New Age “Extra” has a thoughtful article this week on the food crisis. This article actually quotes prominent economists who cast blame on the government in addition to the natural disasters and international factors. In case you have been wondering about recent food riots elsewhere in the world, BBC reports on Haiti (where cost of food rose 50%, the costs have risen 40% in Bangladesh) and unfolding crises in Asia, Africa, and Australia (you can access those pages through the Haiti link). This technocrat studded government’s inability to avert/minimize the food crisis in an efficient way may well go down as its greatest failure.

From the beginning many Bangladeshis were skeptical of the CTG’s hubris and overreach. A defensible argument can be made that this government’s political moves have crippled the economy over the last year and half. The frightening part is we have not yet hit bottom, it is still unclear if/when elections will be held, the big questions about Khaleda/Hasina remain unanswered, and general Moeen U Ahmed has generously given himself another year’s tenure in the “national interest.”

If the political parties can focus on reinstating democracy, this government will soon face a powerful coalition of political parties and frustrated masses. In the meantime, CTG has been taking numerous steps to seed dissension both within and among political parties. I think the whole move for war crimes trials, truth commission, in addition to the BNP rift, are parts of this strategy. I am all for war crimes trials, but under a democratic government, simply for legitimacy’s sake, same goes with truth commissions. Frankly, I have had it with this government, the poorest of the poor are starving (see below, people are forgetting what daal tastes like), that means crores of Bangladeshis are going hungry. Most importantly, I do not think the average Bangladeshi trusts this government’s good intentions, let alone ability to implement policies based on those intentions. It is time for elections, and time to wave a sorry goodbye to the CTG. Yes, I know this is easier said than done. Certain steps still need to be taken before we can have fair elections, but I think it is time we gave the CTG a few months to do what it can, and then hold elections. All of this is assuming that the political parties will behave themselves.

The CTG has abused the faith and trust of the people of Bangladesh and is pushing us towards a dangerous and uncertain future with its foot dragging disguised in lofty rhetoric. It is taking gleeful advantage of political parties that simply cannot seem to place the national interest above party/factional/personal interest. I can only hope that our politicians can heed their better angels and unite for democracy above all. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen famously argued that democracies are better at famine prevention than dictatorships. I can only hope that Bangladesh 2008/2009 will not become yet another case that proves Amartya Sen right.

Excerpts from “Extra” below:

Undoubtedly, the worst conditions are with the poorest of the poor, particularly labourers and rickshaw-pullers who are unable to work unless they have their three meals a day.
While their families go without meals for two or three days at a stretch, they must share the largest chunk of their daily earnings on their own food. Economist Abul Barakat estimates that round half of the population are going half-fed or without food.
Nurul Islam, a 38-year-old rickshaw-puller, moved to Dhaka seven or eight months ago. He spends Tk 60 to Tk 80 a day on food, mostly in the mess halls. ‘I start work at 11am and work till late in the evening. It is difficult to make enough money.’
It is the same for Abu Bakr, a 56-year-old who has been pulling rickshaws for nearly twenty-six years. ‘Ten years ago I used to pay Tk 30 for the rickshaw; nowadays they ask for Tk 90 or Tk 100. Then you need at least Tk 60 for food.’
‘For a while, I forgot how dal [lentils] tastes as I could only afford to buy rice and even the price of wheat had gone up from Tk 15 to Tk 45,’ says Fazlu, a rickshaw-puller aged 35.
 ‘Dal now costs Tk 90 per kilo,’ says Abdus Selim, the owner of a small stall in Moghbazar that sells rice, eggs, oil and other essentials. ‘Hardly anyone buys dal now; it’s too expensive and beyond their means.’
He reports that people have been buying more or less the same amount of rice over the past year, since they cannot choose to buy any less, but instead are cutting down on other costs such as meat and vegetables.

…

The World Food Program predicted that the rising prices of food items (see UN warning from Dec 2007), especially rice, could cause political instability as poorer households spend most or all their income on food. The UN agency said that the possibility of political, economic and social unrest is growing as the price of food is rising much faster than people’s wages in Bangladesh.

Politicians and economists observed that the hard-pressed people would have taken to the streets had the state of emergency not been in force.

‘What has till now prevented a rise in crime is the largely visible security forces and policemen everywhere. But sooner or less, I think it will become inevitable as more and more people reach a point where they have absolutely nothing to lose,’ says N Ahad, a private service holder, also a victim of food shortage.

…

Protests have already begun.

On March 25, several hundreds formed a human chain before the Chittagong Press Club on Saturday, protesting against unusual price hike of essential commodities and sale of unpacked and unhygienic baby food.

In Sylhet, Rajshahi, Bogra, Barisal, Khulna and Jamalpur, according to New Age reports, people have become frustrated with the high prices and only find a small measure of respite from the OMS centres.

Poor response

The continuing crisis of rice is a result of the government’s failure to ensure timely import, point out economists. Although, the twin floods and cyclone Sidr hampered rice production, experts feel, the market could be stabilised had concrete and faster steps been taken.

The government has been slow to tackle the problem and has only recently set up open market sales (OMS) around the country, and that too in small numbers.

….

Economist professor Abul Barakat puts the blame for the current price spiral on the free market economy and specifically ties the rice price rise to market speculation, import problems, high production cost and a lack of coordination among the ministries.

Zaid Bakht, research director of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, says the government was late in making pragmatic decisions keeping the global food production and supply situations in mind. He believes that programmes such as open market sale and vulnerable group feeding should have been launched earlier to keep people’s sufferings at minimum levels.