Bangladesh Headline News 21/05/2019

Headlines:

Bangladesh sees nearly 13 Rapes Everyday

Farmers are worried about the Production Cost of Paddy

Details:

Bangladesh sees nearly 13 Rapes Everyday

On an average nearly 13 women and girls were raped in the country every day in the first four months of the year as rape incidents were on the rise. Social scientists, lawyers and field level crime investigators expressed concerns over rising rape incidents and blamed slow criminal justice system, drug addiction and unemployment, among others, for the rise in the heinous crime. (New Age, 18 May 2019)

13 rapes per day is shocking but not surprising in a society where the social and political systems are based on materialistic values and sensual pleasures. Growing number of rape incidents clearly shows that we are heading to the Western life style and this is normal for a country that is being ruled by Western thoughts like personal freedom, hedonism etc. backed by secularism and democracy. Statistics show that in every 98 seconds someone in the USA is sexually assaulted. That means every single day more than 570 people experience sexual violence in the USA (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sexual-assault-statistics). This is despite the fact that fornication and adultery are legal in the USA; sexual crime occurs only when the woman has no consent to it.

Our social scientists, right activists, crime investigators expressed concerns over rising rape incidents but unfortunately, they could not diagnose the root cause of this crime. Yes, drugs, pornographic and other explicit sexual contents available on TV, mobile and internet, corrupt and slow judiciary etc. all adding fuel to the fire. But what is the fundamental trait that drives a man to commit such crime? First and foremost, it is the viewpoint towards woman. In capitalism, women are perceived as commodity and objective of life is to attain maximum pleasure. So, man will seek to satisfy his desire in whatever means possible as long as he can get away with it. Secular-capitalist system organizes all the institutions in the society in a way that facilitate portraying women as sexual object for example modeling, fashion show, brand and product ambassador etc. where a woman’s beauty rather than her talent is priced. Also this manmade system, due to the concept of freedom, organize the society in a way that causes stimulating human sexual instinct continuously, for example, free mixing of man and woman, no dress code to maintain public decorum etc.

Finally, if we analyze the factors that have been spotted in the news like drugs, pornography, and sexual assault etc., all these are consequences of secular - capitalist ruling system and uncaring rulers who are least concerned for protecting the honor of our sisters.

Only way out from this horrific situation is to reject this filthy secular-capitalist system of ruling and to bring back the Islamic ruling system because Islam perceives woman as human-a slave of Allah (swt) and under Islam rulers are obliged to protect women’s honor with utmost priority.

Farmers are worried about the Production Cost of Paddy

Despite bumper production of Boro coarse rice in the current harvesting season, farmers are unhappy due to drastic fall of price. In many places, farmers are setting fire on ripe paddy fields out of anger and frustration. It was decided that the government would purchase 1.23 million tons of paddy-rice from 25th April, but the purchase did not commence in time, and in this opportunity the middlemen purchased paddy at Tk 400 to Tk 500 per Mound [37.3242 kilogram] against the government set price of Tk 1,040. Farmers are sustaining a loss over Tk 300 per Mound let alone recovering the production cost. Meantime, instead of purchasing paddy from the growers, government has been purchasing large quantity of rice from the millers at pre-set high price from May 9, 2019.” [Daily Jugantor, 16 May 2019]

This is not an unusual scenario in the agriculture sector in Bangladesh. The farmers had also sustained loss in the previous “Aman” (a breed of paddy) harvesting season due to sharp fall of price. While the price of rice in the retail market remains steady, the farmers are always deprived of their due prices as their fate is yoked to the mercy of the middlemen millers. The government through its capitalistic policies favor the capitalist middlemen, large corporate profit mongers, and financiers over the marginal farmers. Close observation of the situation reveals that the primary causes that are contributing to the terrible situation are: (i) government has become the prime buyer of paddy instead of enabling the farmers to get access to the wider marketplace, (ii) price fixing of paddy-rice that are ensuring hefty profit to the millers bypassing the market while leaving the price of the farmers’ produce at the bidding of handful of millers, (iii) interest based lending to the farmers, and (iv) high price of production materials like irrigation, seeds, fertilizer etc. In one hand, high‑priced seeds, fertilizers, and power that are monopolized by large multinational and local corporations leading to high production cost. On the other hand, interest on borrowings, which the farmers become bound to avail due to high production cost, viciously further contributing to the production cost.

Islam will abolish this evil capitalist network by implementing its Shariah‑obligated precise policies. The Khilafah (Caliphate) shall ensure proper functioning of market by creating unhindered access for all the participants. The state shall not fix price for any goods as Prophet (saw) has forbidden price-fixing. If poor citizens need to be supported, the State shall purchase foodstuff from the open market and tend to their needs. Also the Khilafah will abolish all sorts of monopolies, usurious transactions, and restrict private ownership in public properties including power generation.