Finding a sustainable solution to 'monga' problem
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
Shamsul Huq Zahid
'Monga' is a colloquial Bengali word meaning a situation where everything is too expensive and even the relatively affluent people cannot afford to give alms to the needy.
The word that has been in use in the northern part of the country for decades has now become national by the courtesy of the media. The government leaders, researchers and donors are very much familiar with the very word that has, actually, no synonym in English language.
So, when people talk about 'monga' they mean a desperate economic situation. But if some noted economists, government leaders and donor representatives decide to set an adjective such as 'severe' before the word, one has every reason to be alarmed.
About a week back, economist and Dhaka University teacher Prof. Wahid Uddin Mahmud and country representative of the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) Chris Austin at a function held in Dhaka warned the authorities concerned of an impending danger- 'severe monga'-- in some of the northern districts of the country.
The reasons for monga turning severe this time were attributed to two consecutive floods, damage to Aman crop and global rise in the prices of basic food items.
As usual all the participants discussed the possible ways of making 'monga' a history and what transpired at the end that only 'field level actions not projects imposed from outside' will help find a permanent solution to the problem of 'monga'.
The issue of finding a permanent solution to the problem was also discussed in the past. But until now the measures taken in this direction have been temporary in nature. The DFID country representative also spelt out an ad-hoc programme for the poorest of the poor in the 'monga' areas in the coming months. Yet the programme under which 35,000 families will get paid work for 45 to 50 days during the leanest period of the year would be viewed as a God-sent opportunity by the hardcore poor in 'monga'-prone districts, including Nilphamari, Gaibandah, Kurigram, Rangpur and Lalmonirhat.
The finance adviser in his national budget for the current financial year also made a reference to the problem of 'monga' and river erosion and the allocation of fund to help generate employment opportunities equivalent to 3 man-months for 9.5 million families this fiscal. However, there was no projected employment generation for the 'monga'- prone districts in particular. It is obvious that the government would be implementing other temporary intervention programmes in those districts in the coming months.
Such interventions are required to save thousands of poor people who virtually do not have any asset. Basically, the people in the 'monga-prone districts are lazy and do not have in them the spirit to fight out their survival unlike the poor in other districts. However, things are changing a bit now. Many poor people from these districts are increasingly joining the unending procession of jobless rural people to Dhaka and taking up, in most cases, rickshaw pulling as the only means of earning the livelihood.
But generation of seasonal employment opportunities or migration to urban centres cannot be a permanent solution to the problem. What the 'monga'-prone districts need is an economic facelift alongside the joint efforts by the government and the NGOs for building up a system that would ensure employment opportunities to the poorest during the lean periods every year. However, if the local economy gets the much-needed boost, the need for providing the seasonal employment would gradually decline.
Besides the north western districts, there are certain areas in some other districts which also face 'monga' like situation. The poor people in those areas also pass their days in extreme hardship during particular periods of every year.
It would not be easy to chart out programmes to help boost local level economic activities in 'monga'-prone districts. Economic development does not mean construction of a few pucca structures, roads, bridges and culverts. Such development activities might produce some temporary benefits or fulfill partially the developmental needs. What the poorest people in those areas need is some means of earning enough to fetch them two square meals a day round the year.
The best possible way of resolving the problem facing the poor in 'monga'-prone areas is self-employment that can only be encouraged through a well-knit and need-based micro-credit programme. The government and the NGOs having honest intention of helping the poor do need to join hands to put in place such a programme.
Some NGOs are already working in the monga-prone areas with the objective of helping the poor people there. The government and the donors, providing funds to these NGOs, should make an on-the-spot assessment of their programmes.
Since the economic experts and development partners have already predicted a severe 'monga' situation in the coming months because of high prices of basic food items in both local and international markets, the government should do the needful to avert a possible unwanted situation. The preparation to this end should start right now.
'Monga' is a colloquial Bengali word meaning a situation where everything is too expensive and even the relatively affluent people cannot afford to give alms to the needy.
The word that has been in use in the northern part of the country for decades has now become national by the courtesy of the media. The government leaders, researchers and donors are very much familiar with the very word that has, actually, no synonym in English language.
So, when people talk about 'monga' they mean a desperate economic situation. But if some noted economists, government leaders and donor representatives decide to set an adjective such as 'severe' before the word, one has every reason to be alarmed.
About a week back, economist and Dhaka University teacher Prof. Wahid Uddin Mahmud and country representative of the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) Chris Austin at a function held in Dhaka warned the authorities concerned of an impending danger- 'severe monga'-- in some of the northern districts of the country.
The reasons for monga turning severe this time were attributed to two consecutive floods, damage to Aman crop and global rise in the prices of basic food items.
As usual all the participants discussed the possible ways of making 'monga' a history and what transpired at the end that only 'field level actions not projects imposed from outside' will help find a permanent solution to the problem of 'monga'.
The issue of finding a permanent solution to the problem was also discussed in the past. But until now the measures taken in this direction have been temporary in nature. The DFID country representative also spelt out an ad-hoc programme for the poorest of the poor in the 'monga' areas in the coming months. Yet the programme under which 35,000 families will get paid work for 45 to 50 days during the leanest period of the year would be viewed as a God-sent opportunity by the hardcore poor in 'monga'-prone districts, including Nilphamari, Gaibandah, Kurigram, Rangpur and Lalmonirhat.
The finance adviser in his national budget for the current financial year also made a reference to the problem of 'monga' and river erosion and the allocation of fund to help generate employment opportunities equivalent to 3 man-months for 9.5 million families this fiscal. However, there was no projected employment generation for the 'monga'- prone districts in particular. It is obvious that the government would be implementing other temporary intervention programmes in those districts in the coming months.
Such interventions are required to save thousands of poor people who virtually do not have any asset. Basically, the people in the 'monga-prone districts are lazy and do not have in them the spirit to fight out their survival unlike the poor in other districts. However, things are changing a bit now. Many poor people from these districts are increasingly joining the unending procession of jobless rural people to Dhaka and taking up, in most cases, rickshaw pulling as the only means of earning the livelihood.
But generation of seasonal employment opportunities or migration to urban centres cannot be a permanent solution to the problem. What the 'monga'-prone districts need is an economic facelift alongside the joint efforts by the government and the NGOs for building up a system that would ensure employment opportunities to the poorest during the lean periods every year. However, if the local economy gets the much-needed boost, the need for providing the seasonal employment would gradually decline.
Besides the north western districts, there are certain areas in some other districts which also face 'monga' like situation. The poor people in those areas also pass their days in extreme hardship during particular periods of every year.
It would not be easy to chart out programmes to help boost local level economic activities in 'monga'-prone districts. Economic development does not mean construction of a few pucca structures, roads, bridges and culverts. Such development activities might produce some temporary benefits or fulfill partially the developmental needs. What the poorest people in those areas need is some means of earning enough to fetch them two square meals a day round the year.
The best possible way of resolving the problem facing the poor in 'monga'-prone areas is self-employment that can only be encouraged through a well-knit and need-based micro-credit programme. The government and the NGOs having honest intention of helping the poor do need to join hands to put in place such a programme.
Some NGOs are already working in the monga-prone areas with the objective of helping the poor people there. The government and the donors, providing funds to these NGOs, should make an on-the-spot assessment of their programmes.
Since the economic experts and development partners have already predicted a severe 'monga' situation in the coming months because of high prices of basic food items in both local and international markets, the government should do the needful to avert a possible unwanted situation. The preparation to this end should start right now.