02.08.2024
Bangladesh Mourns Some 200 Deaths As Student Protests Wind Down And Thousands Are Arrested
Students have been protesting against attempts to reinstate quotas in civil service jobs for relatives of veterans from the country’s war for independence from Pakistan in 1971 for more than three weeks. A third of public sector jobs had been set aside for them, but on 21 July the Supreme Court court ruled just 5% of the roles could be reserved. The student movement believes the system is discriminatory and has demanded recruitment based on merit. Organisers have demanded an apology from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and for six ministers to resign over deadly clashes at the resulting protests. The government blames the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami party for the unrest. More than 200 people have been killed in this month's violence, mostly as a result of police opening fire. Nearly 10,000 people have reportedly been detained. Photos sent from the southern city of Barisal to BBC Bangla show police in riot gear and wielding batons, barricading demonstrations and taking away protesters, many of whom are women. Credit: ALJAZEERA
Poverty deprives people of adequate education, health care and of life's most basic necessities- safe living conditions (including clean air and clean drinking water) and an adequate food supply. The developed (industrialized) countries today account for roughly 20 percent of the world's population but control about 80 percent of the world's wealth.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
