From 31 December 2019 to 16 June 2020, four and a half million people have died of coronavirus worldwide. On an average which is two thousand 731 people a day. Since the World Health Organization declared the epidemic on March 11, the death toll has risen to 4,500 a day.
But every day around 24,000 people in the world die of hunger or hunger related diseases. I do not see so much fuss about this! 19,017 people die every day in the world due to polluted air. This number does not respond!
Every day, 30,000 people around the world are forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict, oppression and human rights violations. There is no effective way to alleviate the indescribable suffering of the people without this land!
Two thousand 195 children die of diarrhea every day in the world. To save the lives of these innocent children, no urgent steps have been taken to ensure safe water!
The coronavirus is undoubtedly a difficult challenge for human civilization. The pain of losing a life in this terrible infectious virus is the same for all relatives. The lives of all people, rich and poor, are worth the same. But when I look at the above information, I feel a little confused. If only the poor really died from this virus, would there be so much fuss about it?
However, to prevent coronavirus infection, when all people are advised to wash their hands frequently with soap and maintain physical distance, some statistics provide food for thought. 12.5 per cent of the world's 1 billion people live in slums. Where maintaining physical distance, hygiene or cleanliness is almost impossible. Again, 80 percent of people living in rural areas worldwide have to use unsafe water. About 500 million people in neighboring India defecate in the open.
Again, when people are asked to stay at home, it is necessary to see what percentage of people can afford to stay at home for a few days. After the start of the lockdown in Bangladesh, a BRAC survey found that 14 percent of low-income people do not have food at home. Later it must have increased. On the other hand, 75 per cent of the working people in the country work in the informal sector and 55.5 per cent of the people have a daily income of only Rs 161-322. How many days or they can survive without going to work?
In his last speech 69 years ago today, the rebellious poet Kazi Nazrul Islam said, It has accumulated like a pile. '
In today's world that inequality has become even more terrible. The wealth of 42 rich people is equal to the wealth of half of the world's people. In 2016, 72 percent of the money earned went into the pockets of the richest one percent and the fortunes of half the world's people have not improved. The main reasons for this are tax evasion, influence of businessmen in policy making, corruption and reduction of workers' rights. Bangladesh is also not out of this discriminatory state and economic system.
During this time we have seen again the state of our medical system. One might say, isn't it right to expect better than this in underdeveloped countries? Do you know how much money has been smuggled abroad in the last decade and a half? In 2016, the CPD said in a research report on Global Financial Integrity-GFI data that Tk 4.5 billion had been smuggled abroad in 10 years. And last year, MP Rashed Khan Menon claimed that nine lakh crore rupees had been smuggled out of the country.
Whatever the number, more or less, if there was good governance, this money would have stayed in the country. If a part of it was used for the development of medical services, then surely the suffering of the people would be less now. Again, there are doubts in the minds of the people as to whether the allocation for the health sector, which was available even in limited capacity, has been utilized properly, when it was seen that a screen for a hospital ICU was bought for Rs.
Again, when the government provides some help to the hungry people during this epidemic, there are also cases of killing. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, more than 100 people have been suspended for stealing relief supplies.
Therefore, the politics of self-interest, tax evasion and the construction of a mountain of wealth by curtailing the rights of workers and the corruption in the service sector must be taken now. Otherwise no one will be able to cross another epidemic. The symptoms of which are being felt at least a little bit in the Karona epidemic.
It is the responsibility of the state to ensure the basic needs of the people. If the state can do that, a society will automatically become resilient. It must be realized that the root cause of all the humanitarian catastrophes we see around us is inequality. Inequality has intensified during the Corona period. According to the newspaper, at least 50 civilians have died due to non-admission or negligence in the country since the onset of the epidemic.