Iqbal & His Humble Views

Poverty Eradication

Our Poverty, Homeless Problems and the Measures to Eradicate
Muhd.Iqbal Hussain Sharif

Human-being, the most valuable & important creation of Almighty Allah on Earth. No Religion or anyone would dare to say anything against this creation, though a major portion of them in Bangladesh do sleep on Road-sides, Drains and do die without sufficient Food and proper Treatment. Nobody should beg, though actually, we can’t move anywhere in our Country without seeing the best creation of Almighty Allah, who begs and sleeps by the Road-sides & Drains !!! This is so shameful to any person as well as to any Govt. with minimum sense!!! As a Human-being and a cautious Citizen, I would try to find out the Causes of this inhuman problem and would also try to suggest the ways to overcome the same .

As a Human-being as well as a true Muslim, I firmly believe, any Government is for the welfare of her mass People. But I am 95% in doubt about this basic aim in our Country ! The alarmingly raising numbers of Beggars & Homeless People on our Roads throughout the Country do prove that. It’s not only inhuman, but also a pain & shame for any Govt. and their Citizens. Why should the best creation of Almighty Allah beg from door to door, sleep by the road-sides and die without Food & Treatment ? Why should they Born, Live & Die in Debts, when a section of our so-called Educated & Smart People do spend thousands of Taka per day just for the Smoking & Drinking habits, while a major portion of our Society, our Fathers, Mothers, Brothers & Sisters, would die without the minimum food & basic treatment facilities ? Why should we sleep in the Air-conditioned Rooms, while a section of our Relatives & Neighbors would sleep by the roadsides and would drink the waste water from the drains ? Why the prices of Essential Commodities would gone up by 50% to 100% or even more without any justifiable reason during the Ramadan, though the majority of the Stockiest are Muslims & Hajjes even ? Is it the teachings of Islam or any other religion ? It’s nothing but the lack of Ethical Education, Wrong Policy, Mal-distribution of Wealth and lack of Information. It is the so-called belief : King can do no wrong !

To solve the issue permanently, sufficient Special Allocations in the National Budget, say 7%, plus a levy of Tk.50.00 ( Taka Fifty ) on each Mobile Phone & Tk.100.00 ( Taka One hundred ) on each Land Phone per month may please be imposed for the next 10 ( Ten ) years right from now on to solve this inhuman issue forever. By doing so, more or less Tk.10,000 ( Ten thousand ) Crores could be collected per year. Even, if required, another Tk.2,000 to Tk.3,000 ( Two thousand to Three thousand ) Crores could also be collected annually by imposing the levy on Electricity & Gas Bills and the Transport System like : Bus, Truck, Jeep, Micro, Car, Motor Cycle, Launch, etc. and the Religious Institutions as well.

With those collected money, initially some nicely protected but less costly and environment friendly Productive Projects with more or less 50 to 100 Acres of land be taken over throughout the Country, if possible, in each Police Station and even in the Union levels as well. These Projects would be used for the Residential, Agricultural & Commercial purposes, where the Beggars, Baste Dwellers and the Unemployed Youths over 23 years of age would reside and Produce. All these Beggars, Unemployed Youths ( more than 23 years of age ) and the low-income Group People could be properly Technically trained to produce the daily necessities ( both Agricultural & Industrial ) and export items, which would ensure Food, Clothes, Shelter, Education, Treatment and Entertainment to all those residents and would also make our Country beautiful & self-sufficient in all respects within only 03 to 05 years’ time. At the initial stage, the Govt. shall have to spend for these Projects ( which the Govt. would collect from the 7% National Budget and the levy to be imposed on Goods & Services ), but only within maximum 05 years’ period, each Project would be self-sufficient and would contribute tremendously in our National Economy without being burdens & ugly for ever.

I do also strongly believe, to reach the desired goal, close monitoring system must be ensured on regular basis by forming a new Ministry, 6 Divisional, 64 District and Thana & Union Offices, as the case may be. The good & Patriotic Officers & Staff of those Projects be reasonably rewarded with Cash Incentives ( minimum 02 times of their Salary ), Housing facilities & due Promotions, while the Corrupt Officers & Staff must be jailed ( no VIP treatment ) for at least 15 years to set examples.

It will be highly appreciated if this humble suggestions could be considered from this or the next National Budget.

May I expect all of your kind support in this issue, please ?

The End

This write-up was sent by E-mail to To : Dr. A. B. Mirza Md. Azizul Islam, Hon’ble Finance Adviser, Govt. of the P.R.Bangladesh at : ‘[email protected]’ on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 11.35 A.M., though no reply as yet has been received.

N.B. : Slightly edited / modified on Friday, October 10, 2008.