Key reforms in local government, health, labour, women’s affairs, and the media have become uncertain as the issues are neither being discussed in the ongoing political consensus-building process nor the interim government has made any progress in reforming those vital areas.
The chiefs of the five reform commissions concerned have already expressed their frustration as they saw no initiatives from the government to implement their recommendations.
The five commission chiefs alleged that the interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus -led National Consensus Commission had not even brought the reform proposals on the discussion table.
The NCC has engaged 30 political parties to build consensus on the recommendations from six commissions, formed on October 3 past year, for reforming the constitution, judiciary, electoral system, police, public administration, and Anti-Corruption Commission.
NCC vice-chair Professor Ali Riaz several times said that the NCC’s terms of reference were limited only to dealing with the six issues.
The chief adviser’s special assistant to oversee reforms, Monir Haidar, told New Age on Tuesday, ‘Right now, I have no specific information about holding dialogues on the recommendations by the reform commissions covering local government, health, labour, women’s affairs and the media.’
Political columnist Altaf Parvez, said, ‘The present government is not addressing the vital issues that are directly linked to social, political and economic discrimination.’
As part of state reform efforts following the ouster of the Awami League regime on August 5 past year, the interim government formed five reform commissions on November 18.
The Local Government Reform Commission, which submitted a preliminary report on February 22, proposed consolidating the five existing laws into two uniform ones -- one covering union, upazila and zila parishads, and the other covering municipalities and city corporations.
Despite this proposal, the local government ministry sent four draft ordinances to the cabinet on July 1.
Tofail Ahmed, chief of the LGRC, criticised the ordinances as redundant, arguing that a single ordinance would suffice.
Tofail also said that though he had contacted the NCC to question the exclusion of local government reform from its dialogue, he received no satisfactory response.
None of the LGRC members was invited to the NCC, which has only included members from the initially-formed six commissions.
During the NCC’s second-round dialogue that began on June 2, several politicians expressed concerns over the neglect of the LGRC proposals.
Citing a national survey showing over 80 per cent public support for local government reform, Tofail said, ‘Despite citizens’ enthusiasm and practical needs, this crucial issue has been kept outside the purview of the NCC dialogue. This is clueless.’
The Media Reform Commission submitted 20 broad recommendations on March 22, including forming an independent national media commission, enacting a journalist protection law, setting a minimum entry-level wage equivalent to grade nine and corporatising media houses as publicly listed companies.
It also proposed amending article 39 of the constitution to restrict curbs on press freedom only during a war.
Other suggestions included revising laws on cybercrime, secrecy, contempt of court, broadcasting, and information access.
The commission further recommended placing state-run media outlets under a new national broadcasting agency led by only skilled professionals.
MRC chief Kamal Ahmed said on Tuesday, ‘I can only express my worries for its [MRC recommendations] fate, as there seems to be a lack of enthusiasm in implementing the MRC recommendations on the part of both the interim government and the media industry.’
Expressing his disappointment, he blamed bureaucratic opposition and media owners’ reluctance to embrace transparency and accountability.
The Women Affairs Reform Commission submitted 433 recommendations on April 19, advocating equal property rights, a uniform family code, and a permanent women commission.
It also proposed eliminating legal and social discriminations, increasing the number of parliamentary seats, and reserving half of them for women through direct elections.
WARC chief Shireen Parveen Haque said that the neglect of their proposals by the NCC was grave.
Their requests to include at least one female representative from WARC in the commission were also denied, she resented
Shireen said, ‘Our issues should have been on the table. Frustratingly, this has not happened.’
The Labour Reform Commission submitted its report on April 21, recommending a permanent minimum wage commission to set a national wage floor for all workers in government, non-government and private jobs.
The commission also recommended the determination of separate minimum wages, not less than the national standard, based on the nature of work, level of occupational hazards, the sector and the region the worker is employed in.
The commission further recommended increasing the national and sector-wise minimum wages in every three years, enforcing insurance, and bringing all workers under a social safety net with respect to occupational hazards, casualty, sickness, or untimely retirement.
LRC chief Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, expressing his frustration, recently said that all the reform proposals were meant to eliminate discrimination from the country.
He termed the ongoing NCC dialogue merely election-centric and an approach to reach ‘political consensus’ other than ‘national consensus’.
Sultan said, ‘For a national consensus, the labour-related discriminations in social, political, and economic landscapes should have been discussed with great importance.’
The Health Sector Reform Commission, on May 4, proposed recognising primary healthcare as a constitutional right.
The key HSRC recommendations included issuing unique health IDs, establishing ward-level health centres, ensuring 24/7 pharmacy access, allocating 15 per cent of the national budget to health, creating a separate wage board for health workers, and introducing a medical police force to prevent and curb violence in health centres.
HSRC chief and National Professor AK Azad Khan said that the proposals were made after extensive consultations with key stakeholders, including politicians.
‘If politicians don’t discuss the reform proposals, the effort will go in vain,’ Azad said recently.
