SUPPLEMENTARY IMCOME-GENERATION IN BANGLADESH : PROPOSAL FOR THE
WORK-HOUSE COMPLEX
(Part Four)
03.00 ENDEAVORS TO ERADICATE POVERTY
06.00 THE PROPOSAL : THE "WORK-HOUSE COMPLEX"
From the above discussions we find that the familial, social,
political situation of Bangladesh is such that in future there will be
no dearth of poor and needy people in the forms of (a) Poor students,
(b) Low-waged employees, (c) Childless men and women in old age, (d)
Old parents abandoned by the children, (e) Jobless persons and (f)
Physically handicapped persons.
Even though the state relief programs and NGO activities may benefit
some of the needy people, there is no possibility that these would
take constant care of the types of poor people mentioned above. The
type of persons mentioned above may possess various qualities like
teaching/coaching, singing, repairing skill, proficiency in food
preparation etc. and it may be possible for them to contribute those
in the services of the complex, there is no way to be sure that they
really would posses such qualities. However, we can be sure about one
thing that all of them will be capable of doing manual jobs in one way
or the other. Also we know that some of these people need shelter.
In such a context we propose for establishing "Work-House complexes"
at suitable locations in the urban and semi-urbanized areas. Such
complexes would essentially contain the following two facilities :
(01) Living quarter, (02) Facilities for manual work by normal and
crippled persons. Depending on the availability of raw materials,
persons with skills and other supporting facilities some of the larger
complexes may have the following : (03) Facilities for repairing
domestic appliances, (04) Facilities for production of some
labor-intensive items, (05) Handicrafts etc.
(01) PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION : The "work-house complex", henceforth
mentioned as "Work-house" will comprise of Housing for male and female
people, Work shed, Store room and ancillary facilities. In the complex
there will be provision for entry of trucks and loading and unloading
facilities.
In the work shed there will be facilities for such manual jobs like,
Packing materials, Fixing labels, Sorting, Weighing, Measuring and
similar jobs. Seating and working arrangements suitable for the
crippled persons would have to be provided. The Store room will be
used for storing raw materials and finished goods.
Depending on the availability of raw materials, skilled personnel and
ancillary facilities, the complex may be expanded further with the
following : (a) Cooking Unit, (b) Processing Unit, (c) Repairing of
domestic appliances, (d) Kiln for burning earthen pottery, (e) Kiln
for burning brick, (f) Handicrafts etc.
(a) Cooking Unit : A clean and superior kitchen may be established in
order to cook various items of food. Those may be packed in portable
boxes and supplied to the people working in various offices and other
organizations. Since the work-house complex will be rich in manual
labor, there should not be any dearth of labor force for this purpose.
(b) Processing Unit : The locally produced fruits and vegetables (like
banana, mango, tomato, etc. ) may be processed into juice, marmalade,
jam, jelly, sauce etc. In case the complex is not experienced enough
to manufacture such items, the authorities may invite the local
manufacturers to use their processing facilities and labor force.
(c) Repairing of domestic appliances : It is quite probable that some
of the members might know how to repair domestic appliances. In such
case the complex may open a repair section with necessary facilities.
The management of the section shall be in the hands of the complex
authorities and the skilled persons would get due remunerations.
(d) Kiln for burning earthen pottery : In case the soil in the
surrounding area is good for making pottery, the authorities of the
complex may establish a burning kiln for these items. Since pottery
making is a labor-intensive job, the local manufacturers may be asked
to use the kiln and labor force of the complex. The job of making of
clay items can be extended to families living in villages. In such
case the poor people living in their own houses may enjoy the services
of the complex.
(e) Kiln for burning brick : In case the soil in the surrounding area
is good for making clay-brick, the complex authorities may establish a
small to medium size brick burning kiln. In this case the authorities
of the complex would train up the local people the technique of making
clay bricks and supply the 'casting formats'. The local people would
be asked to make and dry the bricks and to bring those to the complex.
After sufficient quantity of those is accumulated, the authorities
would go for burning. The local people would later take away their
bricks, where they would have to pay the cost of burning by
surrendering certain percent of the bricks. It may be mentioned that
if this process can be introduced then many jobless people would get
job, poor people capable of doing manual labor would get bricks at
zero cost and the complex would be able to make profit by selling
bricks obtained as commission. Most of the regions of Bangladesh are
suitable for this job. This may be considered an excellent means of
producing wealth (i.e. brick) by using cheap available material (i.e.
clay) and idle labor.
(f) Handicraft unit : Depending on the availability of materials,
skilled workers and other supporting facilities various handicrafts
may be produced by the inmates of the complex by using clay, Jute,
Cloth, paper etc.
(02) ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COMPLEX : For the purpose of the initial
establishment of the Work-house complex the following organizations
may be asked for help:
(a) For Land : Generous and philanthropic persons may be asked to
donate land for the complex, where the complex may be named after the
name of the donor. Also the government may be asked for allocating or
donating land for this purpose.
(b) For Buildings and structures : Aids and contributions may be asked
from the philanthropic organizations, government, multi-national
organizations etc. for the purpose of construction of the buildings
and other facilities. In this case also the various buildings and
structures may be named after the name of the donors. It is also
possible to contact the foreign donors who usually fund the NGO's for
contribution. Their contributions may be expected if it is possible to
convince them that the establishment of such a complexes would be able
to solve the problem of the beggars, poor students and less privileged
persons once for all.
(03) MAINTENANCE : Helping the poor people to earn supplementary
income in all possible ways is the moral duty of the government of the
country tat does not have any provision for 'social security' for the
citizens. After establishment of such complexes, the government of
Bangladesh may help in running these in the following ways :
(a) The Government may impose ban on use of automatic
packaging-labelling machines, unless those are essential for hygienic
purposes.
(b) The Government may ask the local manufacturers to take the help
the complex in their packing, labeling and similar jobs.
(c) The Government may allow tax-remission for utilizing services of
the work-house complex.
If the government takes the above steps, then there is every
possibility that the work house complexes would be able to run by
their own income.
(04) WORKING PRINCIPLE : The work-house complex would run on informal
basis without breaks 24 hours a day and seven days of the week. Off
days and hours will be declared on the basis of work-loads. People
enlisted with the complex for any type job will be known as members.
There will be the following types of members :
(a) Honorable member : They will be the local people who would enlist
their names for manual jobs as a gesture of good will and enhanced
income of the complex without any remuneration. They would work for
several hours for at least once per week. Directors for the overall
administration and management of the complex will be elected from
among the honorable members, inmates and other registered members.
(b) In-house members : The in-house members would have to do house
keeping jobs. In addition they have to work for certain hours
depending upon their physical fitness, age etc. and as determined by
the authorities in order to enjoy their meal and shelter. If they work
beyond that limit, they would get remunerations.
(c) Enlisted member : They would visit the complex in their off or
idle time and do the job, if there is scope for job on the 'first come
first served' basis. The records regarding the duration of their jobs
will be maintained in terms of hours. The authorities would make the
payment at the rate convenient to them at the end of the month.
(d) Visiting persons : Occasional jobs for certain period of time
(say, three hours) by any person would enable any visiting member to
have one meal. However, they would not get the status and privileges
of membership.
PROF. BIJON B. SARMA, HEAD ARCHITECTURE DISCIPLINE, KHULNA UNIVERSITY,
KHULNA, BANGLADESH
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