A nation in waiting: Urgent priorities for Bangladesh's interim government

We don't know if our honourable Chief Adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, and his advisers go to the bazaar, but if they do, they must understand how the middle and lower-middle classes are struggling to survive as prices of essential commodities skyrocket daily. 

However, the interim government claims that since 5 August  2024, there have been no cases of extortion or so. If that is the case, why are kitchen market prices still rising?

The middle and lower classes are exhausted from managing these escalating kitchen market prices to meet their daily family needs, with many now sacrificing the bare minimum of protein in their diets. 

Is this the outcome that the people of Bangladesh envisioned when they supported the mass uprising and the student movement, which succeeded in overthrowing the fascist Hasina regime and installing Professor Muhammad Yunus's interim government with high hopes? 

Many lives were sacrificed during the movement—I lost my nephew on July 18—and those who survived face lifelong disabilities due to the brutality of the previous regime. Are they receiving the attention and treatment they deserve?

Our law and order situation has yet to be fully restored, minority groups still feel insecure, and the traffic system in the city has collapsed. The RMG sector, which is the largest employment generator and a crucial source of export and import revenue, remains in turmoil. Two months have passed, and the Yunus-led interim government has yet to resolve these critical issues.

Due to this instability, many multinational companies (MNCs) operating in Bangladesh are reconsidering their expansion and investment plans. India is still not accepting business visa applications from Bangladeshis, and travel adviseries from several countries remain in place. If these matters are not urgently addressed, our youth will face increasing unemployment, further hurting the economy and fuelling discontent.

Every day, people are protesting and blocking roads in the city, and there is no doubt that these demands stem from longstanding grievances caused by the corruption, discrimination, and oppression of the previous government. The movement that began in July 2024 initially focused on reforming the government job quota system to eliminate discrimination. Has the interim government taken any steps to hold the long-delayed government recruitment exams? 

Those who have applied for government jobs under the Public Service Commission (PSC) are unsure when the exams will take place, and as they wait, they are ageing. If this situation continues, only God knows where the movement for extending the government job entry age to 35 will lead.

Aside from the Ilish Saga, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, the interim government's adviser for the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change, has made some promising steps. She has banned free polythene shopping bags in supermarkets and imposed a Tk500 fine for honking on Airport Road, while also declaring certain areas of the city as "silent zones."

However, we still don't know what affordable alternatives to polythene bags have been proposed or what plans are in place for those involved in the polythene bag industry. I recently paid Tk32 for four poor-quality bags at a supermarket, which I wouldn't want to reuse.

Moreover, vehicles continue to honk unnecessarily on Airport Road, as I observed yesterday, raising the question of what use these laws are if they're not enforced. The same applies to the failed Dhaka traffic system, which causes immense daily suffering for commuters, negatively impacting mental health and resulting in the loss of millions of takas in wasted working hours. While we all understand the reasons behind this chaos and how to mitigate it, no visible action has been taken; what we see is only big talk from the concerned authorities.

We must also recognise that Dhaka is not all of Bangladesh. We need to think about the marginalised, minimalist people—our farmers, day labourers, and others living in villages. Their monthly income and purchasing power, given the current economic situation, cannot be adequately explained by economic metrics like per capita income, a figure the former Hasina government used to flaunt.

In conclusion, like the middle and lower middle classes, the villagers, who make up the majority of Bangladesh's population, are not concerned with foreign policy or inflation—they simply want affordable prices and their basic human rights to be protected.

Can the interim government prioritise these four critical issues in the coming days, despite other pressing challenges? First, stabilise commodity prices; second, restore law and order; third, ensure the best treatment for critically injured movement survivors; and fourth, expedite the long-pending government job exams.

Muhid Bhuiya is a Human Resources Manager for Bangladesh at an MNC

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard