KM Masum Billah

From 1972 to 2015, a total of eight pay-scale announcements in 43 years, that is, if you sit down to calculate like normal numbers, you should get about two new pay-scales in the last 10 years! In that case, a government employee who is a 9th grade i.e. first class officer, his salary scale is 22 thousand taka according to the year 2015, after getting two pay scales, his basic should be about 66 thousand taka now! Although the calculation of numbers seems imaginary in the present reality, if there is continuity, it should have been the same, even if two pay scales are not possible, at least one pay scale should have been 44 thousand tk! That is, the person who is currently getting salary in the scale of 44 thousand taka according to the market is still behind 22 thousand and his life is being conducted accordingly! A 4th class employee who gets a salary of 13/14 thousand tk is now a burden to his family and society! But in the last ten years the per capita income has doubled, what have we got? We have the same situation as the pumpkin! What happens with so much development if a section of the society is deprived of their availability! The situation in which Rafiq Azad may have to write again "Bhat de Haramzada, na hoy manchitro khabo!

The eighth pay scale was last announced in 2015, but after nine years, the 9th national pay scale is yet to see the light of day. The post-Corona economy, the Russia-Ukraine war, and even the corruption of thousands of crores of taka in the name of mega projects taken by the previous government have increased inflation in the country. As a result, common people have to struggle to meet their daily expenses.

All the daily necessities have to be bought at extra cost. In addition to most of the daily necessities, the price of fish and meat has increased by about 40-50% in the last two years! Also, edible oil has been a common headache cause for a long time. Everything has been affected by the rise in market rates. As a result of the abnormal increase in the price of fuel oil, the fares of buses, trucks, launches and even Alfa, mixers have been increased by 50-100%. All in all, common people are really struggling through the day.

It is difficult to find any vegetable below 60-80 taka in the market at the moment. The price of fish has increased several times, the price of Hilsa fish is out of reach. Hilsa is like a middle-class luxury! Beef, mutton or hilsa fish are now out of reach for the lower, middle classes. One kg of beef can be bought with the salary of a first class officer in a day! The situation is really terrible! If you go to the market with 1000 taka, the bag will not fill the market. In the meantime, due to the lack of full control in the market monitoring system during the previous government, sometimes the prices of some daily products went sky high! The price of those products has not yet decreased! A great example of this can be eggs! Farm eggs are still selling at 55/- each! But a few days ago it was 30-35 taka! The prices of daily commodities are by no means affordable. While unscrupulous businessmen benefit from it, the pockets of common employees are empty.

According to the eighth national pay scale, the minimum 20th grade comes with a salary of 8,200 taka in the scale of 12,000 to 13,000 taka. However, the price of daily necessities including rice, pulses and oil has increased, so it is not possible to meet the living expenses with 12,000 taka. According to the 8th pay scale, a first class officer gets a salary of 31/32 thousand in the scale of 22000. Also, a 10th grade officer gets a salary of 23/24 thousand taka, which is not much more than the salary of a laborer!

In such a situation, they also have to suffer while paying the additional price of daily necessities as well as additional vehicle rent and additional house rent! In particular, the cost of living has increased by nearly fifty percent compared to two years ago, while salaries have remained the same. Due to this, the middle class and lower middle class families are spending their days in despair. In 2015, it is possible to support a family with 23/24 thousand taka, but in 2024, due to the increase in the standard of living and the cost of living, it is not possible to support a family with this same amount of taka! Also, a further depreciation of the dollar against the dollar means that the same money is getting fewer things than before, making it harder and harder for new entrants to survive. Not to mention those who are employees of grades 11-20! There is no end to their misery.

After the first pay scale was given in 1973 till 2015, a total of eight pay scales have been announced in 42 years. That is, the pay scale is announced every five years on an average. Analysis from 1st pay scale to 8th pay scale shows that every 5-6 years pay scale is given fresh based on per capita income, market value. However, after 2015, the economy of Bangladesh has taken a new turn. In the financial year 2015-16 where the per capita income of the people of the country was 1466 US dollars. There per capita income stood at US$ 2824 in FY 2023-24. In other words, although the per capita income of the people of the country has doubled in the last eight years, the salary scale has not been adjusted accordingly.

It is a very unfortunate fact that no pay scale was given at that time. Also, at this time, Bangladesh has entered from a low-income country to a middle-income country, so it is time to adjust the salary of the employees accordingly. In the last 10 years our average per capita income has doubled, the GDP of the country has increased, the purchasing power of the people has increased. However, government employees are deprived of this benefit because their purchasing power has not increased much due to the non-declaration of pay scale. So it is impossible for them to adapt to the contemporary market. By doing this, they are lagging behind socially. Why is a part of the country's GDP, per capita income increased from being deprived? At least if we calculate the average from 1973 to 2015 then it was quite logical to have a minimum pay scale after 2015. And if the salary was adjusted with the market, then the cost of the general would be reduced a lot.

After the announcement of the 8th National Pay Scale, there was a movement regarding various discriminations in grades 11-20. However, no action was taken after this. Various organizations of government employees have been agitating for the 9th National Pay Scale for a long time. The demands of reducing the 20 grades of the 8th national pay scale to 10 grades, reducing the disparity between different grades and 40% dearness allowance are coming up in their movement. The demand for 9th National Pay Scale is only logical considering the country's economic development and per capita income and inflation. Also, till the time the 9th National Pay Scale is implemented, it is important to take measures for gratuity. In such a situation, due to the increase in the price of goods and the increase in the standard of living, it has become very necessary to take steps to eliminate other disparities, including the announcement of the 9th pay scale through the formation of a new pay commission.

There is no end to people's expectations on the new government led by Dr. Mohammad Younus. Right now, everything from dealing with the economic crisis to maintaining law and order is a big challenge. However, we should not forget that the basis of the victory that the students won on August 5 was the anti-discrimination movement. A class of people have embezzled thousands of crores of taka, it is never desirable that government employees should be deprived of their fair rights like pay scale. The new government must set up a committee to announce the pay scale in line with the market who will be able to monitor everything and give an acceptable pay scale.

The writer is a, Columnist and Bank Officer, Janata Bank Plc, Chowrasta Branch, Patuakhali.