Bangladesh received a record number of dead migrant workers last year. According to the Wage Earners' Welfare Board (WEWB), as many as 4,552 workers’ dead bodies returned to the country last year. The figure is increasing every year. According to the WEWB, which has been keeping records since 1993, the number is 34, 323 in the last ten years.

Bangladesh economy is ravaged by the corruption and siphoning of the wealth by the people in power. But one thing that is still holding the economy is the ceaseless flow of remittance from these hapless people.

The irony is, they have to fly from the country mostly because there is not much opportunity for work or investment. Yet, notwithstanding all the drudgery they have to face in the foreign land, they save and send money back home.

But the rise of the death toll suggests neither does the government care nor has it the capacity to safeguard these valuable people. From various reports and research, it is known that the reasons for the death of migrant workers are mostly unknown. The country where they work never bother to share the information with the Bangladesh government.

There are a myriad of NGOs working on the migration issue and the government allots a large chunk but one may wonder whether they are really effective or not.

These people spend the most productive time of their life away from their dear ones. At the same time they run the wheel of the country’s economy. Yet, they are not getting the minimum safeguard.

One must feel for these people. These hapless people are treated harshly in the countries they work in and at the same time they belong to a country whose diplomatic capacity is so feeble that their lives are not even secured.

The Boxer: The author is one of the indefatigable working-class Bangladeshis who have been trying to change the fate of the nation but were betrayed by the ruling elites and autocrats. The name is inspired by a character in George Orwell's 1945 novel Animal Farm.