Once upon a time, jute was the life-giving force in Bangladeshi agriculture. But the radiant history of this golden fibre has been wiped out brutally from the lives of millions of people. A total of 3645 varieties of jute including Tossa, Bagi, Deshi Naillya and others are found in this country; an impressive possession of natural resources for a small country like ours. The history of exporting jute from this region is quite an ancient one. Centring on Dundee of Scotland, jute industries of this Bengal region flourished. There were 77 jute mills in the country in Pakistan period. But, at present, the government does not seem interested any more to keep any. In August 1996, World Bank put pressure on the government to close 5 jute mills, shrink one and close another 2,700 handlooms. On June 30, 2002, the largest Jute Mill of the World, Adamji Jute Mill was violently attacked and closed for good. In the backdrop of continuous closing of jute mills one after another, the labourers of Khulna finally stood on their feet again in 2007. In the meantime, regular firing of the labourers in several state-run jute mills such as Star, Crescent, Platinum, Aleem, and Eastern were continuing. Lack of income, employment, proper food and exploitation by the government causes death of thousands of jute mill workers. Standing on the corpses of the labourers, the vicious government also declares closing of numerous jute mills in Khulna, Narshingdi, Demra, Narayanganj, Ghorashal and Chittagong. This is indeed the bloodstained story of the golden fibre of Bangladesh. But the crimson-gold stains of blood will not give up either. We carry on the anguish for the golden fibre in our blood from generation to generation, through deaths to life … |