In a joint statement released today, the Bangladesh Labor Welfare Federation’s acting central president, professor Harunur Rashid Khan, and general secretary, advocate Atiqur Rahman, denounced the massive budget that the finance minister presented in the National Parliament on June 1 and claimed that it discriminated against the working class. There is no way that this budget can be considered labor-friendly.
The leaders claimed that, under the pretense of development, the government has made the lives of regular people miserable. The evolution of government has resulted in a miserable existence for the working class and common people. The public’s pockets and stomachs are not content today. The cost of goods is rising, on the one hand. However, millions of people do not have jobs. The proposed budget contains no guidance on how to normalize these people’s lives. It is obvious to all that the government does not value the average citizen who works for the nation. The budget would have accounted for it if there had been. But working people constantly bear the brunt of maintaining the nation’s economic momentum. They are no longer necessary or relevant at the state’s door. They are underappreciated in terms of their contribution to the nation’s socioeconomic development.
According to the leaders, there is unrestricted corruption, looting, and money laundering abroad among the members of the ruling government. State funds are still being squandered on pointless initiatives under the guise of development. On the other hand, the calculation on paper depicts the nation as a middle-income nation by highlighting the gap between the rich and the poor. The government’s actions have silenced both the nation’s common working class and the traditional economists within civil society. We already know from economists that this budget is extravagant and heavily indebted.
AHM Mustafa Kamal, the finance minister, reportedly presented a Tk 7 lakh 61 thousand 785 crore budget for the fiscal year 2023–24, according to leaders. The average impoverished person does not purchase any of the items that have been cut in this enormous budget. The cost of necessities for the average working person has gone up. The budget has allocated more money for the cost of instructional materials. In this instance, education will be denied to children from laboring families. All things think about, the working class finds no use for this budget.
“We want working people to live well and provide two meals a day for their families,” the leaders declared. The Minister of Finance must amend this budget to achieve this. It is necessary to create a welfare-focused budget for the working class.
