Editorial
Food rationing initiative
Corruption-free distribution key to success
THIS is a major worker-friendly and pro-poor undertaking the government has decided to embark on from the upcoming historic May Day. The labour and employment minister has announced a plan, albeit in broad outlines, aiming to feed as many as three million readymade garment workers at a subsidised price of Tk18 per kg of rice. Each worker will be entitled to buying 20kgs of rice per month.
Given that the garment workers as a major contributor to the country's export earning are ironically still in the low income bracket, it only heartens one to know that the government is about to initiate food rationing for them.
They deserve it, but the issues here are duration of the programme -- whether it would be for the lean period of three months or all the year round -- and, more importantly, what would be the modalities of distribution.
The chief bane of the food rationing in the past had been corruption-riddled distribution systems. The nexus between dealers and food officials or inspectors has been the spoiler. But, of course, garment workers belong to an organised sector and we are given to understand that the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association(BGMEA) and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association(BKMEA) will shoulder the responsibility of coordinating with the government.
Potentially thus, the distribution mechanism can be straight-forward with lesser number of players and also layers involved in the process. Still, constant vigil will have to be maintained by government agencies to ensure that pilferage, black marketing, corruption and favouritism do not take place in any form or shape.
Let's not forget, four million mouths have swelled the ranks of ultra-poor due to rising prices in the recent past. They will all need to be sustained through VGF cards, Test Relief and Food for Work. It is all too known that the government is subsidising farmers in important ways, so that the entirety is a massive undertaking in which the cost of even partial failure could be heavy. Therefore, a high premium is automatically placed on the success of the rationing programme.
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