“Desperate Savar mother sells hair to buy milk for baby” “ Agitprop for relief in Dhaka ”“Relief rice theft amid raging Covid-19 crisis” “Only being embarrassed won’t stop food aid theft, pilfering” “Bashundhara Group gives food aid to 3,500 labourers in Mongla” “Beggar donates Tk 10000 for corona-hit people”.
These are some news headings. This is the scenario amid the pandemic COVID-19 of a country which dreamt in 1971 to establish a just and egalitarian society.
Soon after independence in 1971, the father of Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibor Rahman along with his fellows tried to rebuild the fragile economy of the country. After 49 years of independence Bangladesh entered into the club of middle income countries with an impressive record of growth and development with GDP worth US dollars 286 Billion (tradingeconomic.com/bangladesh). An illustration may depict the economic fragility in 1972 and the present economic stability of Bangladesh. In 2019, the GDP and GNI per capita arose to 1827 and 1909 US dollars compared with94 and 120 US dollars respectively in 1972 (macrotrends.net/Bangladesh). The country’s economy has been marching towards a robust economy in the region. But this growth of GNI and GDP in the last few years did not create sufficient space for the poor people for productive income generating employments. Rather, the rich people are getting richer where the poor are getting poorer day by day. The government is committed to poverty alleviation and reducing disparity though,
but still it has to go a long way. And this disparity would not be controlled until the proper distribution of wealth and notable subsidies to the poor by the state takes place. The statistics about the economy of Bangladesh are set out here to help compare the solvency of the state and to help with a rethink about the availability of resources of the country.
Let us examine the number of disadvantaged people and their income generating sources to provide them a reasonable standard of life. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world accommodating more than 1000 of its citizens in a square mile. In the year 2019, the total estimated population is about 170 million where 20% people are living under the national poverty line and 10% people live in extreme poverty which means they have daily income of less than 1.9 US dollars. In existing employment, 39.76 % work in agriculture, 20.53% work in industry while the remaining 39.71% work in the service sector (Statista, 2019). This index of measuring the economic status of individuals was done on the basis of multidimensional indicators including nutrition. Accordingly, it can clearly be presumed that these 20% people living below the poverty line are always fighting daily to have a nutritious meal. The percentage might be higher if we take into consideration the number of people who depend only on their daily income and the marginal peasants who live just a little above the poverty line. This should be a great concern for the country: how do these people meet their need for nutrition amid the outbreak of COVID-19. We should look into the constitution of the peoples’ republic of Bangladesh to see if there is any mandate for the well-being of the citizens including public health.
2. Just after nine months of independence, the country adopted an excellent constitution with the aim of establishing a socialist society where there would be no exploitation and where equality and justice; political, economic, and social would be secured for all citizens. It adopted some provisions to work as fundamental principles in all functions adopted by the government. It is pertinent to mention here that these principles are termed as fundamental principles of state policy. That means the policy makers must prioritize the essence of these principles and must not adopt policies inconsistent with these principles. These principles included a set of principles relating to social rights, economic rights, and some other cultural rights too with a non-binding effect. The shining principles relating to social and economic rights include provisions of basic necessities of life, emancipation of peasants and worker, and public health. Article 15 of the Constitution provides that it shall be a fundamental responsibility of the State to attain, through planned economic growth, a constant increase of productive forces and a steady improvement in the material and cultural standard of living of the people, with a view to securing for its citizens – (a) the provision of the basic necessities of life, including food, clothing, shelter, education and medical care;…(d) the right to social security, that is to say, to public assistance in cases of undeserved want arising from unemployment, illness or disablement, or suffered by widows or orphans or in old age, or in other such cases. Article 18 states that the State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties. These basic rights of the citizens are not fundamental in nature in a country like Bangladesh. And it was not possible too for the makers of the constitution to posit these rights as fundamental having a fragile economy in 1972 but, rather, that these necessities would responsibly be treated in future by the state with the availability of its resources. Looking back to our previous economic statistics of the country, we commendably can say Bangladesh now has a considerably improved economic strength to revise its policy regarding these basic rights.
Leaving aside other basic necessities, we would like to remember the necessities of food and health care of the citizens during this outbreak of Pandemic COVID-19. Food and medical care are the two vital basic necessities of life. And the people who live under the extreme poverty line and to some extent people living under the poverty line can feel the urgency of these necessities to protect their lives guaranteed by the constitution as enshrined in Article 32 of the constitution. This right is a fundamental rightthat cannot be taken away save than by law. It is should be mentioned here that right to life does not mean only physical survival rather it means a dignified life. Right to life includes the right to live with human dignity having all basic necessities including the right to safe and nutritious food and right to have basic medical care. This principle of law has been confirmed by the apex court of Bangladesh in Mohiuddin Farooque Vs. Bangladesh stating that “the expression life enshrined in Article 32 includes everything which is necessary to make it meaningful and a life worth living, such as, among others maintenance of health is of utmost importance….” And later in many other cases. Our neighbor Indian Court also affirmed the principle in many judgments like Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration, Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation etc. Considering this constitutional fiat, it can be said that the government has a constitutional obligation too to ensure a dignified life for all the citizens.
3. How far does the government adhere to its constitutional direction in saving the lives of these people during this pandemic COVID-19? To find the answer, we must assess the capacity of stakeholders to manage nutritious food and the role of the government in providing the same.
We have mentioned earlier that per capita GNI of the country is 1909 US dollars. That does not mean each and every citizen of the country has an annual income of the said amount. According to the latest survey (Statista, February, 2020) 4.29% of the total population is completely unemployed. It means these people have the ability to work but do not get work to do. Rather,they have to depend on others for their livelihood. It can undoubtedly be said that this amount of people including the people living under the poverty line have hardly any savings for their rainy days. Think, what would happen to these day-labourers, no work no payment workers, marginal workers working in restaurants, shops, and in making garments if they cannot go to work and if they are stuck at home for months? Simply,they cannot manage their daily meal let alone nutritious food. So, they have to rely on others for a meal and have to legitimately expect food from the government. And in this case, the government should play a pivotal role considering the situation.The matter of satisfaction is that the government has already started playing a true guardian-like role allocating a huge budget in different sectors including food to combat the situation, but the food provided by the government is not sufficient to fulfill the deficiency of nutrition to these people. In the same vein, we should not forget that healthy diet helps protect the people against malnutrition in all its forms.
Let’s review a model diet for an adult in a day and compare it with the nutrition status of these people during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.
A balanced diet has food elements like carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, mineral, and water are essential to be in daily food to meet one’s primary nutritional needs. It is said an adult man should consume at least 56 gram protein in a day while a women is required to take 46 gram. Among the elements of a model diet, we normally find lean meats, poultry, fish and seafood, eggs, dairy products, etc. as the source of protein which are not easily reachable by the poor people. So, during this outbreak, it is hardly possible for a family having no income to manage the minimally required protein they need in their food, because food like rice, potato, salt, oil given from the government cannot supply the adequate amount of protein to these people. Leaving protein aside, what about the carbohydrate which is considered to be required for all the citizens? The country has also witnessed amid this outbreak that individuals were beaten by the local representative while asking for food sent for them by the government. We also noticed the stealing, hoarding, black-marketing the food allocated for the poor people. So, there remains a question mark too regarding the receipt of food allocated and supplied by the government. But it is admirable that the government is taking quick and immediate action to stop the mismanagement of distribution of food.
So, what more should the government do regarding the nutrition of its citizens? Of course, it will be a challenge for the government of a country like Bangladesh to provide nutritious food to these huge number of people living under the poverty line. At present, the initiatives taken by the government by providing basic food to these disadvantageous people is worthy of admiration. But this food is not sufficient enough to fill the nutrition gap of these poor people. So, the government should take more other steps like involving rich people in this food supplying project. In this situation, in addition to the government aid, the officially declared 23,300 more millionaires along with other well-off people in the country should come forward to assist with the situation specifically to provide good food to these disadvantageous people. These rich people are distributed across the country as they are from different districts and sub-districts. They should, as well as the government, extend their hand of assistance to their neighbors who cannot manage a good meal. This may be given in the form of money or in the form of products which contains proper nutrition. Government should consult them immediately. Even if they are not willing to do so, the government may declare special recognition or award for these prospective benevolent people. With the help of these well-off people, the disadvantaged people might have some nutritious food in this hazardous situation. We must keep in mind that deficiency of nutrition in the human body for a long time may cause extreme form of malnutrition. The government should take the matter into consideration seriously otherwise in the long run, the situation may lead the country into a situation where a large section of the population is severely malnourished with all the problems that that might bring.
