Implementation of given allocation for Char people necessary

It was a long-cherished demand of extreme poor Char people that there will be separate allocations in National Budget for the development of their living standard. In the declared National Budgets of last few years, there was no such thing like separate budget for Char people. As a result, 'National Char Alliance', a citizens' alliance active in national level, was continuing regular lobbying advocacy with policy makers on this issue to achieve Char people's rights and ensure their development. In continuation of this initiative, though after a long time, Honorable Finance Minister has declared an allocation of Tk 500 million (50 crore) in National Budget - 2014-15 for Char people's development. And this certainly is a milestone comparing to the previous years' budgets. Because we had been noticing that Char people were being severely victimized by development deprivation and this was being shown in the previous years' National Budgets. Char people's regular fight with unfavorable environment and nature was continuously ignored by government. As a result no specific development plan as well as allocation was neither been taken nor been announced. Keeping those in consideration, separate allocation for Char people's development definitely is one of the major affirmative steps in this year's (2014-15) budget.
Active in national level for the development of Char people, 'National Char Alliance' was continuously lobbying and advocating with national level policy makers for the assurance of separate budget for Char development in National Budget. 'National Char Alliance' conducted several meetings regarding this issue with Honorable Planning Minister, AHM Mustafa Kamal, and with Honorable State Minister, Finance and Planning, Md Abdul Mannan. Along with that other advocacy procedures were continued on behalf of 'National Char Alliance' in national level. At last government has shown their positive attitude towards Char people and their development by allotting separate portion of money in National Budget - 2014-15.
A large part of Bangladesh is known as the Char land or the Char area. Then again a significant part of it are island Chars which are very much remote and difficult to reach. In these remote and detached Chars, the community is constant poor. About 5-6 million people are living in these island Char, by putting their entire life into various kinds of risks and vulnerabilities. It is a critical and complex life drowned in huge problems. According to the geographical analysis, these island Chars are identified as high range poverty prone areas. These Char lands are severely affected and victimized by river erosion. Moreover, number of floods, drought, and sand storms are comparatively high in Char lands. Even there are some remote island Chars also in Padma, Teesta and Jamuna rivers, where it takes almost 4-5 hours to reach from mainland. Several Chars of many districts including Rajshahi, Chapai Nawabganj, Lalmonirhat and Pabna, which are more detached and vulnerable for living according to the geographical standard. People of these detached and inaccessible Chars live their life through the risk of food and economic insecurity.
Most of Char people are extreme poor. Almost entire part of these extreme poor people is deprived from attaining all the basic rights such as food, education, health, habitation etc. They do not get any of the basic rights including food, clothing, education and others mentioned in our constitution. As a result of that, they are left with no better option but to pass a life full of humiliation, deprivation, negligence and continuous suffering and this is not a story of a single day but of a long period of time. Reasons of these struggles are many. Less scope of crop production, difficult communication system, insufficiency of government services, lack of employment, shortage of sufficient economic activities, scarcity of food and many faced disasters are considered some of the main reasons of the survival struggle of Char people.
Inadequate government services are one of the prominent problems existing in Char areas. That means service such as agriculture, education; health service and others are either not provided regularly in Char areas or the provided amount of services are not sufficient. In health service sector Char area is in a very backward position. Health service system is fragile in most of the Chars. Existing community clinics in Char areas are not functioning actively. Maternal mortality rate is the highest in Char areas comparing to other parts of the country. The distance between hospitals and Char areas causes untimely death of many pregnant mothers as they are deprived of right treatment in right time. Education service also falls under an anarchical situation. Teachers do not take regular classes in the primary schools of remote Chars. Many of them remain absent for months. Rather temporary teachers are being recruited for short period of time to take the classes. As a result of this discontinuity of education, the standard is deteriorating the most in the primary schools of Char areas.
 Besides, the production and marketing of agricultural products are yet to break the old system though agriculture and livestock are two of the main support of Char people's employment. Very obviously the wide land of Chars cannot be brought under cultivation and as a result more and diversified agricultural production remains as a dream. Main reasons of this are not applying new agricultural technology, crisis of good quality seeds, lack of practice of cultivating high quality crops, irrigation problem, not having the right marketing and storage system of cultivated products and lack of protection during disaster. Though we have huge success in agriculture, still many cultivating lands cannot be used for large scale production. In this regard, Char land and Char farmers are severely victimized by ignorance and negligence. This crisis results in lower production than it should be. We think that relevant ministries of government should concentrate on the cultivating lands and farmers of Char areas and take necessary plan to get the best output from this sector. There is no other better option but providing necessary support, trainings and modern technological support to the Char farmers to produce more crops in agricultural lands of Char area. Along with that improved seeds in low cost should be provided to the farmers as well as the justified price of the products should be ensured.
Keeping the issues mentioned above into consideration we can say that using the allotted money is equally important as well as the separate allocation for Char people in National Budget and this money should be used in a specific and prioritized way through various effective projects. We said this before that the remote island Chars of north-western districts of Pabna, Rajshahi, Chapai Nawabganj, Lalmonirhat contain huge local manpower that can be used as a tool of eradicate poverty through productive activities if they are given proper support for becoming skilled. It is our expectation that the relevant departments of government will take appropriate steps in this issue and will establish a total new example in eradicating poverty and the development of living standard of Char people.
The writers are freelancers and researchers. Email: zahidrahman67@gmail.com