5.0pc people own 30pc income

Disparity in Bangladesh deepens with 5.0-percent fortunate people in high-income group owning 30 per cent of the national income, in signs of overconcentration of wealth.

Such a situation of disparate redistribution of national wealth is painted in a report prepared by the reform commission on labour issues.

The main reasons cited by the panel for such yawning income inequality is rise of oligarchs and income disparity.

In 1973, the country's

10-percent people owned 28.4 per cent of the national income and in 2016,

10-percent people had 38 per cent of national income, reads the report submitted to Chief Adviser of the interim government Prof Muhammad Yunus on Monday.

In 2021, the top 10 per cent possessed 44 per cent of the national income and during the same period one-percent people amassed 16.3 per cent of the national income, says the report, quoting statistics.

In that time 50 per cent of the population at the bottom owned only 17.1 per cent of the national income, as a result of the process of the poor getting poorer and the rich richer.

The report notes that Bangladesh is now on the trajectory of becoming a country having one of the highest income disparities in the world.

It suggests immediate actions to remove this income disparity, saying that if the present condition continues, the country will be entrapped in income disparity.

The report also says the labour wage in Bangladesh is the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region, and it is below the level of poverty as per the internationally-recognised benchmark.

According to the report the labourers in Bangladesh are under huge burden of loan and the overall burden of debts taken from formal and informal sources has increased significantly in the last decade.

In 2010, average burden of loan of a poor person was TK 21,804 but in 2021, it leapt to Tk 41,921, meaning that the loan burden on the average poor increased by 92.27 per cent.

On the other hand, in 2010, average loan burden on a poor family was Tk 54,122, which jumped to Tk 131,395, meaning that the average loan burden on a family increased by 143 per cent in one decade.

The report points out that low income caused erosion in productivity and ultimately created negative impact on the economic growth, and on the other hand, if minimum wage is ensured, the productivity will rise.

It reveals that Bangladesh does not have any universal minimum wage, and out of the 39 sectors, minimum wage for workers in 22 sectors is below the poverty-line mark.

According to an analysis, out of 44 sectors, minimum wage had been announced for 34 sectors since 2013.

"But compared to the consumer price index, minimum wages for these sectors are below the living wage," the report reveals.

The report also says there is significant income inequality between male and female workers in some sector.

Citing example, it says in the husking mills in North Bengal area the per-day wage of a female worker is between Tk 150 and Tk200 whereas for the same job there, a male worker earns TK500 to 600.

The Labour Reform Commission, headed by Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, prepared a set of recommendations and submitted those to the head of interim government, aiming to establish social justice and ensure basic rights for the country's workers.

Other members of the Commission are Dr Mahfuzul Haque, former secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr Zakir Hossain, professor at Rajshahi University, Tapan Dutta, president of the Chittagong divisional committee of the Trade Union Centre, Advocate AKM Nasim, former president of the Bangladesh Labour Court Bar Association, M Kamran T Rahman, former president of the Bangladesh Employers Federation, Chowdhury Ashikul Alam, president of the Bangladesh Trade Union Sangha, Shakil Akhter Chowdhury, general secretary of the Bangladesh Labour Federation, Taslima Akhter, a photographer and labour- movement activist, and a student representative.

mirmostafiz@yahoo.com