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At a time when price of rice has declined in the international market, in Bangladesh it has marked a substantial rise. While rice price has fallen by 19 per cent for some categories, it has gone up by 5.50 per cent in this country. Why the domestic market defies the global trend of price decline is no mystery. Farmers who grow paddy, however, are deprived of the benefit of the price bonanza. Business syndicates of millers and middlemen are responsible for the price hike. The authorities know it very well but fail to take any action or intervene in the market manipulated by the influential syndicates of traders. The monopoly business allows not only the traders of the staple but importers of other essentials to dictate terms.
This is frustrating. The social divide created over the years has favoured the privileged who control the market by maintaining their bonhomie with political leaders or themselves capturing parliamentary seats. No wonder that 67 per cent of lawmakers in the previous parliament were businesspeople. Even in the 13th parliamentary election, 59 per cent businesspersons have secured their seats in parliament. They have money and money talks both at the time of election and afterwards when they capture the assembly seats. They are unlikely to overlook their class interests in favour of the common people.
The malady is in the system of parliamentary democracy. Voters are given the impression that they are sovereign before a national election but once their representatives enter the parliamentary assembly, they know their business well. Thus essentials become costlier even when their price falls in international market. For example, the government may allow import of rice even when the country has a bumper yield. But the importers go for staggered imports so that they can make higher profit on rice imported at a low price. The supply line is not affected at all. The local millers and importers together have the best of both worlds. There is a clear case of such failed initiative on rice import during the interim government last year.
A closer look will reveal that the time to time drives launched against business malpractices are nothing but eyewash. Usually, the smaller fries at the retail level are the targets of such drives. The culprits who pull the string from behind remain untouched. This is exactly why the inflation margin is a few points higher than it should be. Consumers are fleeced and the opportunists take advantage of the situation to give rise to an oligarchic model of society. The social fabric turns archaic.
When opportunism reigns supreme in any society, not only does it create social inequality and disparities but also throttles innovation and creativity. This is the reason why this country depends on crafty businesses instead of creating a condition for the emergence of a Bill Gates or Elon Musk or their local editions here. Even when some high school or college students achieve some technological breakthroughs in some areas, they are not encouraged and patronised to proceed further for developing improved versions of their devices or machines and mass production at the industrial levels.
Thus the prospect of scientific and technological leap forward remains elusive for even the highly talented youths. In its place, misappropriation of funds, looting of money from banks and other negative or even criminal activities capture the newspaper and media headlines. True entrepreneurship hardly develops in such a vacuous environment. The chummy relations between politics and business grow from strength to strength.
There is no surprise that research and experiment receive paltry budget allocation when traders receive various incentives including tax holidays and subsidies. Non-performing loans (NPLs) are rescheduled where farmers or small entrepreneurs face humiliation for non-payment of a small amount of interests and loan. Yet crop insurance hardly receives attention of the political leaders.
Had some farmers not sent their next generation to work abroad, village economy would have stumbled by now. Agriculture is no longer profitable for farmers because of costly inputs. Then the middlemen and bulk traders eat the pie whereas growers have to dispose of crops early often at throw-away prices. It happens with potato, onions and more so with the perishable items. Only the farmers growing rice have been getting some benefits for their produce of late. Yet they are deprived of the atrocious level of profits made by business syndicates in some lean years.
Unrelenting inflation should be viewed against this broader perspective and then it will be clear why the price rise cannot be tamed. It is the educated and the privileged who have held the rest of the population a hostage and no government can overcome the in-built resistance from within. Without addressing the vicious cycle of opportunism, the common man's right cannot be advanced. The political parties which have so far been in power represent the higher middle class and the most privileged. They are unlikely to uphold the cause of the neglected and deprived segments of the population.
There is a need for rearranging the social order through election of people who are genuinely concerned about the welfare of the poor. Real opportunities have to be created for education of children from poor households. This can be done if distribution of national wealth becomes rational and in proportion to its need. Before this, however, their food security and moderately healthy life have to be ensured.