Thursday 2nd of May 2024
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Headlines : * 19 dead in southern China road collapse: State media   * Historic May Day today   * PM asks industry owners to prioritise labourers` welfare relinquishing lavishness   * Dhaka Sub-Editors Council president Muktadir, secretary Zauhar   * Historic May Day Wednesday: President, PM greet working people   * Number of income tax returns likely to cross 40 lakh in current fiscal   * Over 2,000MW loadshedding already on Tuesday as heatwave proves unrelenting   * President urges political parties to prioritize public interest   * Arafat urges govt officials to work sincerely upholding Liberation War spirit   * Bangladesh’s advancement to continue braving all odds: PM  

   Op-ed
Reduce prices and save lives
  Date : 02-05-2024

Rasheduzzaman Rashed: Life is a struggle.  No matter how many times people have to struggle.  However, in the course of life there is a lot of money in life.  Especially those who live in urban areas do a lot of calculations.  What is his monthly income and what is his expenditure?  He constantly occupied his account book.  According to a recent news item in a Facebook user`s timeline, `People are responsible for running a family`. In our country, family means a family or a joint family.  Then in that family there is a family of people with mother, father, children, grandparents, etc.  And the survival of the family depends on an earning member of the family.  However, there is a proverb in the rural areas that `the family is happy if the woman has a good husband in her year`.  If it is said in the light of proverbs, it is the responsibility of the people of our country to run the family!  What is the reason for this?  Those who use the excuse of fortune telling are a class of people.  As a result, they will spend the rest of their lives writing on their foreheads.  And those who are responsible for running the household are the ones who search for the cause and make the results by analyzing.  People have to live in one society or another to survive.  And then there is the need for food, clothing, shelter, education, medical care, work, and daily necessities.  But with the rising prices of commodities in the market, it is becoming more and more difficult for people to make ends meet.  Children`s tuition costs, emergency medical care, electricity bills, water bills, gas prices, market costs, phone bill money, etc. are all going up.  An analysis of the statistics shows that when the present Awami League government came to power, the price of gas for two stoves was 400 rupees.  After increasing the price in five points, now you have to pay 975 rupees.  It has been proposed to increase the price to 2100 rupees.  Similarly, when this government came to power, it had to pay Rs 3.75 per unit for electricity.  The price of electricity has been fixed at Tk 6.13 per unit by increasing the price 10 times.  Using 400 units of electricity in an average household increases the cost of electricity by about Rs 1,400 per month.  Now it is said that the price will increase!  Half fare is not begging. When the students shook the highway with this slogan, they decided to delay the movement by holding a meeting with the transport owners and decided to increase the bus fare by 26 percent.  Diesel has been increased from Tk 44 per liter to Tk 80.  In Dhaka city, there is a quarrel between the transport workers and the passengers i.e. the students.  What is the solution?  In the war of liberation Bangladesh, Bangla language country Bangladesh, country of 12 hundred rivers Bangladesh, water country downstream country Bangladesh.  Rivers scattered all around.  And the city port has been built on the banks of the river.  The condition of Dhaka city surrounded by five rivers.  In other words, Dhaka city is in the water but sadly they have to buy water to drink and water is becoming expensive.  However, a little analysis will show that the price of water per unit in 2006 was 5.75 rupees.  After increasing the price 14 times, now it is 15.18 rupees.  A family has to pay an extra Rs 1,800 per month to pay the water bill.  However, this time again the proposal to increase the price of water by 40 percent.  Many working people have lost their jobs due to the corona virus epidemic.  Again, those who have jobs are not paid at the beginning of the month.  So where will you get this extra money?  As per the latest, the per capita income of the people of the country is now 2,591 dollars.  In other words, if you hold 8 dollars, you will get 2 lakh 25 thousand 417 rupees.  Now it has risen to ২৫ 2591 and will rise in the future but the question is what has increased the income of a farmer?  What has increased the income of workers?  What has increased the income of the lower?  Every conscious person knows the answers to the questions.  But what is income?  In the language of economics, income is the cost and the opportunity to accumulate which is acquired by a particular entity within a certain period of time.  And per capita income refers to what happens when a country`s total income is divided per capita.  So the simple calculation is divided by the population of the lower class, working class, helpless and marginalized people with the amount of our millionaire money.  On the other hand, a joint survey by the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) and the Power and Participation Research Center (PPRC) found that 32.4 million people in the country became newly impoverished during the Corona period.  At the same time, the number of new millionaires has increased by more than 16,000.  After 50 years of independence, when Bangladesh is discriminating between rich and poor in the form of a pyramid, it becomes difficult to run a family of low income people.  If the price of electricity is increased, it will have a negative impact on almost all sectors of the country starting from agriculture, transportation, commodity prices, industrial production.  Then the progress of the economy will stop.  So in the crisis of the country, in the crisis of the people, the state has to come forward.  We have to arrange jobs for unemployed people.  The rise in gas and electricity prices must be stopped.  The prices of daily commodities including rice, pulses, sugar, oil, medicines should be kept within the purchasing power.  Reduce prices and save lives.  In order to run the family, the state has to stop the suffocation of the people.

Author: Rasheduzzaman Rashed is a columnist. He can be reached at rashedssf12@gmail.com



  
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