'Silent famine' stalking the country: Akbar Ali
Saturday, 15 March 2008
FE Report
Chairman of the Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) Akbar Ali Khan warned Friday that the country might face what he called 'silent famine' because of the widening gap between the food prices and the income of the poor people.
He was speaking at a roundtable on Moving Towards Sustainable Development in Bangladesh: To Meet the Future Challenges, organised jointly by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and the United Nations Development Programme.
"The prices of food, consumed by the poor, are much higher than that of food consumed by the rich, pushing the country towards a silent famine," Akbar said referring to data released by local think tank Unnayan Samannya three months back that says the poor spend 20 per cent more on food than the rich do in proportionate to their incomes.
He said: "But, now I think this figure stands at 40 per cent taking the present escalating food prices into account."
About the government statistics on unemployment, he said the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) showed the unemployment rate at 3.0 per cent, while the Planning Commission put it at 13 per cent.
"The figures projected by the two state-owned organisations are really confusing. I think the actual figures will be much more," said Akbar, also a former adviser to the caretaker government.
He said: "They are giving a rosy picture on development and singing lullabies to put us in sleep."
He said no real economic development is possible without improvement of the environment, and the poverty might also cause environmental pollution."
To achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), he underscored the need for increasing food production and ensuring safe drinking water.
"The list of sustainable development is very large, but we have to work out plans in the perspective of the country's infrastructure to realise the MDGs. The experiences of other countries will be no use in this regard as the geological problems are different," he said.
As the habitable land is being squeezed day by day the government needs to make an assessment on how several people can live comfortably in small spaces like in Japan, he added.
Akbar said: "Time is running out. It is high time for revitalising the country's river routes in lieu of constructing roads that occupies large arable land."
"If we continue to construct buildings and roads, a time will come when there will be no land left for cultivation to produce food for this huge population."
On the current debate on holding national election and local government election, he said it is better to hold the national election and local government polls at a time, which will also reduce expenditure.
BIDS director Dr Asaduzzaman presented the keynote paper.
Chairman of the Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) Akbar Ali Khan warned Friday that the country might face what he called 'silent famine' because of the widening gap between the food prices and the income of the poor people.
He was speaking at a roundtable on Moving Towards Sustainable Development in Bangladesh: To Meet the Future Challenges, organised jointly by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and the United Nations Development Programme.
"The prices of food, consumed by the poor, are much higher than that of food consumed by the rich, pushing the country towards a silent famine," Akbar said referring to data released by local think tank Unnayan Samannya three months back that says the poor spend 20 per cent more on food than the rich do in proportionate to their incomes.
He said: "But, now I think this figure stands at 40 per cent taking the present escalating food prices into account."
About the government statistics on unemployment, he said the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) showed the unemployment rate at 3.0 per cent, while the Planning Commission put it at 13 per cent.
"The figures projected by the two state-owned organisations are really confusing. I think the actual figures will be much more," said Akbar, also a former adviser to the caretaker government.
He said: "They are giving a rosy picture on development and singing lullabies to put us in sleep."
He said no real economic development is possible without improvement of the environment, and the poverty might also cause environmental pollution."
To achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), he underscored the need for increasing food production and ensuring safe drinking water.
"The list of sustainable development is very large, but we have to work out plans in the perspective of the country's infrastructure to realise the MDGs. The experiences of other countries will be no use in this regard as the geological problems are different," he said.
As the habitable land is being squeezed day by day the government needs to make an assessment on how several people can live comfortably in small spaces like in Japan, he added.
Akbar said: "Time is running out. It is high time for revitalising the country's river routes in lieu of constructing roads that occupies large arable land."
"If we continue to construct buildings and roads, a time will come when there will be no land left for cultivation to produce food for this huge population."
On the current debate on holding national election and local government election, he said it is better to hold the national election and local government polls at a time, which will also reduce expenditure.
BIDS director Dr Asaduzzaman presented the keynote paper.