by admin | Aug 14, 2022 | Newspaper Report
By Philip Gain, The Daily Star, Aug 14, 2022
Tea workers are among the most marginalised, excluded and poor of Bangladesh. PHOTO: Sanjay Kairi
There was agitation in 158 tea gardens in Sylhet and Chattogram divisions during the tea-leaf-plucking season when the tea workers began a two-hour strike from August 9-12. On August 13, they went on a full-day strike. Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union (BCSU), the only trade union of around 100,000 tea garden workers, is organising the strike.
The key message of the tea workers and their union to the owners is that they are fed up with the owners’ position regarding their wages. Currently, a tea worker gets a daily wage of Tk 120. BCSU is demanding a daily cash pay of Tk 300, which is impossible given the current trend of pay rise.
The BCSU, the combined bargaining agent (CBA) for the tea workers, and Bangladesh Tea Association (BTA), tea garden owners’ representative body, sign an agreement every two years determining the wages and other benefits of the tea workers. In negotiations between these two parties, BTA is always the winner, and BCSU the loser.
An agreement between the BCSU and BTA was last signed on February 25, 2021, fixing the daily cash pay to Tk 120 for “A” class tea gardens, Tk 118 for “B” class gardens and Tk 117 for “C” class tea gardens. These wages were effective from January 1, 2019 to December 30, 2020, which means the agreement was signed post factum.
Generally, the agreements are not signed in time and the workers get their additional pay in arrears. But since the last agreement period expired in December 2020, more than 19 months have passed without an agreement and increase in wages.
In the meantime, the government had set up a Minimum Wage Board (for the third time for the tea workers) in the second half of 2019 to fix tea workers’ wages. In the six-member board, Rambhajan Kairi represented the tea workers and demanded a daily cash pay of Tk 300. But to the disappointment of the workers, the wage board sent its recommendation to the labour ministry in June 2021, keeping the daily cash pay unchanged and curtailing some benefits that the tea workers had traditionally been receiving.
The labour ministry thankfully sent the recommendations back to the wage board for reconsideration. A meeting on November 17, 2021 chaired by the state minister of the labour ministry with the members of the Minimum Wage Board, BTA and BCSU was organised to find a solution to the stalemate. The labour ministry reportedly issued some guidelines to the wage board. But again, to the surprise of the tea workers, the wage board maintained its position in keeping the wages of tea workers at Tk 120 per day.
In the meantime, the chairman of the wage board has been replaced. A responsible source in the Minimum Wage Board has confirmed that in the last meeting, held on June 30, 2022, the board finalised its recommendations and sent them to the labour ministry. Rambhajan Kairi neither attended the meeting on June 30, nor did he approve the recommendations. “The recommendations were foretold,” says Kairi, “And it is stuck at Tk 120, which is unacceptable to the tea workers.”
Now it is to be seen when the labour ministry sends the recommendations to the law ministry, and when the wage structure of the tea workers is announced through gazette notification.
While all these have been going on, the BCSU has also been negotiating with the BTA for the last 19 months without making any headway. It is puzzling why two processes need to run at the same time. While the Minimum Wage Board fixes wages for five years, the BCSU and BTA sign an agreement every two years. The Minimum Wage Board took an unusually long time to develop its recommendations. Leaders of the BCSU allege that the BTA also did the same and pushed them to the edge. What we know from the leaders of BCSU is that the BTA proposed an increase of Tk 14 on top of Tk 120!
This is absurd for understandable reasons. Wages are not this low in the tea industry anywhere in the world. The same Minimum Wage Board has fixed the daily lowest (sixth grade) wage of Tk 620 in the wood sector in the rural areas and Tk 680 in the urban areas – one of the lowest paid sectors outside the tea garden sector fixed by the Minimum Wage Board.
The BCSU, in a letter addressed to the chairman of BTA (dated August 3, 2022), briefly narrated its grievances about their long negotiation resulting in a “shameful” proposal from the owners. According to the letter signed by the president, vice-president and acting general secretary of BCSU, the BTA representative communicated their intention to increase the wages by Tk 14 through a mobile message. Enraged, the BCSU decided to go for a strike in seven working days from August 3.
The BTA remained silent about the warning. What followed is unprecedented in the recent history of tea gardens. BCSU leaders reported that they expected the owners to respond to their demands and communicate a solution with them. But the BTA maintained its silence until August 14.
However, the Department of Labour office in Sreemangal and the director general (DG) of Department of Labour under the labour ministry have reacted. In a letter dated August 12, 2022, the DG sent a warning that “such strikes contravene the labour law.”
The BCSU considers such warning from the government authorities as support for the tea garden owners that include state-owned National Tea Company and Bangladesh Tea Board under the commerce ministry that own 17 tea gardens. But this time, the BCSU is adamant not to easily back out. They went for a full-day strike on August 13, assembling at different points including in the Sreemangal town, in defiance of the law enforcement authorities.
In a meeting on August 13, the central leaders of BCSU announced its next programme. On August 14 (Sunday and weekly holiday in almost all tea gardens) and August 15 (national holiday), they would continue to assemble at different locations throughout the tea growing areas to show their disappointment with the owners. If the BCSU does not a get a response from the BTA, it is determined to continue the strike.
Tea workers are among the most marginalised, excluded and poor of Bangladesh. The biggest problem they face is wage deprivation. Needless to say, a worker’s family income is far below the poverty level income, causing further deprivation for them. This time they have seen how the owners have hijacked the Minimum Wage Board and kept their future hanging in the balance. All these are happening at a time when tea production has reached its peak and there is no evidence that tea is a losing enterprise.
It is the responsibility of the government to establish rules of fair trade in the tea sector, and ensure justice and protection for tea workers, who are the most important asset for the country’s tea industry.
Philip Gain is a researcher and director at the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD).
by admin | Apr 22, 2022 | Newspaper Report
Philip Gain | News Link
Fri Apr 22, 2022 12:00 AM Last update on: Fri Apr 22, 2022 05:37 PM
Bangladesh is amazingly green. Yet, historically, our natural forests have always been limited. In 2000, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics estimated our total forest area to be 2.6 million hectares. However, according to the Forest Department’s “National Forest and Tree Resources Assessment 2005-07” report, the extent of legal forest land is 1.4 million hectares, which is 9.8 percent of the total land area in the country. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicates a much worse condition of our forests: In 2009, the actual coverage of forest was merely 6.7 percent. The Forest Department identified 17.62 percent of the country’s land area as forest in 2016.
The Bangladesh side of the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world, is spread over Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira districts, covering 601,700 hectares. The largest area of forestry in the country, the Sundarbans is constantly hit with disasters both natural and man-made. Foremost among the natural disasters are storms and tidal surges. The biggest of the man-made disasters, on the other hand, is extensive tiger prawn (Bagda) farming. According to conservative estimates, more than 200,000 hectares of mangroves have been cut down along the coast line in different places of the forest to facilitate prawn farming.
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The Chakaria mangrove forest in Cox’s Bazar has completely disappeared due to prawn farming. It is because of the demise of this unique mangrove patch that half of the people of Baddarkhali town on its northern edge lost their lives in the 1991 cyclone—one of the deadliest cyclones on record.
Our second biggest forest after the Sundarbans is located at the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), covering 322,331 hectares. This hill forest used to be home to 11 indigenous groups. Then, to their great dismay, the British crown promulgated Act VII in 1865, and the forest-dwelling people in the CHT and elsewhere in the county were stripped of their customary rights to the forest and land. During British rule, 24 percent of the CHT was declared as reserved forest. Commercial afforestation began in the hills with cultivation of teak, an exotic species to Bangladesh. Later on, the Kaptai hydropower project, road construction, social forestry, Karnaphuli Paper Mills, militarisation, and the settlement of Bangalees contributed greatly to the drastic decline of CHT forest resources.
Monoculture plantations with exotic species, sugar-coated as social forestry, have severely damaged our natural forests. Rubber and tobacco cultivation in Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban over the past few decades has proven to be another key factor for deforestation. On top of that, there has been massive hill-cutting and deforestation for construction of the Marine Drive from Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf. Many hills have been shaved to make shelters for Rohingya refugees. Due to the deforestation, wild animals have disappeared from the area, and the movement of endangered elephants has been disrupted.
Very little of the sal forest in the north-central and north-western parts of Bangladesh survives today. The Modhupur sal forest used to be a continuous patch of 45,000 acres. Attached to that was another 17,000 acres of the same type of forest in Mymensingh’s Muktagachha upazila. Both Modhupur and Muktagachha forests are history today. What were once dense forests have been reduced to rubber monoculture and pineapple, banana and spice orchards. In places, there are social forestry patches primarily grown with acacia.
The major factors behind the massive deforestation and precise ecocide we have seen in Modhupur and elsewhere over the last three decades are wrong strategies and plantation projects funded by our development partners. The plantation projects funded by the World Bank to create a green fence along the coast have been severely affected by prawn cultivation, promoted and funded by donor countries. Recently, the World Bank’s USD 175 million project, Sustainable Forest and Livelihoods (SUFAL), has also failed to show any improvement. The huge project, set to be completed next year, has followed the same models of forestry that have proven to be ineffective.
Apart from the sal forests in Modhupur and Muktagachha, there are patches of sal forest at Fulbaria upazila in Mymensingh, Kaliakair in Gazipur, and in Tangail. These patches of nearly 60,000 acres, known as the Attia Forest, are now in the grips of land grabbers. Industrial establishments, roads, human habitation, bazaars, schools, madrasas and many other constructions have spread in and around this forest. The waste from nearby cities are indiscriminately dumped and burned in many places inside the forest. If you go east from Chandra circle in Kaliakair upazila, you will see burnt sal trees on both sides of the newly expanded highway.
The Forest Department is helpless in the Modhupur and Attia sal forest areas. Allegations are widespread that those involved in the deforestation and abuse of the forest areas are primarily political leaders, businessmen and elected public representatives. Rubber monoculture, a big threat to forest ecology, is primarily an activity of the Forest Department. Corruption of dishonest forest employees and officials and their collusion with the forest despoilers are equally widespread.
In recent decades, the so-called social forestry and other plantation projects funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank have dramatically changed the forest landscapes. Everywhere in the forest areas, we see huge plots of exotic acacia and few other species, devoid of understorey vegetation of diverse plant species—which is typical of natural forest patches. The practice of social forestry requires harvest of planted trees every 10 years or so, and thus creates perfect conditions for the land grabbers to step in.
A ray of hope was briefly shone at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland last year, when the world leaders, including our prime minister, pledged to stop deforestation by 2030. The world leaders’ declaration came on November 2. However, Bangladesh endorsed it on November 4—an indication that our leaders at COP26 were not well-prepared!
Considering the recent trends of deforestation and their underlying factors, it is indeed hard to believe that deforestation will ever come under control, let alone end by 2030. Yet, we want to be optimistic, but not without concrete actions, particularly from our government. First of all, the government must show that it is determined to formulate appropriate forestry policies and strategic programmes to protect our forests. Thanks to the ADB, it has completely withdrawn from the forestry sector after the colossal damage its investment caused to our natural forest patches. The World Bank also slowed down with the forest projects, but came back with SUFAL, a big forestry project. Evidence abounds how forestry projects funded by these multilateral development banks (MDBs) and donors can cause irreparable damage to our forests and environment. Our failure to be bold in taking right policy decisions will prove that the world leaders, including ours, made empty promises at COP26.
Philip Gain is a researcher and director at the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD).
by admin | Apr 5, 2022 | Newspaper Report
ফিলিপ গাইন | Newspaper Link
মঙ্গলবার, এপ্রিল ৫, ২০২২ ০৪:২৭ অপরাহ্ন | মধুপুর বনে কয়েকজন গারো নারী। ছবি: সংগৃহীত
মধুপুর শালবন এলাকায় বন বিভাগ একটি বাইদ খনন করে কৃত্রিম হ্রদ তৈরি করতে চাচ্ছে। মধুপুর গড় এলাকার নিচু জমিকে স্থানীয় ভাষায় বলা হয় বাইদ, যেখানে ধানসহ অন্যান্য ফসলের আবাদ হয়। আর নিচু জমি থেকে ৩-৪ ফুট উঁচু জমি চালা হিসেবে পরিচিত। শালসহ অন্যান্য প্রজাতির বৃক্ষ দেখা যায় এখানে। এটিই লাল মাটির শালবনের স্বাভাবিক চিত্র। মধুপুরের বিস্তীর্ণ এলাকায় শাল ও অন্যান্য দেশি প্রজাতির বৃক্ষ বিলীন হয়েছে। সেখানে জায়গা করে নিয়েছে বিদেশি প্রজাতির অ্যাকাশিয়া, আনারস, কলা ও মসলার আবাদ। আর এভাবেই মধুপুর শালবনের অধিকাংশ জায়গায় বাইদ-চালার সৌন্দর্য বিলুপ্ত হয়েছে।
দোখলা রেঞ্জ অফিস থেকে পশ্চিম-পূর্বে লম্বা এমনই একটি বাইদের পাশে বন বিভাগ একটি দোতলা গেস্ট হাউজ নির্মাণ করছে। একইসঙ্গে বাইদের ৪ একর জমিতে ছোট একটি কৃত্রিম হ্রদ (২০০ ফুট বাই ৮০০ ফুট) খনন করতে চাচ্ছে। এ গেস্ট হাউজে যারা আসবেন তাদের বিনোদনের জন্যই এ হ্রদ। বন বিভাগের এক ঊর্ধ্বতন কর্মকর্তা অবশ্য জানিয়েছেন, এ হ্রদের পানিতে বন্যপ্রাণীরা তৃষ্ণা মেটাতে আসবে।
বাইদের যেখানটায় কৃত্রিম হ্রদ খননের পরিকল্পনা করছে বন বিভাগ, তার মালিক (সনাতনী অধিকারের ভিত্তিতে) কিছু গারো পরিবার। প্রজন্মের পর প্রজন্ম ধরে ব্যবহৃত এ জমি তারা একেবারেই ছাড়তে নারাজ। গারোরা এ এলাকায় বসবাস করেন বন বিভাগ সৃষ্টির অনেক আগে থেকে এবং তারা একসময় জমিদারদের কাছ থেকে জমির বছর মেয়াদি লিজ (পাট্টা) এবং দীর্ঘমেয়াদি লিজ (পত্তনি) নিতেন। এই জমির কার্যত মালিক গারোদের দাবি, তারা অতীতে জমির খাজনা দিতেন। কিন্তু জমি বনভূমি হিসেবে গেজেটভুক্ত এবং এ এলাকাটি মধুপুর জাতীয় উদ্যানের অন্তর্ভুক্ত হওয়ার পর থেকে খাজনা নেওয়া বন্ধ হয়ে যায়। এ কারণেই এলাকার গারো, কোচ ও বাঙালিদের ৯০ শতাংশেরই জমির মালিকানা দলিল নেই। ফলে বন বিভাগের সঙ্গে তাদের বিবাদ লেগেই আছে। কারণ বন বিভাগ গেজেটভুক্ত সব জমির মালিকানা দাবি করে।
গত বছর সেপ্টেম্বরে এ বাইদের জমির মালিকদের কয়েকজনের সঙ্গে কথা হয়। তারা সবাই তখন তাদের কৃষি জমিতে ছোট এই কৃত্রিম হ্রদ খননের বিপক্ষে অবস্থানের কথা জানান।
‘এখানে সরকারের নেওয়া হ্রদ খননের পরিকল্পনাটি কোনোরূপ মহৎ উদ্দেশ্য প্রমাণ করে না’, বলেন দীপেন নকরেক (৬৫)। যিনি বাইদের ২ দশমিক ৪ একর জমির মালিকানার দাবিদার।
বেলি নকরেক (২৭), অপর এক গারো যিনি ৭১ শতাংশ জমির মালিকানা দাবি করেন, তিনি আত্মবিশ্বাসের সঙ্গে বলেন, ‘আমি এখানে হ্রদ চাই না। সরকার যদি আমাদের সম্মতি ছাড়া এখানে হ্রদ খনন করতে চায়, তবে আমরা প্রতিবাদ করব।’
কয়েক মাস ধরে গারো ও বন বিভাগের মধ্যে হ্রদ খনন নিয়ে টানাপড়েন চলছে। হ্রদ নিয়ে গারোরা দ্বিধাবিভক্ত। কিছু মানুষ এর পক্ষে, কিন্তু অধিকাংশই এর বিপক্ষে অথবা দ্বিধাদ্বন্দ্বে।
এই বাইদের অল্প কিছু জমি ছেড়ে দেওয়ার জন্য বন বিভাগ, রাজনীতিবিদ এবং প্রশাসন গারোদের হাত করার চেষ্টায় আছেন। ‘তারা এ জমির জন্য কিছু ক্ষতিপূরণ দেওয়ার প্রতিশ্রুতি দিয়েছেন’, বলেন মধুপুরের প্রধান গারো সামাজিক সংগঠন ‘জয়েনশাহী আদিবাসী উন্নয়ন পরিষদ’-এর সভাপতি ইউজিন নকরেক। ‘কিন্তু আমরা এখনো কোনো সিদ্ধান্ত নেইনি। যদি যথাযথ ক্ষতিপূরণ দেওয়া হয় এবং আমাদের অন্যান্য দাবি পূরণ করা হয়, তবে আমরা সম্মতি দিতে পারি’, বলেন তিনি।
‘১৯ মার্চ রাজনীতিবিদ, স্থানীয় প্রশাসন ও বনবিভাগের উচ্চপদস্থ কর্মকর্তাদের উপস্থিতিতে অনুষ্ঠিত এক বৈঠকে জেলা প্রশাসক ৫ লাখ টাকা ক্ষতিপূরণ দেওয়ার কথা জানিয়েছেন, যা খুবই সামান্য’, বলেন ওই বৈঠকে উপস্থিত নকরেক।
কেন কৃত্রিম হ্রদ?
মধুপুর বন সর্বাঙ্গে প্রায় ধ্বংসপ্রাপ্ত। অরণ্যের সুবাতাস আর নেই। বনের অধিকাংশ জায়গা এখন দখল করে নিয়েছে কলা, আনারস, পেঁপে, মসলা এবং লেবুর বাগান। বন বিনাশ এখানে কোনো নতুন ঘটনা নয়। কিন্তু আশির দশকের মাঝামাঝি সময়ে আমরা রাবার গাছের আবির্ভাব এবং পরবর্তীতে সামাজিক বনায়নের নামে বিদেশি প্রজাতির বৃক্ষরোপণ দেখি, যা মধুপুর ও অন্যান্য জায়গার ঐতিহ্যবাহী শালবনকে দ্রুত ধ্বংস করে দিয়েছে। এ ছাড়াও, তথাকথিত সামাজিক বনায়ন দেশের দক্ষিণ-পূর্বাঞ্চলের জেলাগুলোর প্রাকৃতিক বনভূমির ব্যাপক ক্ষতির পেছনে অন্যতম কারণ।
১৯৯০-এর দশক থেকে এশীয় উন্নয়ন ব্যাংকের (এডিবি) অর্থায়নে বন প্রকল্পের মধ্য দিয়ে বন ‘সহ-ব্যবস্থাপনা’র সূচনা। এডিবির অর্থায়নে পরিচালিত প্রকল্প বনের চিরায়ত পরিবেশের বিপর্যয় ঘটিয়েছে, এমনটি প্রমাণিত হওয়ার পর বাংলাদেশসহ সমগ্র এশিয়াতে ২০০৫ সাল থেকে তাদের বন সংক্রান্ত কার্যক্রম বন্ধ করে দেয়। তবে বন সহ-ব্যবস্থাপনা অব্যাহত থাকে। বর্তমানে বন বিভাগ বিশ্বব্যাংকের অর্থায়নে ১৭৫ মিলিয়ন মার্কিন ডলারের প্রকল্প, ‘টেকসই বন ও জীবিকা (সুফল)’ বাস্তবায়ন করছে। এ প্রকল্প নানা কারণে বিতর্কিত। যেমন: এ প্রকল্পে বন সহ-ব্যবস্থাপনার কাছাকাছি মডেল সহযোগী (কোলাবোরেটিভ) বন ব্যবস্থাপনা চালু করা হয়েছে। সহ-ব্যবস্থাপনা (বনবিভাগ ও স্থানীয় মানুষের অংশগ্রহণে বন ব্যবস্থাপনা) আমাদের বন সুরক্ষায় কোনো কার্যকর ভূমিকা রাখেনি। তবে আন্তর্জাতিক অর্থনৈতিক প্রতিষ্ঠান (এডিবি ও বিশ্বব্যাংক) থেকে বন প্রকল্পের জন্য সহজ শর্তে প্রাপ্ত ঋণ প্রকল্পবাজদের জন্য বিপুল আর্থিক সুবিধা এনে দিয়েছে।
দোখলা রেঞ্জ অফিস চত্বরে যে গেস্ট হাউজ এবং হ্রদ— সঠিকভাবে বললে বলতে হয় পুকুর— যা সম্পূর্ণভাবে সরকারি অর্থায়নে পরিচালিত ‘স্থানীয় ও নৃ-গোষ্ঠী জনগণের সহায়তায় মধুপুর ইকো-ট্যুরিজম উন্নয়ন ও টেকসই ব্যবস্থাপনা’ শীর্ষক প্রকল্পেরই অংশ। বন বিভাগের কর্মকর্তারা নিশ্চিত করেছেন যে, গেস্ট হাউজ ও হ্রদ তৈরি জাতীয় উদ্যান সদর রেঞ্জের ৩ হেক্টর জমির ওপর আরবোরেটামের (উদ্ভিদবিদ্যা অনুশীলনের উপযোগী উদ্যান) সঙ্গে যুক্ত।
মধুপুর বনের প্রায় অর্ধেক, যেখানে আনারস, কলা এবং মসলার বাগান গ্রাস করে নিয়েছে, সেখানে ছোট একটি উদ্ভিদ উদ্যান নির্মাণ বৃক্ষ রক্ষার ক্ষেত্রে কোনোরকম আশার আলো দেখায় না। মধুপুরের মানুষ দেখেছে তথাকথিত সামাজিক বনায়ন কীভাবে বন বিনাশের প্রধান কারণ হয়ে দেখা দিয়েছে। সামাজিক বনায়ন যেখানে হয়েছে সেখানে খুব কম সময়ের মধ্যে আনারস, কলা, পেঁপে, ও মসলার আবাদ জায়গা করে নিয়েছে। সামাজিক বনায়নের থাবা থেকে চাড়ালজানি বন গবেষণা কেন্দ্রটিও রক্ষা পায়নি। ১৯৬৭ সালে ৪০০ একর জমির ওপর প্রতিষ্ঠিত গবেষণা কেন্দ্রটি কিছুদিন আগেও স্থানীয় এবং বিদেশি নানা প্রজাতির উদ্ভিদ দ্বারা আচ্ছাদিত ছিল। তবে বর্তমানে তা কমতে কমতে ২০ একরে এসে দাঁড়িয়েছে এবং এটিকে আর বন গবেষণা কেন্দ্র হিসেবে চেনা যায় না।
চাড়ালজানি বন গবেষণা কেন্দ্রের পাশে ২০০৩ সালে স্থাপিত হয় একটি ঔষধি গাছের বাগান। এটিও অর্থপূর্ণ কোনো উদাহরণ নয়। সুফল প্রকল্পে বনতলের শত শত গাছ কেটে যেভাবে কিছু দেশি প্রজাতি ফলদ ও অন্যান্য বৃক্ষ চাষ করা হয়েছে, তাতে এলাকাবাসী অবাক হচ্ছে। মধুপুর শালবনে এসব দেখে এলাকাবাসী ত্যক্ত-বিরক্ত। তবে রাজনৈতিকভাবে প্রভাবশালী বহিরাগত কলা, আনারস ও মশলাচাষিরা বনভূমিতে এসব ফল, মশলা চাষ থেকে বিপুল মুনাফা করছেন।
এলাকাবাসী একটি ছোট আরবোরেটাম এবং তার সঙ্গে গেস্ট হাউজ ও কৃত্রিম হ্রদ তৈরির ধারণাকে হাস্যকর ও তামাশা মনে করছে। অনেকেরই প্রশ্ন প্রাকৃতিক পরিবেশের একটি চমৎকার বাইদের জায়গায় কেন একটি কৃত্রিম হ্রদ খনন করতে হবে। গেস্ট হাউজে যারা আসবেন, তারা কি বর্তমানে যে প্রাকৃতিক পরিবেশ বিরাজমান তা দেখে খুশি হবেন না? তারা যদি পানি দেখতে চান তো গাড়িতে করে লহরিয়া বন বিটের কাছে ১৯৮০-র দশকে তৈরি হ্রদে চলে যেতে পরেন। লেকটি বর্তমানে পরিত্যক্ত। এর আশেপাশে যেসব স্থাপনা তৈরি করা হয়েছিল তা আগাছা আবৃত এবং খসে পড়ছে। গেস্ট হাউজের অতিথিরা দোখলা থেকে রসুলপুর পর্যন্ত গাড়িতে যেতে পারেন, দেখতে পারেন এখন বেঁচে থাকা কিছু শাল-গজারির বন। তারা যদি ‘সবুজ মরুভূমি’ দেখতে চান তো ঘুরে আসতে পারেন প্রাকৃতিক বনের জায়গায় তৈরি রাবার বাগান।
টিনশেডের কটেজগুলে নিয়ে খোলামেলা পরিবেশে দোখলা ফরেস্ট রেঞ্জ অফিস চত্বর বেশ সুন্দর ছিল। আমাদের ১৯৭২ সালের সংবিধানের একটা অংশ এখানে বসে লেখা হয়। জাতির পিতা বঙ্গবন্ধু শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান ১৯৭১ সালের জানুয়ারি মাসে কয়েক দিন অবকাশ যাপন করেছিলেন দোখলা রেস্ট হাউজে। এটি আমাদের ইতিহাসের এক গৌরবোজ্জ্বল ঘটনা, যা সবার জানা উচিত। তবে এখন এ চত্বরের প্রবেশমুখে বিরাট এক নিরাপত্তা ফটক বসানো হয়েছে। এক সময়কার চমৎকার নৈসর্গিক চিত্র পাল্টে গেছে। বাতাস যেন তার স্বাভাবিক গতি হারিয়েছে। দোতলা একটি গেস্ট হাউজ এবং একটি ছোট হ্রদ এখানকার নৈসর্গিক চিত্র মুছে দেবে। এতে এখানকার মানুষের স্বাভাবিক চলাচল বিঘ্নিত হবে। দোখলা রেঞ্জ অফিস চত্বর দিয়ে দোখলা বাজারে যেতে গারোরা যে মাটির রাস্তা ব্যবহার করে, সেটিও হয়তো বন্ধ হয়ে যাবে। গেস্ট হাউজ ও হ্রদ বাইদ সংলগ্ন শতভাগ গারো গ্রাম চুনিয়ার ওপর নেতিবাচক প্রভাব ফেলবে।
মধুপুরের গারোরা বাংলাদেশ আওয়ামী লীগের একনিষ্ঠ সমর্থক। জাতির পিতা বঙ্গবন্ধু শেখ মুজিবুর রহমানকে তারা অন্তরে ধারণ করেন। ১৯৭১ সালে মুক্তিযুদ্ধে তাদের অংশগ্রহণ ছিল উল্লেখযোগ্য। তারপরও তাদেরকে ৪ একরের মতো বাইদের জমি ছেড়ে দিতে জোরাজুরি করতে হচ্ছে যেখানে তারা স্বেচ্ছায় কলা, আনারস, পেঁপে ও মশলার আবাদের জন্য তাদের উঁচু জমির অধিকাংশ মেদি (লিজ) দিয়েছেন।
শেষ পর্যন্ত গারোরা কিছু ক্ষতিপূরণের বিনিময়ে হয়তো বাইদের জমি ছাড়তেও পারেন। তবে তারা স্বেচ্ছায় হ্রদের জন্য জমি দেবেন না, এমনটাই তারা বলছেন নানাভাবে। গারোদের অনেক দাবির মধ্যে অন্যতম হলো- সনাতনী ভূমির অধিকার, যা রাষ্ট্র অস্বীকার করে। আমরা আশা করব সরকার সামাজিক বনায়ন প্রকল্পের তিক্ত অভিজ্ঞতা এবং এর বিপর্যয়কর কুফল বিবেচনা করে মধুপুর এবং সেখানে বসবাসকারী শান্তিপ্রিয় গারোদের প্রতি সুবিচার করবে।
ফিলিপ গাইন: গবেষক ও সোসাইটি ফর এনভায়রনমেন্ট অ্যান্ড হিউম্যান ডেভেলপমেন্ট (শেড) পরিচালক
Philip.gain@gmail.com
(দ্য ডেইলি স্টারের সম্পাদকীয় নীতিমালার সঙ্গে লেখকের মতামতের মিল নাও থাকতে পারে। প্রকাশিত লেখাটির আইনগত, মতামত বা বিশ্লেষণের দায়ভার সম্পূর্ণরূপে লেখকের, দ্য ডেইলি স্টার কর্তৃপক্ষের নয়। লেখকের নিজস্ব মতামতের কোনো প্রকার দায়ভার দ্য ডেইলি স্টার নেবে না।)
by admin | Apr 2, 2022 | Newspaper Report
Philip Gain | News Link
Sat Apr 2, 2022 12:00 AM Last update on: Sat Apr 2, 2022 11:15 PM
Sal forest that has been turned into banana and pineapple orchards. Photo: Philip Gain
A beautiful baid may soon turn into a little artificial lake in Modhupur forest area. Baid is low land to grow rice and other crops in, between chala (high) land with sal stands. Baid and chala with reddish soil are special features of Modhupur Garh. In large parts of Modhupur forest, sal and hundreds of other native species have been replaced by the plantation of exotic acacia, pineapple, banana and spices. And thus, the beauty of baid and chala with sal stands has disappeared in most parts of Modhupur sal forest.
In one such baid, running west to east from Dokhola Range office, the Forest department is building a two-story guesthouse. It wants to dig a small lake (200 feet by 800 feet) on nearly four acres of this land to be used by the guests for recreational purposes. The wild animals will also come to quench their thirst at the lake, claims a top forest official.
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A few Garo families owning this baid (on the basis of customary rights) are unwilling to give up the land that they have been using for generations. The Garos, indeed, have been living in this area since before the creation of the Forest Department and they used to get patta (yearly lease) and pattan (long-term lease) from the Zamindars for it. The de facto owners of the baid claim they paid taxes for this land in the past. However, since the land was gazetted as forest land and the area declared part of the Modhupur National Park, they could not pay land taxes anymore. The Garos and other locals, around 90 percent without title deeds for the land they live on and use, are thus entangled in conflict with the Forest Department, who now claim jurisdiction over all gazetted land.
In September last year, I met some of the owners of the baid and they all stood strongly against the plan to dig a small artificial lake on the agricultural land they use. “The government’s plan to dig a lake here does not indicate any good intentions,” said Dipen Nokrek (65) who claims owning 2.4 acres of land in the baid. Belly Nokrek (27), another Garo who claims owning 71 decimals of land said with confidence, “I do not want a lake here. If the government wants to dig a lake here without our consent, we will stage protests.”
For months, a tug-of-war has been going on between the Garos and the Forest Department. The Garos are divided on the lake issue. Some are for it, but most are against it or are sceptical.
The FD, politicians and administrations are trying to convince the Garos to give up a bit of this baid for the lake. “They have promised some compensation for the land,” says Eugin Nokrek, president of Joyenshahi Adivasi Unnayan Parisad, the premier Garo social organisation in Modhupur. “But we have not yet decided. If proper compensation is given and our other demands are met, we may give consent.”
“In a meeting on March 19, attended by politicians and higher-ups in the local administrations and the forest department, the DC has offered a compensation of Taka five lacs, which is too small an amount,” reports Nokrek, who attended the meeting. “We will discuss among ourselves and get back to them.”
Why a tiny, artificial lake?
Modhupur is thoroughly despoiled. The sylvan aroma is gone. In most parts, there are orchards of banana, pineapple, papaya, spices and lemon. Deforestation is not a new phenomenon. But what we have seen since the mid-1980s, with the advent of rubber plantation and then plantation of exotic species under the guise of social forestry, is rapid destruction of traditional sal forest patches in Modhupur and elsewhere. The so-called social forestry has also caused massive loss of natural forest patches in the south-eastern districts of the country.
It is under the forestry projects funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that so-called co-management of forests was introduced in Modhupur from the 1990s. While the ADB-funded forestry projects have been proven to have caused colossal damage resulting in it suspending all its operations in the forestry sector since 2005, social forestry practices continue. Currently, the Forest Department is implementing a World Bank-funded project worth USD 175 million called Sustainable Forests & Livelihoods (SUFAL). The World Bank-funded project is controversial in that it promotes collaborative forest management, a model close to co-management that has not brought the desired good to our forests. However, the forestry projects with concessional loans from the international financial institutions bring huge financial benefits to the project-mongers.
The guest house at Dokhola and the lake—or the pond, to be more accurate—are reported to be part of a purely government-funded project, titled, “Modhupur eco-tourism development and sustainable management with help of local people and tribals.” The FD officials confirmed that the guest house and lake are part of an arboretum plantation on three hectares of land in the Sadar Beat of National Park Sadar Range.
While around half of Modhupur sal forest has been consumed by pineapple, banana and spices orchards, setting up a tiny kind of botanical garden brings no hope for the protection of trees. The people of Modhupur have witnessed how the so-called social forestry projects have caused ecocide. Social forestry eventually led to pineapple, banana, papaya, spice plantations and has not even spared the Charaljani Forest Research Centre. Not long ago, the 400-acre research centre had very good coverage of local and foreign species of trees. The research centre, established in 1967, has now been reduced to hardly 20 acres and it is difficult to determine if it is a forest research centre at all anymore.
The state of a medicinal garden (established in 2003) neighbouring Charaljani Forest Research Centre does not demonstrate meaningful practice, either. The plantation under SUFAL has also surprised the local people when the understory vegetation of the sal forest patches had been cleared and saplings of some local fruits and other species were planted. Common people are fed-up of all these while the traders and politically influential people have been making huge profits out of fruit and spice plantations on forest land.
They see the concept of an arboretum with a guest house and a tiny lake as a joke. Many question why a beautiful baid with a natural environment has to become a lake. Can’t those staying in the guest house be satisfied with the existing natural environment around? If they want to see water, they can go to Gorgora lake near Lohoria Beat, which was dug in the 1980s. It is now abandoned and some infrastructure built around it has also eroded. Guests can also take a motorbike ride from Dokhola to Rasulpur and see the remaining sal forest patches. They can also trek through rubber plantations to see the “green desert”!
The Dokhola Forest Range Office premises looked so much better with a few tin-shed cottages. Part of our constitution was written here in 1972. Our Father of the Nation spent a few days at the Dokhola Rest House in January 1971 as well. This is a glorious piece of history that everyone should know. But nowadays, a huge security gate has been constructed at the entrance of the premises. The beautiful landscape looks clumsy now. The air does not flow normally. A two-storey guest house with a couple of rooms and an artificial lake will further congest the environment and restrict general people’s entrance to the area. A mud road that the Garos take through Dokhola Range office to Dokhola Bazar will probably be blocked. The people of Chunia, a pure Garo village, will be adversely affected.
The Garos of Modhupur in general are strong supporters of Bangladesh Awami League. They revere the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, from their hearts. Their participation in the War of Liberation in 1971 was noteworthy. Yet, they are being made to surrender around four acres of baid land when they have leased a large percentage of their chala land for commercial plantation of banana, pineapple, papaya and spices.
The Garos may surrender the land for the lake in the end, in exchange for some compensation, but it will not be done voluntarily. The Garos have many demands, foremost of them is recognition of their customary land rights, which the state denies. We can only hope the government will do justice to Modhupur and the peace-loving Garos in consideration of bitter experiences with forestry projects and the colossal damage, including ecocide, that these have caused.
Philip Gain is a researcher and director at the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD). He has researched and written extensively on Modhupur forests and its people for three and a half decades. Email: philip.gain@gmail.com
by admin | Dec 27, 2021 | Newspaper Report
Despite working in extremely difficult conditions, the female tea workers of Bangladesh persevere
Philip Gain | News Link
Mon Dec 27, 2021 12:00 AM Last update on: Mon Dec 27, 2021 08:50 AM
Women tea workers walk in queue towards a tea leaf collection point. Photo: Philip Gain
It was midday on October 6, 2018. A woman was sitting under a mahogany tree at Sreemangal Upazila Health Complex in Moulvibazar. Another woman was holding a newborn wrapped in a blanket. A few men were also around. I approached them out of curiosity, only to learn of a stunning story. The woman sitting under the tree was Mithila Nayek, 22, a tea worker at Hossainabad Tea Garden in Sreemangal upazila. She looked pale and in pain. She had actually given birth to the baby girl just an hour before. Maya Tanti, her relative, was taking care of the newborn.
Mithila’s baby did not cry at birth; she was having trouble breathing. The health complex doctors referred her to Moulvibazar district hospital. Mithila’s husband Narendra Nayek and brother Madan Nayek were looking for a vehicle to take her to Moulvibazar. An ambulance parked afar in the complex would cost Tk 500—a big sum for the family. Narendra finally found a CNG autorickshaw after a half-hour search, and took the mother and the baby to Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital. Both of them survived.
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Mithila had the baby after suffering three miscarriages. Most of the women working in the tea gardens give birth with the help of untrained midwives (dhatri), and the cases of deaths at birth, stillbirths, and maternal deaths are much higher in numbers in the tea gardens than the national average. Mithila went to the upazila health complex, because her water had broken the night before and all the fluid had drained out, but the untrained midwife she had gone to could not deliver her baby throughout the night.
Mithila and her family went through an ordeal to go to the health complex. The condition of the road was bumpy, and she had to travel in a CNG autorickshaw. The privately-owned tea garden did not provide any vehicles, let alone an ambulance, even during the critical condition of a woman giving birth. It was sheer luck that her baby survived.
There are thousands of women like Mithila, working at tea gardens across Bangladesh, who suffer the same when giving birth. They also have a tough time throughout their pregnancies, and it is due to the remoteness of the areas, superstition, cultural practices, malnutrition, poor housing, tough and indecent work conditions. The female tea garden workers are often in ill health, with cases of cervical cancer, tuberculosis and other diseases common in their communities.
Compared to other agriculture-based industries, the male-female ratio in the labour force of the tea industry is different, in that 51 percent of around 139,000 workers in the 158 traditionally large tea gardens—located in Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Chattogram and Rangamati districts—are women. When we visit the tea gardens, we see mostly women in the green valleys, busy picking tea leaves. From a distance, the scene of tea leaf picking is picturesque. But we probably cannot fathom how laborious picking tea leaves with your bare hands, and sometimes on bare feet, can be. While most men disappear by midday after fulfilling their nirikh (daily quota of work), women keep working in the gardens until sunset.
The job of tea leaf picking requires the workers to keep standing all day—be it under the scorching sun or in the rain. They normally walk four to five kilometres to reach the section where they pick tea leaves. They work fast to fulfil their daily nirikh. Women pick tea leaves in groups all day. It is not just that they pick the tender leaves—they also clear unnecessary creepers and weed that they come across while working. Thus, they also tend to every tea plant.
Between morning and lunchtime, a tea leaf picker (pattiwali) is likely to complete two rounds of submission of tea leaves at collection points. Each time, they walk two to three kilometres to reach the collection point and then go back to their designated sections. The collections during morning hours sometimes go well over the nirikh of the day.
The lunch break provides for quite a scene. Usually, they sit in groups under the open sky or a tree. There is no shade for them to sit under and eat lunch or take rest if someone falls sick—which is a violation of the labour law. The staple for their lunch is usually homemade bread or rice, while they eat potatoes, fried chilli, onion and chanachur sometimes. They also carry bottles of cold tea that they normally make with low-quality tea leaves. Many simply soak the bread in cold tea and eat it for lunch. At the places they eat lunch, they start a small fire to keep mosquitoes and flies away.
The indecencies do not stop there. There is also no toilet or any washing facilities in the sections where the tea garden workers work (although one tea garden recently reported setting up toilets). This means women defecate and urinate in the open. This is again a clear violation of the labour law.
Upon finishing lunch, they get ready for the afternoon shift. While preparing, many are seen rubbing kerosene or other solutions on their legs and feet. This is to protect their bare feet and legs from leeches and insects. By the time they drop off their final headloads of green tea leaves at the collection points, the sun sets on the horizon.
The most distressing part of this scenario is that women pick an additional 20-25kg or even more of tea leaves to make some extra money after meeting their daily target of 22-25kg. The wage they get for picking up the additional tea leaves is not fair. In other words, female tea workers are pushed to work excessive hours to earn extra income, while the working hours for the male workers are generally fixed. This is a deceptive strategy to make women work harder and longer hours than men.
Women tea labourers face the toughest time during their pregnancies. They keep working till the very end of their pregnancies. Hard work and fall during work often cause miscarriages. They generally take their maternity leaves after giving birth. They save their sick leaves, which they take just before childbirth, and stay home two to three weeks before delivery.
The additional pressure on women is that many are married off at an early age, and they give birth to children even before they are physically ready to do so. Besides, women are the ones who use all birth control methods. In a 2018 survey on 60 pregnant women, the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD) found that 29 of them had been married off before 18 years of age. Twenty-nine of those 60 women used birth control methods. But none of their husbands used any contraceptives. These and many other factors lead to miscarriages and maternal deaths at much higher rates at the tea gardens compared to the national average.
Women in the tea gardens—housewives or tea leaf pickers—are in charge of endless household chores. Before everyday work in the tea gardens, a female tea worker has to finish all the morning chores. After returning home from work, she gets busy with household chores again. She has a long list of household chores that includes cooking, collecting firewood, washing, cleaning, taking care of domestic animals, fetching water, taking care of children and helping her husband in agricultural work. She has no time to rest after all these chores that she routinely performs. Women do all these quietly.
What do they get in return for all their services to their families, society, and the tea industry? Can they raise their voices at social organisations, trade unions and other forums?
Women are indeed made to work extremely hard, but patriarchy overshadows their lives and contributions. For example, women are just a third of 3,200 members of 230 panchayats, the garden-level local councils aligned with their lone trade union, Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union, which has a central committee of 35 members—in which only nine are women. In none of the central and valley committees and panchayats is a woman in the position of chairperson, general secretary or treasurer. Women have the opportunity to get elected in seats reserved for them. No woman has ever been placed in the positions of chairperson, general secretary or treasurer in any panel for elections at any level. Men say women are incapable and do not have time—a claim that women refute.
Furthermore, women face extreme discrimination during recruitment at the workplace. Almost all sardars (supervisors) in the tea gardens are men. The office employees—around 3,000—include only a few women. They also report that they are subject to a variety of physical and mental abuse at work, home, and society. These include verbal abuse by their employers and supervisors, abuse in the hands of their husbands (particularly when they are drunk), coercion, sexual harassment including rape, involuntary abortion, and sexual assault on children and teenage girls.
The tea workers, most of whom are non-Bengali Hindus, are considered social outcasts because of their caste status, and face severe wage deprivation and income inequality. The current daily cash pay of a tea worker is Tk 120. Adding all fringe benefits (rations at subsidised prices, free housing and treatment in particular), it stands at around Tk 200. The tea workers have never received gratuity at retirement or their share in the companies’ profits. Furthermore, they face deprivation of many other kinds as citizens of Bangladesh, because of their isolation from the mainstream population.
Women are the worst hit by the discrimination at tea gardens. A high percentage of them are skinny and malnourished. But they do not consider themselves as victims; they continue to show their strength. They demonstrate their skills in managing their families with meagre income and scanty opportunities. They are the ones who bring air of hope and imagination for their children, whom they want to see educated and not become tea workers. They are the ones who are determined to break the tradition, “Children of tea workers become tea workers.”
Philip Gain is a researcher and director at the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD).
by admin | Oct 12, 2021 | Newspaper Report
Philip Gain | News Link
Tue Oct 12, 2021 12:00 AM Last update on: Tue Oct 12, 2021 12:00 AM
The wage structure announced by the Minimum Wage Board deprives the tea workers of Bangladesh of what they deserve. Photo: Ronald Halder
An unthinkable and deplorable situation has risen out of the rigid position taken by the Minimum Wage Board (MWB) that was formed to fix the minimum wage for the hapless tea workers of Bangladesh. After much haggling, the wage board sent its final recommendation on the minimum wage structure for the tea workers to the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Severely disturbed at the negotiation table of the wage board, Rambhajan Kairi, who represents around 138,000 tea workers from 158 tea gardens in Sylhet and Chattogram divisions, abstained from approving and signing the recommendation. He also did not join the last meeting of the wage board, held just before it sent its recommendation to the labour ministry at the end of June this year.
The labour ministry, apparently dissatisfied, sent the recommendation back to the wage board, asking it to reconsider the wages of the tea workers who currently get ridiculously low daily cash pay of Tk 117, Tk 118, and Tk 120. The wages of monthly paid tea workers are also similarly low. The ministry’s move brought a ray of hope for the tea workers. The wage board, set up by the government in October 2019 to give a pragmatic consideration while fixing the tea workers’ wages, kept the same wages that they currently get. The current wages had been fixed for 2019 and 2020 through an agreement between the Bangladesh Tea Association (BTA), which represents the tea garden owners, and Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union (BCSU), the tea workers’ union. The tea workers were surprised and shocked to see that the wage board had not changed their wages. What is more, it scrapped the traditions (dastur) in the tea gardens, showed little respect to the labour law, curtailed tea workers’ benefits, and remained blind to the minimum wages that the government has fixed for other industries.
We haven’t seen the communications from the labour ministry, but it is clear that the ministry was not satisfied with the wage board’s recommendation, and wanted it reconsidered to do some justice to the tea workers.
However, the meeting that the wage board convened on October 4 to discuss and reconsider the recommendation in light of the ministry directive was allegedly spoiled. “The owners’ representative questioned the validity of the meeting, on the grounds that the directive and advice of the labour ministry had not come with its letter, which came on the 44th day after the receipt of the final recommendation. They said the directive came after 45 days, and therefore were void,” said Kairi, representative of the tea workers. The wage board chairman himself reportedly took the owners’ representative’s side.
Section 140 of the Labour Act, however, clearly states that the government, represented by the labour ministry, can send back recommendations made by the minimum wage board for reconsideration within 45 days of its receipt with or without comment and information. Giving comments or additional information is not mandatory.
The chairman and four other members of the Minimum Wage Board reportedly decided not to have any further discussion and to send the same recommendation back to the labour ministry. The October 4 meeting, thus, wound up with a thumb extended downward.
This is a ridiculous development when compared with the minimum wages fixed for workers in other industries. Take the construction and wood sector, for example, where workers are placed in six grades and their wages are calculated on monthly and daily bases. The latest gazette, published on August 16, 2021, has announced their wages. In Grade 6, the lowest-paid among the workers in the construction and wood sector, jogalis (helpers) and labourers will now get a daily wage of Tk 620 in rural areas and Tk 680 in urban areas. The daily wages in Grade 5, for assistant masons and other assistant workers (in rod, wood, electricity, paint and polish), will be Tk 710 in rural areas and Tk 770 in urban areas. Masons, carpenters, electricians, assistant mosaic mechanics, assistant tile mechanics, all belonging to Grade 3, will get a daily wage of Tk 870 in rural areas and Tk 940 in the urban areas. The highest paid workers in this sector (in Grade 1)—mosaic and tile mechanics—will get Tk 1,020 in the rural areas and Tk 1,105 in urban areas.
Why, then, are the tea workers, who work harder in the fields and factories, getting such miserable wages? If we recalculate the wages with the subsidies for ration added to the cash pay, a tea worker gets less than Tk 200 a day. As far as we understand, the owners’ representative has tried to convince the wage board that it pays a daily wage of Tk 403 to a tea worker. The chairman of the wage board, a senior district judge, must be aware that the owners have monetised the houses given to workers, equipment required for plucking tea leaves, overtime pay, owners’ contribution to the provident fund, medical expense, pension, education cost of the children of tea workers, labour welfare programmes, and even the incomes of the tea workers generated from growing vegetables, fruits and raising cattle on the land leased from the government for tea production, while calculating the wages. Section 2 (45) of the labour law does not allow the employers to monetise these and to add them to the wages.
If the wage board had any respect for the labour ministry’s advice communicated on September 13 and afterwards, it should have further investigated the grievances of the tea workers and consulted all parties—including economists—to reconsider its recommendation. Section 140 (3) of the labour law states that if the wage board thinks there is no need to amend or change the recommendation, it can inform the government explaining the reasons why. However, the government—more specifically the labour ministry, in this case—has the power to take legal measures to make sure the workers get justice in getting fair wages.
Section 141 of the labour law mentions factors for the wage board to consider at the time of fixing new wage structure for any industry. These are cost of living, standard of living, production cost, price of products, business capability, inflation, type of work, risk and standard, economic and social conditions of the country and of the locality concerned, and other relevant factors.
Had the wage board been mindful of these factors, and considered the wages that the tea workers get in India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and other countries, it could not have blindly supported the owners and recommended a wage structure that severely infringes the country’s constitution and the labour law. Needless to say, the wage board has shown disdain for a largely non-Bangalee and non-Muslim working community, whom many compare with modern-day slaves or a captive labour force.
“If we think of living expenses in the Sylhet region, it is Tk 7,750 for a single adult, Tk 14,500 for a four-member family, and Tk 16,800 for a family with more than four members,” said Dr Binayak Sen, director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), during a recent dialogue on tea workers’ wages.
“What has been happening with the tea workers is a matter of great injustice,” said Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, former caretaker government adviser and the executive chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC). “The current wages have to be increased because of inflation and other factors. We hope the Minimum Wage Board will increase wages logically.”
Despite all the strong arguments shared by different quarters, including the tea workers’ union, the owners’ side remains rigid about their position to not increase wages at all. With the workers’ representative technically excluded, the wage board has blindly taken the owners’ side. We can safely say that the owners have hijacked the wage board, to safeguard their profits. This is not fair. The immediate role of the government is to see that justice is done in giving fair wages to the tea workers.
Philip Gain is a researcher and director at the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD).
