Price hike and sufferings of low-income people

The food inflation having reached its record high at 12.5 per cent in the recent months, the volatility of the basic essentials prices has now spread to the vegetable market. But it defies reason why the vegetables which are locally grown should be so dear since the excuse of high import cost or depreciation of taka against US dollar does not apply here to any large extent to justify such price hike. Unsurprisingly, to make ends meet in such difficult times, low-income people are now forced to skimp on their daily diets. But this practice is dangerous for the nutritional health of this section of the population. It is especially concerning for children whose physical growth might be seriously affected in absence of the required nutrition.
It is against this backdrop that the World Food Day whose main concern is hunger and food insecurity of the people has been observed in Bangladesh as elsewhere in the world. This year's theme of the day being water as the producer of food crops and provider of people's livelihoods, the fact remains that, in Bangladesh, at the moment, it is irrational food price hike that is the overwhelming concern of the common people. The main challenge before the policymakers now is ensuring affordability of the essentials for the common people rather than their availability. True, the government has, meanwhile, adopted a raft of measures to bring down the prices of certain essentials through imposition of a price cap on them.
At the same time, on the assumption that a section of traders is behind artificially pushing up the essentials prices, drives including sudden raids by mobile courts have also been mounted to penalise those found involved in such illegal acts. But these steps have not so far produced the desired results. In the face of the skyrocketing prices of a cheaper source of protein for the common people like egg, on whose price the commerce ministry had put a limit earlier, the government has even gone for importing this item from abroad. To all appearances, the market of this and other essential items is operating in defiance of all government measures to control it.
So, the question that naturally arises is if the perceived manipulators of the essentials market are more powerful than the government. Since all the government measures to calm the essentials market have practically fallen through, it is time the government considered addressing other issues that have been causing immeasurable sufferings to consumers, particularly low- and fixed-income ones.
For example, the earning of the low-paid government servants including those working in the private sector have not increased in keeping with the food price inflation. In consequence, with their real income thus eroding fast, this group of people has to make do with the pittance they get from their employers. They are forced to cut on food intake. This is an unacceptable situation. With hunger staring in the face, the working-age population is fast losing its productivity and the poorly-fed children are at risk of growing as a stunted generation in the coming days. To avoid such disastrous consequences, the government should take measures as necessary to raise the income levels of the low-paid workers and fixed-earning groups of people. At the same time, support now being extended to them through providing essential commodities at a subsidised rate should also continue.