Rise of crorepatis and woes of the marginalised

The Indian reality or game show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' hosted by celebrated actor Amitabh Baccchan had its premiere in 2000 giving contestants the opportunity to win Rs 1.0 crore or 10 million in 96 minutes at the latest or even earlier. This amount was raised to Rs 7.5 crore in the season 14 from Rs 7.0 crore (70 million) in season 13 when two brothers from Delhi hit the jackpot. Few ordinary people except the world's superrich have such an opportunity to earn in so short a time such fabulous amounts of money.
Wealth creation in Bangladesh has been at a break-neck speed for many over the past few years. At a time when more people have joined the rank of the poor due to the economic slump induced by post-Covid time shock followed by the supply chain disruption on account of the Russia-Ukraine war, the number of crorepatis has seen a phenomenal increase. On the eve of the Victory Day, this exponential growth of crorepatis could indeed be a cause for celebration but for the reverse picture at the bottom rung of society. With the trickle-down benefit drying up, it exposes a raw sore to society.
The Bangladesh Bank comes up with a comprehensive list of the crorepatis --- bank accounts of 10 million or above--- account holders in the country. In the past year, the number of bank accounts with deposits of Tk 10 million or above has increased by 7,066 to 113,586. The net worth of these accounts is Tk725,550 crore (Tk7,255.50 billion) which is 42.35 per cent of the total savings of bank accounts amounting to Tk1713,134 crore (17131.34 billion). The BB also presents the number of account holders with bank deposit amounting to Tk 1.0-5.0 crore and with a break-up slab of 5.0 crore until Tk 50 crore. Between Tk 40-50 crore, the number of account holders is 747 but the number of account holders with deposits amounting to more than Tk 50 crore or 500 million is 1,778.
Notably, all of these are not individual account holders. There are corporate account holders as well as accounts of government institutes and organisations. Also, there may be a number of personal or collective accounts on behalf of individuals and organisations. Yet there is no doubt that the number of crorepatis is on the rise, rather phenomenally.
Now contrast this with the early days of Bangladesh. In the year 1972, the number of bank accounts with deposits of Tk 1.0 crore or above was only five (5.0) which rose to 47 in 1975. Now that the men and women running for the January, 7 national election, almost without exception, have reported accretion of wealth at accelerated rates ---in some cases reportedly by 20 times to 200 times, according to the affidavits they submitted to the Election Commission (EC).
Did all the contestants have a magic wand to accumulate wealth so fast? Interestingly, politicians who were not in the ruling party also saw their wealth soaring. The leverage enjoyed from their previous stints with power could have helped them do the trick. Overall, politics is too lucrative to be resisted.
Not that all involved with politics or willing to contest in parliamentary polls are direct beneficiaries of power connections. But they knew how to exploit the advantage from their adversarial positions. Or, there is no explanation of the fairy-tale like rise of the nouveau riche or according to bitter critics, upstarts.
It is, therefore, not unusual to feel perturbed on the eve of yet another Victory Day about the yawning income inequality in a country that had its stated goal to establish as equalitarian a society as possible. To make the country free of exploitation and socio-economic disparities, the nation had to make sacrifices few nations ever did in human history. The central bank's list of crorepatis and the affidavit submitted by candidates for the national polls only confirm that the privileged had taken undue advantages in accumulating wealth at the expense of the large majority not so fortunate by any count.
Yet the bank deposits of crorepatis and the candidates' fortunes do not quite present a complete picture of wealth accumulation by means fair or foul. Business sharks and swindlers of public money deposited with banks and financial institutes have bled the country by laundering billions or maybe, trillions of takas out of the country. Big wilful loan defaulters are some of the money launderers who evade punishment and even enjoy rescheduling of their loans while farmers are arrested for non-payment of a paltry sum ranging up to Tk 5,000 and maltreated in public with a rope tied around their waists. A High Court bench once castigated lawyers for defending the big loan defaulters while not fighting the case for small farmers.
If socio-economic justice is trampled in an independent country that had to come through so much trial and tribulation, who are to blame? Certainly not those people who find themselves at the receiving end. It is the educated, privileged, powerful and, of course, crafty and intriguing who have thrown moral values and ethical norms in tatters. No wonder, society today is unstable, politics bankrupt and human values banished because of the failure of the upper crust of society.

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