The underneath factors behind the success of the ‘Social Distance’ (11)
The underneath factors behind the success of the ‘Social Distance’
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Author:
Dr. Md. Jafar Ullah
Professor
Department of Agronomy
Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Email: jafarullahsau@gmail.com
(11)
To have a safe environment that do not favour the corona spread, there was no other mechanism which would be effective, under our situation, was the social distancing programme. And to execute this programme that is to make it success like in other neighbouring countries, Bangladesh government also took steps through its administrative organizations such as civil administration, police, even by the ISPR of Armies and Navy with keeping the Airforce standing so as to help emergency supply of the medicines and other health related materials or equipment. And those have to be under the coordination of the Civil Administration.
The success of maintaining the social distance depends mainly on the extent of civic sense. The civic sense is in tern controlled by person’s own education, knowledge, culture, life leading means and also on the sense of responsibility.
And so, to make this programme operative, many countries have been facing problems to confirm the social distance. For example, government has suggested its people not to gather at a place at the same time, as it may contaminate the corona from one person to another person. Corona spreads from the victim to a non-victim person through mainly spitting, and more precisely by the droplet of the split when a person talks to his nearby person. Scientist or doctors have suggested to be keep aloof at least one meter apart, better to be at a distance of six feet. But people did not like to follow this and remained keen to those habits that they were holding before the advent of corona. They felt bored keeping themselves confined at home.
Well, roaming about or going out to get rid of the tiredness of home is probably one of the ‘inherent traits’ of an human individual. In the mean time, I had experience from the conversation with one of my daughters who resides in a developed rich country. I heard it that the citizens of the city wherein my daughter resides, did not like to follow the government’s instruction keeping them confined in home. But this was obvious to protect them from corona and also to help stop the spreading of the corona by staying at home. They came out for jogging, shopping or as a part of their regular walking. Well, perhaps it happened at the beginning of the ‘social distance’ programme and later on, most of the people even in the villages abode by the instruction of the law enforcing people assigned on roads, markets and other places. Only exception was noticed with the poor people who did not have foods at their home.
Such attempt was also being run in India and Pakistan; and in those countries while maintaining the social distance on roads or in markets, we came across to hear and see pictures of many incidences in which police were beating rigorously to the persons who came out on roads or in markets. India declared ‘Jantar Curfew’ for its people to assure social distance in the country. In Bangladesh, the police and army peoples were at the hard line at the beginning of the ‘social distance’ programme of the government. And to make the social distance programme effective, they offered some strollers who came out to pass their leisure time by roaming about and also to see how this programme was being executed to get pleasure from the situation (I would say). To prevent them from roaming about, the military or police men gave mild punishment to those youth or and in some cases, to some persons who came out on public roads without any reason.
However, in some instances, the punishment had been nearing brutal. There were some bad instances that the police men broke the tricycle of one rickshaw puller, or they beat the passersby seriously making wounds to their bodies. We, the FBF witnessed such pictures in the facebook. But in most of the cases the punishments were mild, giving no physical one, but instructing them to hold ears and to alternately sitting and standing, which we call ‘sit ups ear-holding’ or ‘ka ne dho re uth bosh kora’ in bengali.
I would like to attract your attention to one point that many persons had to come out on their valid reasons. It was not due to the lacks in understanding or knowledge, but it was based on the realities. Some people of the society did not, or I would say, could not obey it. This fact, I mentioned in the above section expressing that, these daily labourer people or the marginal or ‘floating shop keepers’ could not remain themselves bounded at home but to coming out to fulfill their daily needs; and that was for earning foods for their family members.
Another class of people who rushed in markets, bus stations, grosser’s shops, pharmacies etc. to meet up their daily necessities and for that reasons, they had to commit offences making mass gathering in these places.
These two classes of people were inter-depending, as the second group of people had to have the service of the first group of people in exchange of money that the first group needed.
This situation also prevailed, possibly in all the districts, upazillas and even in village levels as well.
(To be continued)
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