“What Does It Matter If I’m Indian or Bangladeshi?” | Sudipto Mondal & Dr Navine Murshid

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]And I think here is that kind of um coming together of a state that thinks that wait, I do not need to educate my people anymore because our unskilled workers are enough to get us this economy, right?

[00:00:15]And so you you pay no attention to the education system system and you you look around and you will see how that affects the country, the economy at every level, you know, the lack of skilled workers is a major problem. And but you refuse to skill them. Yeah? You But and you know, in a way you think that, you know, as a capitalist why do you accept that? Do you not want to move up that supply chain? Do you not want to get into markets where you produce more um labor-intensive, skill-intensive products. But no, we are happy at the lowest chain.

[00:00:58]You know, but what that does is it also means that, you know, the economy is very vulnerable to global shifts, to financial crisis, to COVID, to what have you, right? We will accept your logic that capitalism will get us through progress, that that motivation will get you to educate yourself more perhaps and you're going to do really well, but then you see in practice that that's actually not happening. Right? You see that there is no progress. You see there's no motivation. You see there's no innovation, really. You are stagnating at that very low level. And yet, I mean, you know, we can't deny, right, that for a woman coming from a rural area to work in a garments factory for her is kind of liberating.

[00:01:49]Right? Because she's not uh you know, working in the field with very little pay, with uh you know, minimum conditions with very little freedom to even move you know structured by patriarchy in rural spaces and here in this workspace which is also oppressive also patriarchal the fact that she chooses this gives her a sense that this is somewhat better you know and you know and who am I to then say that no this is not better even if I think it's not better even if I think that you know but you know isn't you know you're you're open to sexual harassment you're having to work overtime with very little pay you're you're living in these horrific conditions in these urban slums with very little social protection but then who am I to say when they say that this is more liberating and better than their rural existence