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Bangladesh is a poor, developing country with most of the people living in abject poverty, but all the citizens here are not poor. This reality, reflecting the sharp contrast between the economic condition of poor as well as middle class and rich people, was evident from some reports published in different newspapers on Saturday. According to a national daily as the middle class and poor people continue to throng the OMS centres and BDR outlets in the city in increasing numbers for procuring rice at a cheaper rate, many of them are covering their faces with clothes and requesting the press photographers not to take their photos. This exposes the helplessness of the people unable to purchase rice at higher price from the market with limited income. On the other hand, a national daily reported, a pair of Hilsha fish weighing 3.8 kg was sold at Taka 7000 at Karwan Bazar in the city on Friday. Moreover, another daily said, a good number of people traveled from Dhaka to Barisal to procure quality Hilsha fish on the eve of the Pahela Baishakh. Besides, here in the capital there is huge rush of people at posh shopping malls at Baily Road, Basundhara City, New Market, Mirpur Jamdani Palli, Gulshan and elsewhere for purchasing sarees and gold ornaments ahead of Bangla Naboborsho. All these only show how affluent some people are in this land of the poor. In fact, this situation has resulted from the unequal distribution of wealth in the country. Economic mismanagement, social injustice, and exploitation have made the poor poorer and the rich richer and widened the economic disparity between different sections of people over the three decades since independence. And it is the poor section which is bearing the brunt of the follies of the managers of the state affairs. True, the existence of poor and rich sections in the society is unavoidable, but the disparity and gap between them should be reduced as much as possible. The rich may have the right to spend as lavishly as they like to live in comfort, but the poor should also have the right and means to keep the body and soul together.
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RSS