Of pledges and reality
Friday, 6 May 2011
Shafiqul Alam
Recently, the main opposition party BNP has submitted memoranda to deputy commissioners across the country, as part of its five-day agitation programme in protest against what it said the government's failure to run the country and demanding steps to control the soaring price of essentials. Price hike, certainly, is hitting hard especially people of the low and fixed income groups. Essential commodities are getting beyond the reach of the people in this income bracket. In the event of the price hike and concurrent inflation, assurances of the government undoubtedly, are not making the people comfortable. Whatever the reasons are, the prices continue to hurt and the people can hardly expect a stable market in the coming days. Possibly among the agenda of the ruling party the foremost one was to contain price of essentials to a reasonable level. But even after two and half years of its tenure, price hike has not been controlled, rather it is increasing sharply. The price monitoring mechanism has failed completely. Some can argue that there is OMS scheme especially for the lower income group, but that is not enough. According to a recent report published in the FE, price hike of rice in the local market is much higher than that of international market. Domestic price hike of rice was 21.4 per cent when the hike was 16.8 per cent (in between June 2010 and February 2011) in the global market. Even a layman can understand that this difference in price is due to the traders' manipulation and the government's failure to monitor the market. The government has to be tough with the traders who hoard with an ulterior motive. It is the responsibility of the government not to allow a disorderly market which only helps a few traders at the cost of the mass. The government needs to be more proactive to alleviate the problem which is the concern of the majority of the people. However, to a large section of people, the price of rice is of utmost concern as they consume greater quantity of rice than any other item. This poor section, consisting rural poor and urban labour group, consumes rice in large quantity because they cannot simply afford meat, fish and vegetables in their menu. The retailers are yet to display the price of items they sell. Despite several reminders from the government to the traders to display price list of commodities, traders have paid little heed to it. The monitoring department of the government seems reluctant to enforce the rule. Now, people are concerned as inflation is increasing and this is a dual challenge for the government---checking inflation while ensuring credit to the private sector. A sense of pessimism exists all around due to the depreciation of taka and price hike of commodities. Again, according to a report published in a local daily, the country's food import this fiscal year will be the highest ever despite the prospect of a good domestic grain output. This is the reason why government has to think on multiple fronts including, over population. Unless this boom is checked, problems will only increase in the future. Unfortunately, the recent population census was carried out so casually and quickly that many were totally unaware of it. "Vision digital Bangladesh" is one of the top priorities of the present government and for that uninterrupted power supply is a must. But we face power outages even when we enter ATM booths to withdraw money or when someone gets prepared for a video conference. We are facing a severe energy crisis which is not only deteriorating the quality of life but also disturbing factory production and threatening overall development. Coordinated actions are needed to overcome the situation. The government has recently inaugurated e-book for school students, but the much needed infrastructure is electricity for that too. To be frank, the present government has certainly succeeded in some areas, but there remains a huge gap between the election pledges and day to day reality. Although, two and a half years have gone, still it can do a lot to translate the pledges into reality. The government should consider the issue of price hike and power crisis with due importance, as the people of lower income bracket are bearing the brunt of it. Certainly, dissatisfaction among the people is rising alarmingly. A steady gap between the aspirations and lifestyles is created. The rate at which the prices are going up is making it difficult for lower income groups to meet their basic needs. The writer can be reached at e-mail: shafiqul0032@yahoo.com
Recently, the main opposition party BNP has submitted memoranda to deputy commissioners across the country, as part of its five-day agitation programme in protest against what it said the government's failure to run the country and demanding steps to control the soaring price of essentials. Price hike, certainly, is hitting hard especially people of the low and fixed income groups. Essential commodities are getting beyond the reach of the people in this income bracket. In the event of the price hike and concurrent inflation, assurances of the government undoubtedly, are not making the people comfortable. Whatever the reasons are, the prices continue to hurt and the people can hardly expect a stable market in the coming days. Possibly among the agenda of the ruling party the foremost one was to contain price of essentials to a reasonable level. But even after two and half years of its tenure, price hike has not been controlled, rather it is increasing sharply. The price monitoring mechanism has failed completely. Some can argue that there is OMS scheme especially for the lower income group, but that is not enough. According to a recent report published in the FE, price hike of rice in the local market is much higher than that of international market. Domestic price hike of rice was 21.4 per cent when the hike was 16.8 per cent (in between June 2010 and February 2011) in the global market. Even a layman can understand that this difference in price is due to the traders' manipulation and the government's failure to monitor the market. The government has to be tough with the traders who hoard with an ulterior motive. It is the responsibility of the government not to allow a disorderly market which only helps a few traders at the cost of the mass. The government needs to be more proactive to alleviate the problem which is the concern of the majority of the people. However, to a large section of people, the price of rice is of utmost concern as they consume greater quantity of rice than any other item. This poor section, consisting rural poor and urban labour group, consumes rice in large quantity because they cannot simply afford meat, fish and vegetables in their menu. The retailers are yet to display the price of items they sell. Despite several reminders from the government to the traders to display price list of commodities, traders have paid little heed to it. The monitoring department of the government seems reluctant to enforce the rule. Now, people are concerned as inflation is increasing and this is a dual challenge for the government---checking inflation while ensuring credit to the private sector. A sense of pessimism exists all around due to the depreciation of taka and price hike of commodities. Again, according to a report published in a local daily, the country's food import this fiscal year will be the highest ever despite the prospect of a good domestic grain output. This is the reason why government has to think on multiple fronts including, over population. Unless this boom is checked, problems will only increase in the future. Unfortunately, the recent population census was carried out so casually and quickly that many were totally unaware of it. "Vision digital Bangladesh" is one of the top priorities of the present government and for that uninterrupted power supply is a must. But we face power outages even when we enter ATM booths to withdraw money or when someone gets prepared for a video conference. We are facing a severe energy crisis which is not only deteriorating the quality of life but also disturbing factory production and threatening overall development. Coordinated actions are needed to overcome the situation. The government has recently inaugurated e-book for school students, but the much needed infrastructure is electricity for that too. To be frank, the present government has certainly succeeded in some areas, but there remains a huge gap between the election pledges and day to day reality. Although, two and a half years have gone, still it can do a lot to translate the pledges into reality. The government should consider the issue of price hike and power crisis with due importance, as the people of lower income bracket are bearing the brunt of it. Certainly, dissatisfaction among the people is rising alarmingly. A steady gap between the aspirations and lifestyles is created. The rate at which the prices are going up is making it difficult for lower income groups to meet their basic needs. The writer can be reached at e-mail: shafiqul0032@yahoo.com