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THE bottom line of any discussion on development in Bangladesh is alleviation of poverty. Even donors have set a deadline for alleviation of poverty from Third World countries, particularly the least developed ones like Bangladesh, as spelt out in the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The government of Bangladesh (GoB) is also committed to this goal of reducing poverty by half within 2015. Various official statistics published by the government from time to time try to show that a lot of progress has been made in fighting poverty. If one is to take the occasional utterances of the leaders of successive governments at face value, it appears, they are all for giving poverty a nice burial. Thousands of big and small non-governmental organisations (NGOs) active in the country are supposedly working for improving the condition of the poor, for otherwise they cannot justify their existence. And their claims, too, persuade one to believe that the country is really making great strides towards making poverty history.
Although poverty is a hot topic of discussion at every seminar, symposium and meeting at the national and international forums, one need not go very far to have a taste of what poverty really is. This is the appropriate time for those concerned about poverty to have a hands-on experience of the phenomenon by paying a visit to the northern districts of greater Rangpur and Dinajpur. The local name of the phenomenon is 'monga'. Every year during the months of September, October and November some 20 to 30 million people of this region, the bulk of them being hardcore poor, landless and marginal farmers, fall prey to 'monga'. Usually these people eke out an existence by working in the crop fields of other peasants who have land. But during these two to three months they pass the leanest season of the year without work. They do not have access to credit even from local moneylenders as they have no significant asset to mortgage except their labour power. Without work, without any support from the formal lending institutions or even from the NGOs, the only alternative left to these hapless millions of the north is to starve.
This human tragedy in the northern districts has been occurring in a regular cycle every year. Seasonal floods about every year further aggravate the condition of these famine-stricken people. Philanthropists depending on contributions from richer members of the community often come forward with their limited resources to help the 'monga'-afflicted people out of their miseries. The government, too, extends some famine relief, supplies food to the starving population through the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programmes and creates some job through the Food For Work (FFW) projects. A few NGOs, too, extend support, but those are confined to pure relief efforts. None of these government or non-government efforts tries to address the problem of 'monga' at its source, which is nothing but lack of employment opportunity.
The World Bank this year has initiated a Tk. 350 million pilot project titled, 'Monga Mitigation Initiative' under its ongoing Social Investment Project (SIPP) to create employment opportunities for the monga-affected districts of Kurigram, Gaibandha, Rangpur and Lalmonirhat. The WB fund to be channelled through the government will be implemented by Social Development Foundation (SDF) and Palli Karmasahayak Foundation (PKSF). While appreciating the World Bank move, it is also necessary to add that this is still another stopgap measure to help the 'monga'-afflicted people. Creation of income generating activities (IGAs) through small-scale community infrastructure works, provisions of skill development training, extending micro-credit and seed capital to the hardcore poor definitely address the most essential needs of the 'monga' victims of the area at the moment. But can this assistance be maintained on a sustainable level all the year round? If not, how will these people survive during the next 'monga'-season once the assistance is withdrawn? These are pertinent questions to be answered by the government, if it is to solve the problem of 'monga' once and for all.
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