Victims of cyclone 'Aila': does anybody really care?
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Shamsher Chowdhury
THIS government keeps claiming that it is a government of the people and friendly towards the poor and the distressed. Is this really true? I do not think so. Should that become a reality, that would be the day for me to rejoice? It is sad to say how one government after another keeps taking us for a ride. One of the common agenda for all governments of this country has been continuous indulgence in demagoguery and deception.
I get sick in the stomach as I go through the information in the media on the incident. We are yet to witness any comprehensive news coverage on the sufferings of Aila victims in both the electronic and the print media. It looks as though sanctions have been imposed on the media by the powers that be. Or is it self-imposed? It is my impression that the devastations caused by the cyclone is far more than what we are fed both by the electronic and the print media. It is my impression that this government in particular has the major avenues particularly of the print media at its beck and call with the exception of a few and hence the power to manipulate.
So much for that, let us now return to the subject on hand. It is sad that not a single minister in charge or any other high-profiled spokesman of the government ever cared to visit the affected sites to console the victims and assure them of the government's support. On the contrary, I was simply appalled by a statement made by no less a person than the venerable Minister for food wherein he had said, shortly after the havoc that Aila caused, something like what follows: "we shall tackle the aftermath with our own resources." I do not know what prompted him to say this at a time when the need of the hour was to rush urgent relief that has already been reported as scanty and inadequate. I find it rather strange that all quarters of the government are now also saying that foreign assistance would be needed for rehabilitation of the unfortunate victims of the cyclone.
The relief efforts so far have been inadequate and ill managed. This is due to multiple factors.
First and foremost is the failure on the part of the government to effectively plan and guide the overall relief operations. To me, it appears that the government failed to duly asses the overall consequences and the impact of the devastation caused. It was also evident that the ruling party, instead of rising to the occasion, got busy bickering amongst themselves as to who was responsible for what. One only has to look at the statements and counterstatements made on the floor of the parliament, expressing opposing views about the inadequacy of relief operations in the affected areas by none other than a lawmaker of the ruling party. I fail to understand as to why is it this way? Natural calamities like these are nothing new to Bangladesh and as acknowledged by the global community we do have an expertise in disaster management of such dimensions or even more. It would be relevant to mention here that we did tackle two other natural calamities of no less devastating consequence like the floods of 1988 during Ershad's regime and the other one was when a fierce cyclonic storm hit the coastal areas in and around Chittagong that took place during the regime of Khaleda Zia. There is also much to be said about the immediate relief operations.
One wonders as to why relief operations on an emergency footing could not be carried out through airdrop of dry ration and small quantities of drinking water on an emergency basis. I saw the other day in the electronic media as to how the emergency relief operations were being carried out by the Government of West Bengal. Our government could take a lesson or two from there.
There is yet another aspect in which the government has miserably failed: the human aspect of it all. I have not seen any one of the cabinet ministers visiting the affected sites Look at the government of west Bengal, no less than the chief minister arrived at the scene to express his government's concern and solidarity with the miseries of the victims on site even at the risk of being stormed by angry and grieving people affected by the onslaught of the cyclone. Clearly, in this instance, the major share of the blame of poor handling of Aila victims has to be shouldered by the government.
Second, one wonders as to why other political parties and private bodies also did not come forward to assist in the operations. What I find most amazing is that there was no visible effort on the part of the government too to bring them into the fold. On the other hand, the silence and apparent reluctance on the part of the non-government organisations (NGOs) is also a mystery.
Third, it is also my belief that this government is more interested in strengthening and preserving its power base in the capital. It is also spending much of its energy in dealing with such media-friendly issues like corruption, slogans on Din Bodoler Pala, tackling traffic jam at the capital etc. At the same time, seminars and workshops on such popular issues like gender balance and gender equality, special budget allocations for the disabled are being sponsored and supported, in addition to efforts for preparing "genuine freedom fighters' list and list of those entitled to receive old age pension (Bhatas) -- all such issues that are media-friendly and do have a kind of popular appeal. In the process, it has ignored the miseries of the unfortunate victims of cyclone, Aila.
Belated though it is heartening to see that the honourable Prime Minister has now constituted a number of committees zone-wise consisting of ruling party lawmakers and ministers aimed at gearing up and supervising relief operations in the affected areas. Hopefully we shall now see some real actions on the ground. We must at all times remember that feeling good and doing well are two different states of the mind and the body.
The writer can be reached at
e-mail: chowdhury.shamsher@yahoo.com
THIS government keeps claiming that it is a government of the people and friendly towards the poor and the distressed. Is this really true? I do not think so. Should that become a reality, that would be the day for me to rejoice? It is sad to say how one government after another keeps taking us for a ride. One of the common agenda for all governments of this country has been continuous indulgence in demagoguery and deception.
I get sick in the stomach as I go through the information in the media on the incident. We are yet to witness any comprehensive news coverage on the sufferings of Aila victims in both the electronic and the print media. It looks as though sanctions have been imposed on the media by the powers that be. Or is it self-imposed? It is my impression that the devastations caused by the cyclone is far more than what we are fed both by the electronic and the print media. It is my impression that this government in particular has the major avenues particularly of the print media at its beck and call with the exception of a few and hence the power to manipulate.
So much for that, let us now return to the subject on hand. It is sad that not a single minister in charge or any other high-profiled spokesman of the government ever cared to visit the affected sites to console the victims and assure them of the government's support. On the contrary, I was simply appalled by a statement made by no less a person than the venerable Minister for food wherein he had said, shortly after the havoc that Aila caused, something like what follows: "we shall tackle the aftermath with our own resources." I do not know what prompted him to say this at a time when the need of the hour was to rush urgent relief that has already been reported as scanty and inadequate. I find it rather strange that all quarters of the government are now also saying that foreign assistance would be needed for rehabilitation of the unfortunate victims of the cyclone.
The relief efforts so far have been inadequate and ill managed. This is due to multiple factors.
First and foremost is the failure on the part of the government to effectively plan and guide the overall relief operations. To me, it appears that the government failed to duly asses the overall consequences and the impact of the devastation caused. It was also evident that the ruling party, instead of rising to the occasion, got busy bickering amongst themselves as to who was responsible for what. One only has to look at the statements and counterstatements made on the floor of the parliament, expressing opposing views about the inadequacy of relief operations in the affected areas by none other than a lawmaker of the ruling party. I fail to understand as to why is it this way? Natural calamities like these are nothing new to Bangladesh and as acknowledged by the global community we do have an expertise in disaster management of such dimensions or even more. It would be relevant to mention here that we did tackle two other natural calamities of no less devastating consequence like the floods of 1988 during Ershad's regime and the other one was when a fierce cyclonic storm hit the coastal areas in and around Chittagong that took place during the regime of Khaleda Zia. There is also much to be said about the immediate relief operations.
One wonders as to why relief operations on an emergency footing could not be carried out through airdrop of dry ration and small quantities of drinking water on an emergency basis. I saw the other day in the electronic media as to how the emergency relief operations were being carried out by the Government of West Bengal. Our government could take a lesson or two from there.
There is yet another aspect in which the government has miserably failed: the human aspect of it all. I have not seen any one of the cabinet ministers visiting the affected sites Look at the government of west Bengal, no less than the chief minister arrived at the scene to express his government's concern and solidarity with the miseries of the victims on site even at the risk of being stormed by angry and grieving people affected by the onslaught of the cyclone. Clearly, in this instance, the major share of the blame of poor handling of Aila victims has to be shouldered by the government.
Second, one wonders as to why other political parties and private bodies also did not come forward to assist in the operations. What I find most amazing is that there was no visible effort on the part of the government too to bring them into the fold. On the other hand, the silence and apparent reluctance on the part of the non-government organisations (NGOs) is also a mystery.
Third, it is also my belief that this government is more interested in strengthening and preserving its power base in the capital. It is also spending much of its energy in dealing with such media-friendly issues like corruption, slogans on Din Bodoler Pala, tackling traffic jam at the capital etc. At the same time, seminars and workshops on such popular issues like gender balance and gender equality, special budget allocations for the disabled are being sponsored and supported, in addition to efforts for preparing "genuine freedom fighters' list and list of those entitled to receive old age pension (Bhatas) -- all such issues that are media-friendly and do have a kind of popular appeal. In the process, it has ignored the miseries of the unfortunate victims of cyclone, Aila.
Belated though it is heartening to see that the honourable Prime Minister has now constituted a number of committees zone-wise consisting of ruling party lawmakers and ministers aimed at gearing up and supervising relief operations in the affected areas. Hopefully we shall now see some real actions on the ground. We must at all times remember that feeling good and doing well are two different states of the mind and the body.
The writer can be reached at
e-mail: chowdhury.shamsher@yahoo.com