achieving economic emancipation for the deprived section of the society. At independence, over 90 per cent of Bangladeshis were villagers, a share that has now come down to nearly 70 per cent. The new state of Bangladesh was the product of a 'Bengali nationalism' that arose to challenge West Pakistan's economic exploitation of its Eastern wing. In the 1950s and 1960s, a group of Bengali economists carefully documented the process of economic disparity and demonstrated how a 'two-economy' system was increasing the economic inequality in the East and West Pakistan. The economic and political demands, as stipulated and enumerated under the six-point programme, were the frontal assault on the foundation of Pakistan's colonial exploitation and authoritarian modes of governance. Hence the general election of 1970s was fought on the basis of economic and political autonomy and inclusiveness, which reflected the legitimate demands of the people of the then East Pakistan. Bangladesh emerged out of a quest for economic and political emancipation -- where people's participation will be the key to its development.
With the acceleration in the growth of per capita income, Bangladesh has made considerable progress in poverty reduction. The economic progress has translated into steady decline in poverty rates. During the 1990s, the national incidence of poverty declined from nearly 60 per cent to about 50 per cent; and a much more rapid reduction in poverty seems to have taken place in the following five-year period with the national poverty rate reduced to about 40 per cent.
Bangladesh has achieved robust and sustained growth of export earnings and exports have become an ever more important part of the economy. While exports accounted for around 5 per cent of the economy in the post-war years, now it accounts for over 20 per cent. More recently, remittances from migrant workers have emerged as a major factor, amounting to over 10 per cent of the economy in recent years. Export performance also demonstrated a similar positive relation with democratic regimes. During the same period, Bangladesh also moved from aid dependency to self sufficiency as total exports of goods and services were more than six times the foreign aid it received in most recent years. However, to what extent such growth in national earnings has added to human welfare?
Historical experience suggests that if our economy grows faster, more and more people will flock to the cities. Dhaka in particular has gone from being home to 2 per cent of Bangladeshis to 10 per cent in the past four decades. Lack of decentralisation is causing a growing spatial inequality in income earning, where residents of Dhaka and Chittagong are earning way more than the residents living elsewhere. Our economic emancipation agenda definitely goes beyond the middle class in urban areas. If we are to adequately address the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality, we have to generate meaningful economic activity in townships, rural villages and rural towns.
Boosting small business in these areas is a most logical way of achieving this goal. All successful economies have, as amongst the ingredients of success, invested strongly in the development of small business as well as cooperatives. Bangladesh should strive to focus on growth-orientated enterprises as well as enterprises in priority sectors such as tourism, construction, agriculture, and cultural industries as well as information and communications technology. The target is needed to support primarily the enterprises that are owned by medium and small scale entrepreneurs, disabled persons, women as well as the youth. We have been encouraged by the increasing involvement of the corporate sector, organised business, labour, private financing institutions, non-governmental organisations, universities as well as our international partners. They all spread the same message of the need to grow small business, which is the engine of growth and development. Having engaged the small business sector and other social partners, we know what we are supposed to do. There are three key pillars of our small business strategy. These are financial and business development support services, procurement support and thirdly an improved regulatory environment. A key factor is no doubt, access to finance. That money can be redirected to support more small businesses enterprises rather than the bureaucracy. But it is not simply cost-cutting that motivated the amalgamation. We wanted an improved service to small businesses, a one-stop shop for funding. The availability and cost of funding to small businesses is vital but not sufficient. More needs to be done to strengthen technical skills and promote market access. They will support small businesses and establish a business hub to provide technical assistance to small and medium enterprises. Support extends to export promotion.
Amidst all achievements, an important area of concern for Bangladesh is the rise in inequality in the distribution of income. After all, dream of economic emancipation through the alleviation of economic inequality was one of the driving forces of our independence. Regrettably, In Bangladesh, there has been an increase in the degree of inequality in income distribution from the mid-1980s. Gini coefficient, a measure of the inequality of wealth or income distribution, in the country stood at 33.12 in 2010 from 33.22 in 2005. The Gini coefficient was 25.88 in 1984 and went up to 33.46 in 1996. Bangladesh has remained a country with substantial income inequality with all its manifestations even 42 years after independence. A small section of the society enjoys most of the country's wealth depriving the larger section. Income share held by the highest 10 per cent increased from 21 per cent in 1984 to 27 per cent in 2010. Income share held by the lowest 10 per cent decreased from 4.13 per cent to 3.99 per cent.
The pattern of distribution of income can be perceived from percentage share of income of household by docile groups. The gap between the poorest of the poor (bottom 5 per cent) and the richest of the rich (top 5 per cent) is extremely high. In 2005, the income accruing to top 5 per cent of the household was 26.93 per cent, whereas, the same was 0 .77 per cent for the bottom 5 per cent household. In 2000, income accruing to top 5 per cent of the households was 28.34 per cent, whereas the same was .93 per cent for the bottom 5 per cent. It decreased from .93 per cent in 2000 to .77 per cent in 2005. On the contrary, the share of income of the top 5 per cent decreased from 28.34 per cent to 26.93 per cent over the same period indicating that income was accruing at the middle level.
Though macroeconomic and social indicators show that Bangladesh has been better off in some segment as an independent nation though it is far behind in achieving its primary goal of alleviating economic and political inequality. Macroeconomic growth contributed to higher national income, but growing income inequality needs to be addressed. Geographically centralised industrialisation has contributed to a higher flow of domestic migration and export of goods and services helping the national economy gaining its self-sufficiency, but it is essential to safeguard and rights of the workers, the most ordinary people and the marginal poor as well. The economy cannot gain the independence and self satisfying victory with the growing income inequality or sufferings of the industrial workers, the farmer who does not get good price of his produces and the petitioners who are deliberately denied dignity.
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Dr Muhammad Abdul Mazid, Former Secretary to the Government and Chairman, NBR.
He can be reached at: [email protected]