National Human Rights Commission chairman Mizanur Rahman on Sunday urged politicians to have some regard for the common people while showing respect to the foreign guests.
He said, ‘We have high regard for foreign guests while we should also show due respect to the general people and do politics for their welfare.’He made the call at a national seminar on ‘the impact of social and income security for older people at household level’.
HelpAge International and Human Development Research Centre organised the programme at Mahbub Kabir Memorial Hall of Bangladesh Institute of Administration and Management.
Addressing the event as chief guest, the NHRC chairman said if brutality and violence become the means of politics, safety and security of people vanish.
He requested politicians and political parties to give up violence.
He informed the programme that the NHRC with the help of Law Commission finalised the draft Anti Discrimination Law to protect people of this country from all kinds of discrimination.
He said they also proposed that the Election Commission introduce a separate row for elderly people during election so that they could vote easily but the EC was yet to respond.
Mizanur Rahman called on all government ministries and departments to declare elderly people as the senior citizens and urged the government to take immediate initiatives in this regard.
Human Development Research Centre chief adviser and economist Professor Abul Barakat urged the government to launch old age allowance for each and every eligible elderly person.
He said in the country’s the population the number of people of over 60 years of age would increase by 20.2 per cent in 2051 though according to the population census of 2011 puts it at 6.5 per cent of the total population.
Professor Abul Barakat said at present there is one elderly person in every 15 people in Bangladesh and it would be one in every five by 2051.
He demanded increase in the amount of existing old age allowance from Tk 300 per month to Tk 1000 and adjust this with inflation.
Abul Barakat said the current allowance was too inadequate as urban poverty was higher than rural poverty due to the so-called urbanisation.
Journalist Abed Khan, HelpAge international South Asia regional director Peter McGeachie, country director Nirjharinee Hasan, Department of Social Services additional director Syeda Ferdous Akhter also spoke at the programme.
-With New Age input
