Ripon Mia lives in Mirpur-1 of the capital in a rented house with three children and wife. He earns his livelihood by pulling rickshaw. But he cannot earn anything now as everything has become stagnant due to the coronavirus. On top of it, his son is now hospitalized for illness. He has been in the hospital last few days.
Ripon said that ‘even after general holiday across the country, I have earned some money by pulling rickshaw for a few days. But now everything is completely closed. There is no money in my hand. I had to take some loan for my son’s treatment. This is a very tough time for me.’ "I went to the local public representative for government’s aid or relief. From there, it was said that since my voter ID card is in Chittagong's address, I will not get any help from here," he added.
millions of people are now passing worse time like Ripon. In particular, many workers in the informal sector, such as the rickshaw pullers, day laborers, hawkers, or those not under the government's trade license and labor law, are now in the dark about their future. Since these laborers or small traders are not directly eligible for government financial incentives, there is no pension nor minimum compensation for being out of labor law. As a result, the question that arises is, how can these people survive now?
Abdul Latif earns his livelihood by driving a car with a ride-sharing app. The car was bought with a loan. He said that after paying bank loan installments there was no difficulty to meet his living expenses with four family members. But, he has no income for the last two weeks. “I am taking loan to run my family. Allah knows best how long this situation will last,” he lamented.
Monir Hossain works in a shop in Mirpur-10 area. He said, “If I have no work on a day then I have to either starve or borrow money. Till now, I have not paid my house rent. The money I had saved is all gone now.”
In Bangladesh, from rickshaw pullers to hawkers, and day laborers fall under the informal sector. On the other hand, those who receive monthly salary and work in various organisations which are not under the government's trade license or labor law, are also part of the informal sector. Such workers can be fired without notice, having to pay no minimum compensation, no insurance, and no pension.
The number of such workers is about 5 crore 17 lakhs, which is about 85.1 percent of the country’s total work force. Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Center for Policy Dialogue CPD, told reporters that in this situation it will be quite impossible to save the economy unless attention is given to this work force.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced a huge incentive package recently. There, it has been suggested to increase social security activities to meet the basic needs of the informal sector workers. Besides, distribution of free food items, allowances or such programs should be sthrengthened further. Besides, the poor people will get rice at taka 10 per kg under the program.
In Bangladesh, the number of poor people is more than three crore. But now the number has increased as many people have lost work or means of earning a livelihood.
Bangladesh Trade Union Association president Habibullah Bachchu and general secretary Chowdhury Ashiqul Alam said in a statement that lockdown is already underway in most of the districts of the country to ensure social distancing announced by the government since 26 March. Some owners of many companies have shut down suddenly without paying their workers' dues. In such a situation, labour-leaders have sought the Prime Minister's intervention.
