Opinion
Women's Cricket: Bangladesh just manages to beat Thailand to reach the World Cup
The score line doesn’t say how close and thrilling the match was, stretched to the final over by the determined batting of Thai star Chantham . She hit consecutive sixes in the 18th over + a four and made the expected by all victory almost not so. In the 20th over Thailand needed 21 runs to win and when she hit a six and a 4 a Thai win was very possible. But she fell in the 4th ball making the equation impossible unless an extra ball was included. Salma castled her and also the next batter in the final ball of the match, making Bangladesh victory a nerve racking win. Congrats but watch out Bangladesh. Others wait in the wings.115 for 3 was never enough The ICC Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa is scheduled for February 2023. Given the results Bangladesh and Ireland have now both qualified after winning their semis. Ireland (137 for 6) had a very close shave beating Zimbabwe 133 for 6 by just four runs. Bangladesh beat Thailand by11 runs. By all counts the semis were very competitive.Bangladesh lost the toss and went to bat first but it was heavy weather. Powerplay saw them score only 27/0. BD star Fargana Hoque went out immediately after that, making batting slow work. Thailand did very well by taking four more wickets. BD top order failed and few starts were converted to decent scores. Skipper Nigar Sultana made 17 off 24 balls before getting out in the 15th over.
Also read: Bangladesh vs Ireland: ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier 2022 final match previewIn the end, it was Rumana Ahmed’s 24-ball 28 in the later part of the innings that in hindsight looks like the most valuable contribution given the margin of victory. Bangladesh posted 113/5, which was below par. Thais fight backBangladesh bowling was much more impressive taking three Thailand wickets conceding only 13 runs in the first six overs. But then came Natthakan Chantham who became the Thai rock which Bangladesh couldn’t budge. While BD bowling was positive and the run rate was low till the 16th, she broke free in the last 3 critical overs. Two sixes and a four gave 22 to Thailand to score and as the final over dawned Chantham did score a 6 and a 4 but was bowled by Salma Khatun in the 5th ball. The last wicket was a bonus cherry at the top as Salma took home 3 wickets for 18 runs. Sanjida Akhtar got 2.For Thailand, Chantham made her fifth half-century and was rightly given the player of the match award."We have been playing together for so many years, this is our time to show the world how good we are, how much we have improved as a side," Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana said after the win. "There are a lot of experienced and talented players on our side, and we need to show the kind of potential we have."
Also read: Tigresses book ticket to T20 World Cup 2023 beating ThailandBangladesh 113 for 5 (Rumana 28*, Murshida 26, Kanoh 1-13) beat Thailand 102 for 6 (Chantham 64, Salma 3-18, Sanjida 2-7) by 11 runs.
Iran’s problem: Politics or food inflation?
Global food inflation is a major problem that goes unnoticed by the media in general. Politics is more exciting so the issue comes only when linked to it. Street movements are more interesting than data on extreme food denial. The causal factors that lead to many of these unrests are ignored. Two cases in point are Sri Lanka and Iran.
Iran’s inflation misery
Iran was considered an economically stable country but events show that era is largely over.
Iran’s overall annual inflation rose to 41.5 percent according to the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) at the end August 2022. The rate has accelerated since May.
Rents, medicine, restaurant food, and snack foods have gone up but prices of chicken and hydrogenated cooking oil dropped slightly. However, this was marginal and so was the effect as prices were already very high. General food price inflation continues to hit Iran which is continuing for the last several years.
Read: At least 26 dead from protests in Iran, suggests its state TV
“The overall nationwide point-to-point annual food inflation rate in June 2022 compared with the same period in 2021 was 87 percent but the rate reached 100 percent in parts of Iran.” (SCI)
Prices sprinted up since May when Iran decided to drop a food import subsidy costing $15 billion dollars every year. It was billed as the ‘great economic surgery’ but led to extreme price rise for food staples, such as bread, pasta, dairy products, cooking oil and meat.
Iranian media report that President Ebrahim Raisi announced on TV that the government would pay a monthly stipend of “around 4 million rials (about $15) to 30 percent of the population at the lowest-income groups, and around 3 million to 60 percent of the population. The 10 percent at the highest income level would receive no cash handouts”
It’s obvious that such payments could be worth as high as $10 billion annually which means more money printing and hence more inflation. Food subsidies had less risk of inflation.
“Economists say lower income people experience a higher rate of inflation as they spend more of their income on essential foods and often forsake anything deemed as luxury. With back-to-back high inflation since 2018, many missile class people have dropped to low-income status.” Tejarat News
Lowest income groups spend more than 40% of their budget for food while the better off spend less than 17% in Iran. Iranian media says that goods are not in shortage but buying is less.
Mahasa Amini and US sanctions
Meanwhile, media coverage is focused on the death of activist Mahasa Amini who died while in custody. She was arrested for wearing “inappropriate clothes” as described by the Iranian police. Al Jazeera reports, “the US Department of the Treasury sanctioned the country’s “morality police”, as well as seven leaders of Iranian security organisations that it said “routinely employ violence to suppress peaceful protesters and members of Iranian civil society, political dissidents, women’s rights activists, and members of the Iranian Baha’i community”. This basically means the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Core ( IRGC) or the “morality police''.
Read: Protests over hijab: Iranians experience near-total internet blackout
Iranian police have denied “torturing her to death” in custody but the public resentment against the official world is high among the younger section that have held demos and chanted slogans. The Iranian regime's source of strength is the lower income groups but if they are hit hard as it’s happening now, political turmoil is inevitable.
That doesn’t translate into regime change as many are hoping but the turmoil is here to stay. Once more, events show that economics, not ideology, decides the fate of states.
Rise and rise of Bangladesh women and football
The Nepalese sports commentator was ecstatic as the third goal by Bangladesh was scored against India. “It’s the golden girls from Bangladesh who represent the golden era of the sports who are playing here.” It could very well be true.
With hard work, a sense of national duty and a resolve to beat the top team in South Asia, Bangladesh did exactly that in the SAFF Football championship. They defeated India in the final group game by a 3-0 margin. It was an incredible historic victory because India had never been beaten before in the SAFF women’s football championship.
Bangladesh had met India 10 times and lost 9 times with just one draw. Whether at the semi-final or the finals, Bangladesh’s nemesis was India. On Tuesday 13th of September, that spell ended and Bangladesh beat India not just comprehensively but went to the top of the team with 9 points. 1-0 would have been fine but the margin indicated the growing strength of the Bangladeshis team.
Read: The cricket fan, the migrants workers and experts
Unexpected win?
The Indian team expected a fight perhaps but not a defeat. Its manager told the media that the match plan was to go to the top of the table. More importantly though for India, the records spoke for itself. They had beaten Bangladesh every time bar once so why not once more?
Here is what Indian sports website khelnow.com had said about the forthcoming India-BD match.
“The Indian women’s team is dominating the ongoing 2022 SAFF Women’s Championship. The tournament is taking place in Kathmandu, Nepal and attracting a lot of attention. India is the defending champion; in fact, the nation has won all five of the previous editions of the tournament. Judging by the opening two matches and their outcomes, it will be difficult for any opposition to stop the juggernaut that is the Indian women’s football team.”
Read: Bangladesh vs Nepal: SAFF Women's Championship 2022 road to final
“The upcoming match against Bangladesh will be the final Group A fixture, one that India will hope to win comfortably and finish as group leaders. Their opponents have also won their opening two matches and have a good chance to cause an upset on Tuesday.”
So very confident but just ensuring they didn’t sound over-confident.
Bangladesh had beaten Maldives 3-0 and Pakistan 6-0 while India beat the same teams 9-0 and 3-0 so the two were definitely the two top teams. But once the game began, India seemed below par, often outclassed. Here is an excerpt from an Indian live blog on the game after the second goal was scored.
“IND 0-2 BAN, 25 min: Bangladesh deserve their two-goal lead. Watching them play, you wouldn’t say they are ranked 147 in the Fifa rankings, 89 places below India. Ashalata Devi and Co looks shell shocked here. The passes aren’t coming off and they are not able to resist the Bangladeshi press." (The Wire)
Read SAFF Women's Champs: Bangladesh storm into final crushing Bhutan 8-0 in first semifinal
And Bangladesh?
In the pre-match interview Bangladesh team captain Sabina Khatun had said something significant. “We know India is a very strong and professional team with lots of experience. They are ranked above us. But we beat Malaysia who was also ranked above us. We will give our best. “It’s this quiet confidence that saw them win.
Chances of Bangladesh stumbling against Bhutan in the semi-final are there though the chances are remote given the form it has now. However, one can never say for sure because Bangladesh’s victory against India was also unexpected. Nevertheless, one thinks Bangladesh will make it.
The Bangladesh team is definitely showing more maturity as the team players and management told the media. Sirat Jahan Swapna, who scored twice for Bangladesh against India said, “All the celebration was done and finished in the field. Once we returned to our hotel, treated our injured and iced our muscle aches and pain. We know how important the semifinal is. We are entirely focused on the semis. There is no question of taking Bhutan lightly. They reached the semis based on their merit and we shall treat them with the respect they deserve.”
Read SAFF Women's Champs: Bangladesh to play Bhutan in semifinal on Friday
In many ways, the soccer team sounds very different from the overrated cricket team. They are full of bluster and money and often are in news for out of sports matters. Their press conferences are full of bluster, whether it’s Papon the head honcho or the fresher in the team. Sadly, they haven’t been able to match the bluster with their performance. To many they are both overrated and overfed while the women’s soccer or cricket teams are examples of neglect.
A reputation beyond borders
Former Pakistan senior men’s team assistant coach and Masha United women team coach Nasir Ismail Nasir told ‘The News’ that he would hire the services of Bangladesh skipper Sabina Khatun for Masha United for the National Championship. “InshaAllah we will hire the services of Sabina for national event. We are making a strong team.”
Now the Bangladesh men’s team is under pressure from the girls' victory. Travelling abroad for a tournament Choton mentioned that expectation from the audience has gone way high because of the women team’s performance.
Read Bangladesh vs Nepal: SAFF Women's Championship 2022 road to final
But it’s in the finals that the next round of David and Goliath will be launched. And if they reach the final India will go hell for leather seeking revenge. But the win drought is gone, the jinx is broken. It’s a strongly improving team and everyone will take Bangladesh seriously next time both teams meet.
Dr. Akbar Ali Khan: A farewell to the Professor of integrity
Like several others Dr. Akbar Ali Khan was to me a citizen of the 1971 liberation war. My first conversation with him was in 1978 when he was in government service and I was working for the 1971 History project. He was posted in the Ministry of Defence of the Mujibnagar government and it was about what the role of the government was. He had no illusions about it.
“We did our best as a national government without much power in an international power where the rest were all powerful.” Few could have summed up this aspect of the Muibnagar government so well as this. In some ways, he summed up the reality of the 1971 war in total.
I had always wondered how a professional intellectual of his caliber could survive and flourish as a civil servant. He topped the merit list in the Dhaka University History department and also entered the coveted CSP cluster. Yet he seemed much more at home in academia. He served his full quota of days and only then retired to return full time to the academia as a Professor at BRAC University.
Books, lectures and observations
Soon after independence, he taught at the Jahangiranagar University, did his ph.d , published his splendid thesis for which he was awarded the Asiatic Society medal and other notable work. It’s a major achievement of his that he never let his salaried jobs and other travails of his work life interfere with his own intellectual life. He just went beyond the ordinary demands of bureaucracy and held on more firmly to what mattered most to him- his intellectual life.
It was nothing if not wide ranging. His most celebrated work is his book on the history of villages and its depth of analysis is stunning. Few can dare to travel in that area of work without reading the book. His economic analysis books are very well known, well thought of and often quoted. But his most quirky book is the one which was devoted to -of all things- chase the identity of the ethereal lady of Jibananada Das’s poem, Banlata Sen , a figure that haunts many Bengali minds. It was almost a declaration of his shushil identity. His exploration was methodical and thorough no matter whether one agrees with his conclusions or not.
Safely far from politics
Mujibnagar amlas tend to be political party oriented like the two of my senior friends. H. T. Imam and Dr. Kamal Siddique, both belonging to opposite political poles. Unlike them, he had no party identity and was more concerned with governance than partisan politics. His remark that civil servants owe it to be driven by conscience not ideology was perhaps already too old fashioned in the amla world he left behind to join academia after his stint at the highest level of bureaucracy.
He had once told me in a conversation that what a civil servant misses most is his right to disagree. Few disagreed with him but I understand that he was wise enough to know its limitations. He was thoroughly unimpressed by his success as an amla.
My last conversation seemed like his own summation of governance in Bangladesh. “ The government’s first role is to punish the wicked and protect the vulnerable. “ No other tests are necessary, he added. He had made his own integrity a brand. One speaks with respect and reverence whenever his name comes up. That is the true mark of a life brilliantly governed. Farewell Professor Khan.
Also read: Momen mourns Akbar Ali Khan's death
Declaration of Independence – Will, aspirations of Vietnamese people
On 2nd September 1945, at Hanoi’s Ba Dinh Square, President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence proclaiming the birth of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (now the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam). The Declaration, which demonstrates the strong will and aspirations of Vietnamese people, still remains deeply topical both at home and abroad after 76 years.
The Declaration fully and deeply reflects President Ho Chi Minh’s philosophical, political and even human points of view, as well as contains the values of human civilisation. In this document, the late President affirmed that national rights and human rights have a dialectical relation.
The Declaration was not only a declaration of independence of the Vietnamese people but also a declaration of human rights and the rights of colonial nations. President Ho Chi Minh's elevation of human rights to national rights was his contribution to the treasure of human rights ideology.
Under the leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, the Vietnamese people rose up to repel the colonialists, feudalists and imperialists, regaining independence, freedom and human rights. Human rights in Viet Nam are not the value given by anyone but the result of the long struggle of the Vietnamese people.
Read:Humanizing refugees
The Declaration of Independence is a solid legal basis that strongly affirms the national sovereignty of the Vietnamese people to the whole world; laying the foundation for the establishment of a rule-of-law state with the goal of independence, freedom and happiness; and illuminating Viet Nam's revolutionary path in the cause of building a socialist rule-of-law state of the people, by the people and for the people, for the sake of wealthy people, strong country, democracy, justice and civilisation.
76 years have passed, President Ho Chi Minh's views and thoughts on human rights, national rights, aspirations and resilience to maintain independence and freedom shown in the Declaration still remain topical and significant to the nation building and safeguarding cause at present.
Since then, the Vietnamese people have constantly strived for human rights and achieved many positive and important results. Human rights, civil rights in political, civil, economic, cultural and social fields are recognised, respected, protected and guaranteed in accordance with the Constitution and laws. With its achievements in ensuring human rights, Viet Nam was elected as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council in the 2014-2016 term.
After nearly 35 years of Doi moi (Renewal), from a poor, least developed country, Viet Nam has become a middle-income developing country. Its human development index (HDI) has gradually improved, currently in the upper middle group, ranking 118th out of 189 countries.
Years will pass, but the spirit of the Declaration of Independence that gave birth to the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam will always live on in the hearts of generations of Vietnamese people.
The cricket fan, the migrants workers and experts
Everyone hates fans. The cricket establishment hates it most as they are on social media, always ranting and abusing when things go bad. Nobody likes to hear that one is not doing good not even when one is not playing good. Here is a message I got on my chatbox.
“Please try to understand Cricket. Have you ever played Cricket? Always talk negatively when Bangladeshi players plays bad. But it is Cricket & T20, so you never predict. Always think positively before going for criticize players. You are a professional writer, so try to respect other professionals. “.
It’s true that I am a professional writer but when it comes to sports I am not a professional. Since I have never played cricket, I can’t say anything as a fan. In other words, only experts can comment and fans must stay shut and only pay and cheer the team no matter what.
Yet it’s the fans who keep the game and the team alive. Whether on the field, in front of the TV set or the website ticker, it’s the fans that enjoy and suffer the most. It’s they who care and they are probably the only group who make no money from the business of cricket. They are the only ones who pay to be fans, others get paid to be administrators, experts or of course players.
Read:Asia Cup 2022: Group standings, where to watch live on App, OTT, TV
The migrants in the gallery and the stars on the ground
What was very interesting in the Afghanistan- Bangladesh match was that the crowd was made of migrant workers from both countries. Everyone knows how migrants are treated in their place of work so the team becomes a symbol of the homeland in a foreign place. For them to watch their teams play and win or lose is far deeper than anything the local fan in Dhaka can feel. It gives them a sense of value and self-worth that nothing else can.
In the 10th over the winner predictor had shifted to Bangladesh and to the crowd it was sensational. The way they cheered reminds one of the South African ODIs when Bangladesh won two in a row. It’s the same crowd who was there cheering the team won in a largely crowd free stadium. To the South Africans it was a duel with an opponent which didn’t matter but to the Bangladeshis there, it was their homeland visiting them. When the match shifted, the Afghan migrant worker cheered once more.
This is the big difference between the expert and the fan. To the wise man who discusses a match, he is also trying to prove how good he is at understanding the game. But to a fan, it’s just about the land of his and his emotions. When it wins or loses, he himself does. The fan doesn’t claim to be an expert. He just loves the game and the flag.
Tea workers’ daily wage set at Tk170: Fair?
If one group was found missing in the recent movement by the tea garden workers for higher wages, they were economists. They were needed the most. Ultimately the wages were fixed at 170 by the PM personally. In a follow up to the wage fixing, which seemed meager to most, the PM’s Principal Secretary pointed out that the wages reflect only the monetary part and if one took into account benefits like medical, food subsidy and the rest, it would come to Taka 450-500 approximately.
The problem is that no one is sure what those are and what should be fair. The PS is not expected to say otherwise as it’s his job to defend the GOB’s position. However, he has a point that only wages should not count. This applies to all sectors where benefits are given on top of wages.
However, tea garden workers are not the same as rmg workers of Dhaka or any other industrial sector workers. They do constitute a part of the historical legacy of the plantation economy under colonialism. The poorest in colonial Bengal, many from Orissa and adjacent regions of Bengal, were brought to the Sylhet zone to work. The conditions they live in are very significant to bonded laborers elsewhere. Industrial wage workers' arrangements don’t fit them. They are not free to work elsewhere. Hence comparisons with other sectors can be misleading.
Read: Who are the tea workers? A brief profile
Some realities
* Tea garden workers live like serfs who are tied to their gardens. They can’t leave even if they want to. They are born and they die in the same place. This is because of both the location of gardens and its geo-economy. It’s impossible to have tea gardens elsewhere so whoever works in the garden is never free.
* They can’t survive if they are not provided with food subsidies and some –very inadequate- medical facilities. They would be dead very quickly and that means no workers. So the subsidies and facilities are not bonus wages to the workers but in the interest of the garden owners as well. No workers no gardens
* No one knows and no one has calculated what the range of the facilities is and what they cost. This has to be calculated in terms of the loss a unit worker suffers from working in isolation with no access to other work opportunities.
* The garden workers walk miles to their work which is symptomatic of their special condition of work and life. They are stuck to their conditions because the benefits offered to them don’t include skills training or post-primary education. They can’t switch jobs. In free Bangladesh, they are the least free population group helped by the fact that they are low caste Hindu non-Bengalis in an overwhelmingly Bengali-Muslim space.
What needs immediate attention?
A proper scientific assessment based on the ground realities of denial and access and the special conditions of the tea garden workers needs to be done by experts. What is fair wages and benefits needs identification specifically for them. They are not the same as other industrial workers and till we accept this reality of colonial planation slavery like conditions they live in, we shall continue to tolerate it like proto-colonials .
Who are the tea workers? A brief profile
The recent strike by the tea workers has brought national attention to a largely forgotten community of Bangladesh. Very little is known about their ethnic identity, culture or what they think about their lives in general. Although several studies have been carried out by various agencies including UN agencies, they have not reached the public space. It is because the public are not interested in their life and living. They care about their cup of tea but not the tea workers.
This is only natural but the reason is that Bangladesh's majority population group's shushil middle class are narrow in their interest zone. They appear to less interested learning about their own citizens facing both structural and incidental discrimination. Not much will change soon but it’s important that an information stream be created to let people know about the way of life of the tea workers.
Following is a brief profile of this population group which draws upon several studies including once done by the ILO.
Tea plantation workers were brought to the Sylhet zone by British companies and belong to several ethnic and cultural groups. For a long while, only these workers imported from outside Bengal were working in the gardens. However, over time, a few Bengali workers from Barisal and Comilla have also been found among the tea workers.
Also read: Tea garden workers continue strike in Sylhet
Many of the workers originate from Orissa and they speak Deshali which has a significant Bengali mix. There are workers who speak Bhojpuri also. Some speak modified Hindi. Asomiya, Oran,Munda, Telugu and Santali speakers have also been found. All these languages and dialects have mixed together to produce a tea-garden hybrid spoken by the workers.
Ethnic groups include Lohar, RobiDas, Bagdee, Bhumij, Bauri, Bahadur, Nayek, Rikiason, Shobdokar, Ashon, Naidu, Donia, Rai, Munda,Chotree, Patra, Kalindee,Kumir, Halder, Kondo, Bhumia, Orao,Santal, Mahali, Barai,Rajbhar, Pashi,Kharia, Goala,Munda, Bunargee, Nunia, Uria, Kaloar, Bhuian, Kurmi and Khasis. They are marginalized Hindu groups from different parts of eastern India as well indigenous groups. However, their ancient tradition is not practiced by most. Bangladesh Adivasi Forum also does not recognize most of the communities as "indigenous " either.
Marginalization
Very few of them are receiving higher education and employed outside the tea plantations. They also fear discrimination in the outside world. A college teacher, son of a tea garden worker, said that educated youth are not keen to return to plantation life. Most stay away from their tea garden origins and generally hide their identity. Given the kind of image, social status and public perception they have, this is only natural.
Most of the workers are Hindus while some also practice animism. Christians and Muslims are very few but are there. Singing, dancing particularly Jhumur and lathi dance are popular during festivals. Durga Puja is the most popular cultural and religious festival.
Also read: Moulvibazar tea workers resume strike defying union leaders’ decision
They are considered both a lower class and caste and largely avoided by Bengalis as a community. Most workers are intimidated by Bengalis so there is no inter-mixing. Language is also a barrier. As they speak little fluent Bangla, chances of mixing is also low. Interestingly, there are some groups –indigenous - who are not tea workers but who live in the plantation area. They are now being threatened with eviction.
Access to economics and social services
Very few receive any form of GOB assistance (7.5%) and they are mostly excluded from any kind of government social safety programs. NGOs provide some services including credit, primary and non-formal education and sanitation etc. However, these were very inadequate. Around (56%) were members of credit groups but they were not able to say what their own savings were or what they planned to do with it.
Wages + 90% of the workers are unsatisfied with their wages. 78% felt hugely overworked and 57% were unhappy with their work hours. Job security was satisfactory as it meant a lifetime employment but 60% were not happy with their workplace safety.
Around 63% said that their rights were violated but few had any idea what their rights were. Both workers and trade union leaders think education is fundamental for change and believe that if their children are to have a better life, education is out. But the opportunity for education was hugely limited with almost no post primary schools in the plantations. And outside schools cost money and they have none of that. Most felt that lack of education condemned their life to servitude in the garden.
One factor that kept them tied to the gardens was housing facilities so this acted as a malicious glue to the plantations even though many thought their life was one of high denial. Workers who have cultivated land that are sub-leased from the gardens are now being taken away by the owners and the government on the grounds of garden space extension or new gardens.
The profile shows that this community made up of several ethnic groups were some of the most discriminated against with no bargaining power. Not only is their life crushingly difficult but there are few options on the table for them to use as an escape route.
It’s a life about intergenerational condemnation to a life which was not their choice to begin and continues to be the same.
Humanizing refugees
Human civilization has evolved at different paces in multiple and conflicting directions over the course of known history.
Slavery is a thing of the past, yet we intermittently get news of modern-day slavery in sweatshops in different parts of the world. Racism is frowned upon, still, we see examples of rampant racial prejudice even in the most civilized nations of the world. But there is still hope. Thinkers and wise men are continuously pushing the boundaries of conventional thoughts to hasten the process of evolution in the right direction. Hence, we hear concepts like speciesism at a time when we are still fighting a global plague of xenophobia and racism.
The progress from eliminating racism today to a future where speciesism gets mainstream traction is a distant road to be taken for our human race. But this piece is not about the thoughts of the non-conformist philosophers who despise the thought of the human race plundering mother earth and its millions of species sharing the world we live in. This piece is about the major milestones that are far more pressing and long overdue.
One such milestone is creating a world where each human being has the right to belong, right to a state, and right to basic rights irrespective of creed, color, or anything that differentiates one from another. A civilized world cannot bear to see stateless human beings living with the constant fear of persecution. No matter how evolved we are with our technological advancements and refined way of living, if the fruits of our collective achievements are devoid of empathy towards millions who are not given the basic privileges of human existence, we cannot celebrate nor take rest.
This crucial aspect of human evolution needs more attention. As an artist, I lived in my own microcosm like most of us in our little selfish lives. But it all changed when I started working closely with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency and started visiting the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar. The continuous interaction with refugees made me realize that the things we take for granted are so coveted by many. Even a selfish human being with a minimum sense of empathy would agree that this global crisis with a very local presence needs more attention.
Read:Myanmar: Hanging activists in a ruined economy
We cannot turn a blind eye to the refugee crisis at home and across the world and accept it as normal. Five years on from the mass exodus of the Rohingya, their displacement in Bangladesh has become protracted. Some 930,000 are living in Bangladesh today. Prolonged exile is unacceptable. We must support them until they can safely return home because all human beings deserve to live full and dignified lives.
UNHCR has confirmed its commitment and called on other humanitarians to deepen the support to the generous Bangladesh government and people hosting the Rohingya. We have moved past the initial emergency phase of this crisis and are working to ensure that refugees are protected and have access to basic services and rights. This includes providing access to education, skills development training and livelihoods, which are also key to prepare them for return so they may rebuild their lives and communities.
Though the host community has been very gracious in accepting refugees, some have not been very congenial, which is normal considering we still live in a world where xenophobia and racism are not something we have been able to eradicate.
We must raise our voices to make sure that exile and marginalization of the Rohingya people do not become normalized. And as time progresses, I’m increasingly convinced that this refugee crisis at home and also globally can only be solved with a concerted effort by world leaders. The solutions are political, and the Rohingya will only be able to return once Myanmar ensures their safety and access to rights. But on a philosophical level, more concerted efforts on educating the next generation about racism and xenophobia are more important. Only then may we have leaders who understand that every single human being has the right to belong, a right to a state, and access to basic rights irrespective of creed, color, or anything that differentiates one from another.
Tahsan Khan is the Goodwill Ambassador of UNHCR in Bangladesh
Tea garden workers: Can their wages ever be realistic?
Tucked away in another world beyond social and media scrutiny, the life of tea garden workers is basically terrible. This has been proven by much research but the situation has not changed. In fact chances of changing are low. The sector is based on poor wages. This has several reasons behind it. And not all are economic.
One fact that is being missed is that any appeal to the government means appealing to an owner. The government owns and operates several gardens and reports suggest the conditions of the workers are the worst in those. So how sympathetic or fair the GOB can be can be guessed.
The reality is that tea-garden workers are experiencing economic segregation akin to racism which is common in any so-called nation state. Only the majority has full rights in all the South Asian societies. The tea garden workers are decidedly from a different ethnic background. When a ruling class claims its entire identity is based on ethnicity-Bengali- the chances other ethnic groups will also have equal rights is not realistic.
Read: Tea workers call off strike, return to work with previous wage of Tk 120
Functional slavery?
According to a study conducted by Shahjalal University on behalf ILO in 2016, the main reason why tea garden workers do join the garden is due to lack of options.
· It said that the majority of the workers decided to work in the gardens due to ancestral connections. Others said they had no other alternatives. ( 63.2%)
· Any tea plantation worker who does not work in the gardens or is not registered as permanent workers is not permitted to possess or live in the labour line . As the workers don’t have land , inside or outside the garden they have no choice but to work in the garden.
· Recruitment process is informal and 93% of workers are under informal contract.
The reason why these people have no choice of employment is because they have no education or skills and no one wants to give it to them. If they do, such a denied population stuck to the gardens without any choice will depart and the tea sector will be hurt if not collapse. So the facts are obvious that no significant improvements in the conditions of the workers will happen as that will go against the interest of the owners which includes the government.
The government as the main buyer and seller also makes more profit than others so the wisdom of appealing to the government who are a beneficiary of the dismal condition doesn’t make much logic.
It’s important to set up a Tea Workers’ Wages and Benefits commission to identify what can be done. But who will do it ? One is however concerned that the sector may have been making profit by sustaining the current conditions and any fair wages will be resisted by all as it is not “feasible” in a chronically inefficient economic system.