No substitute for price monitoring

Economic factors such as scarcities of goods against their higher demand, snags in production or distribution and the better purchasing power of consumers, do normally drive up prices. But to a very large extent and most of the time, price rises in Bangladesh have hardly any connection to such economic factors. Non-economic factors such as sheer greed, profiteering instincts and the same getting facilitated by the view that markets should function on their own under free-market principles with the least intervention from the state, are largely responsible for unabated inflationary pressures in Bangladesh. This fact heightens the need on the part of the government to maintain close monitoring over markets and the due law enforcement to that end. We all remember well the period for a while when, under the immediate past government, prices in the kitchen markets were fast normalizing from the daily arrival of BDR and police personnel into the markets and their talking to shop-keepers and even squatter traders of perishable goods on the road sides. They would do such things as asking a seller of cauliflower why he demanded ten taka more for a piece in the afternoon than what he demanded in the morning. They asked retailers why they were demanding at retail levels markedly higher prices than they should after keeping their reasonable profits. All of these things certainly had an effect. The traders did not like it anyway but they were obliged to restrain their profiteering instincts and the same paid dividends to the previously badly exploited consumers. But no sooner, this vigilance was withdrawn that the same old-fashioned profiteering crept back. So, there is a lesson to be learnt from this to be only reapplied now. Anisul Haque Dhanmondi, Dhaka Let us love them Bellal who sells newspaper was sleeping on a bus sit. I sat beside him. He seemed very tired and starved for long days. That is why he could not hold the papers piled on his lap. I helped him to hold them. At a time I asked him, "Why are you so tired? Did you eat anything?" "No, after selling this newspaper I will buy some food", he replied. "Do you have parents?" I asked. "Yes, my father left us and married another woman. I do not know what my mother does. But sometimes we notice some male people visit our house, and she then forces us to come out," was his reply. "How many siblings you have?" "Five, I am third." "Where do you live?" "in a slum at Komalapur." "Do you sell papers daily?" "Yes, I have to." "How much do you get?" "If I can sell a hundred papers, my profit remains twenty taka which I give to my mother." "Do you want to study?" "Yes, I want." As he is a child, he does not get enough from selling newspaper. He has to under go risky work all the time. Even he does not know what will happen to his fate after one minute. Some customers even do not pay for the newspaper they buy from him. Bellal complained, people torture him. These children are the part of our society. Let us love and help them. Bipul K Debnath Dhaka College, Dhaka E-mail: bipul_d2008@yahoo.com Niceness is priceless! Financial Express, you are cruel to remind me of my birthday today when I was just beginning to think everyone else became old and I didn't! (Financial Express, May 4). But I must admit it was enjoyable to read the kind remarks by my dear old Bangladeshi friends Ali and Nadia Islam from England with whom there's been no communication in 40-years. Their letter transported me on a most pleasant journey down memory lane. It was in 1971 during my fund-raising days to raise awareness and help the distressed of Bangladesh during its war of independence that I discovered my initial admiration and respect for Bangladeshis, but I never thought for a moment that I would ever visit here and become 'half-Bangladeshi' from the frequent number of my visits since 1996. Ali and Nadia are excellent ambassadors for Bangladesh and I thank them for their kind words and you, Financial Express, for printing them. Niceness is Priceless! Sir Frank Peters Gulshan, Dhaka E-mail : sirfrankpeters@googlemail.com