Editor,
For all the scourge of illegal immigration and the bad name that illegal immigrants give to Bangladesh, many will be surprised to know that Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Since it gained independence in 1971, Bangladesh has built a strong reputation of being a manufacturing hub and the manufacturing sector has been able to create credible employment opportunities pulling millions of its people out of the clutches of poverty. So rather than the North Eastern states issuing work permits to Bangladeshi nationals, it should be the other way round. Distressed migration is one important issue that needs to be addressed immediately. If Bangladesh could issue work permits to people living in the border areas, it will reduce the scourge of distressed rural migration and open up avenues for credible job opportunities in the buzzing manufacturing sector in Bangladesh. People who will be given this opportunity can come back with sack loads of skill-sets and set up their own businesses here in our own state. Paul Krugman, the Nobel laureate while attending a conclave of a news channel recently stressed on the importance of strengthening the manufacturing sector. Without a strong manufacturing sector our country and our state in particular would be more susceptible to the dangers of a global financial crisis. No country in the world has been able to develop without a strong and robust manufacturing sector.
The Act East Policy as far as the state of Meghalaya is concerned should include within its ambit investment in Research and Development (R&D) and attract firms from Bangladesh to invest in Meghalaya. Bangladeshi products today are highly valued even in the markets of Shillong and they are giving cheap Chinese products a run for their money. As far as R&D and innovative learning is concerned, Dhaka in the pre-independence period was an educational hub par excellence. Had not East Bengal become East Pakistan, my grandfather was mulling sending my father over to Dhaka for schooling. Dhaka is once again a thriving metropolis and within the boundaries of this city are located institutions of higher learning that can provide us with the technical knowledge to spurt the growth momentum here in North East India.
Yours etc.,
Gary Marbaniang
Work permits a necessity!
Editor,
Today, Bangladeshi immigrant workers enter the State illegally and easily find work as labourers – both skilled and unskilled. You find them in the mining sector, the construction sector and even in the agriculture, industrial and hospitality sectors. They manage to stay below the radar and there is no account of the amount of money they earn and send back to their homes and families. They are employed by our own indigenous local entrepreneurs, who take up construction works, run plantations, tea shops, factories, or mine limestone and coal. They find employment because they are cheap and efficient. Besides, they are not entitled to any statutory work benefits, so there is not much of a financial burden on their employers.
However, they are also responsible for many illegal activities in the places they reside. They have no social responsibilities or commitments to their employers or hosts. It is easy for them to commit crimes and vanish thereafter because there are no official records of their existence. After committing a crime it is easy for them to slip away in the same manner that they slipped into the State. This, I believe, is the reason for many unsolved crimes. Crimes of robbery, dacoity, rape and murder!
Yes, there are measures put in place to restrict their illegal entry into our country and State. However, as long as it is financially beneficial to recruit and use them, and they find employment, they will continue to find a way to enter and work here. They are desperate and we have seen that they will brave any danger of detection, deportation, jail or even a physical beating, in order to be able to earn a living here. You detect and deport ten, and another twenty come in. Work permits for these illegal immigrants allows our entrepreneurs to access their cheap services. But, it puts the responsibility on those employing this cheap labour to obtain a permit to import and use them. It becomes the responsibility of the employers to check and verify the origins of the labour force they use. It makes it difficult for the employer to smuggle in cheap labour at the expense of the local work force. Further, because their existence is on record, their movements can be tracked and the bad elements can be detected and deported, thereby becoming a deterrent for them to commit any crimes. Their existence in our land is now transformed from an illegal status to a legal status.
If obtaining permits to employ these foreigners is made difficult and expensive, entrepreneurs will now be forced to use the local work force. It, therefore, protects the right of locals to find employment. Personally, therefore, I feel that taking the existence of these Bangladeshi labourers from the grey area into the scanner of the legal system, by making their employers take work permits for their service, will be more beneficial for our State and our people.
Your’s etc.,
RG Lyngdoh,
Via email