Almost a year and a half abode with COVID-19 pandemic, Ismat Zarin reports how the Pandemic has mocked the nation on the verge of helplessness.
The unanticipated blow from the COVID-19 pandemic followed by the dysfunctionality of preventive measures has left the world with an unexplainable flux. The pandemic seems to mock the 21st-century humans on the verge of helplessness.
Economic downfalls, compulsion to continue with income generation, and the urge to getting back to socialized life have immensely wedged even the well-heeled countries. The new disease has been philosophized as the greatest equalizer of this decade as it has exposed the growing wealth inequalities between communities.
In Bangladesh, the inequalities have been taking different forms. People without basic job security and proper pay structure have had the hardest hits. Businesses have closed down or shrunk, leading to redundancies. In a country where the unemployment rate has already soured rocket high, this has just fueled the condition and made it much worse.
A large number of people who have already been striving to move out of poverty have fallen back into the trap of its deeper form. Covid has not forced us to pause, because a country like Bangladesh does not have the resources to tackle the consequences. What it has done has plunged the population into the threats of Covid who will suffer if they do not go out to earn a living.
Ismat Zarin is an Assistant Professor at University of Asia Pacific and WhatsOn columnist.
