A new and astounding genre of new–poor households emerged as the vulnerable groups in a perception survey conducted by Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) that said supporting only the poor will require BDT 5,594 crores per month. The survey also reveals that the vulnerable non-poor as a new category emerged under the purview of the spikes of the clamped down of the lockdown and social distancing since mid-March 2020 that raged social and economic activities across the globe including Bangladesh. The survey also sorts out some policy implications for the Covid-19 impact on both poor and ‘new poor’ and the ‘New poor’ are those who used to be 40% of the total surveyed population and were above the poverty line but now has gone below the poverty line. The ominous and looming large food insecurity has started with the nutritional decline and the crisis will be intensified by the end-April.
As part of the research I talked to persons concerned of the Public Administration Ministry, NGOs, Journalists and Civil Society members of the two most vulnerable coastline Upzilas namely the Mongla Port and Sharon Khola. The outcome is that grim and grave situation perceived from that intensive discussion where already a silent starvation is persisting among the poor people and particularly among the new poor category of people of these two localities of country’s south-western zone. The new poor are out of the government relief network and a new method is required to reach them with the financial and food support.
It is noteworthy that they require help immediately to cope with the grave and starving situations. The new situations of food insecurity have impacted on the non-poor households of the two coastlines Upazila of Bagerhat district that covers Sunderban and the Bay of Bengal and that are the Mongla Port and Sharon Khola Upazila. In Mongla Port there are gathering of seasonal populations that are normally in the category of the up and above the poverty line but the new situation created by the COVID-19 left them poor. At this precarious situation, they cannot come out for help or do not have Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) cards and their plight is beyond description.
Many houses which were quite solvent in the months back now don’t have food to their utter shame. The prevalence of silent hunger in these houses must be stopped with concerted efforts. The research findings added the main challenge is to identify the unknown and suspected persons in the area like the expatriates who returned without being properly checked during their entry in Bangladesh and the people who ran away from COVID-19 affected areas and trying to hide their identities. According to information if the vigilance committee gets to know this kind of family and immediately after identifying that family they hoisted the red flag over there but not to ostracize that family rather help them in many other ways. According to the research findings the COVID-19 bears a new kind of symptoms and created many sociological complexes but the good side is that people are more health-conscious than that of any time in the past.
The basic needs of the non–poor like marginal traders, fishermen and trawler owners, casual laborers, transport workers, Imams of Majid, the carpenters, masons workers, hairdressers, teachers of the Non-MPO and non-government schools and informal private sector workers should be fulfilled through the voter's ID Cards. It is a daunting task and requires combined cooperation of the Government, NGO, and private sectors and wealthy persons of the society to combat the new situation arising in the new context. According to a rough estimate at least taka 1000 crores are required for three months emergency feeding and rejuvenate the business and bringing back normal tunes of life in the two coastlines Upazila those who were normally well-off compared to the people of the other Upazilas of the district. The deputy commissioner and his fellow members and team along with the committees are working round the clock and making the remote district of the country clear of the health pandemic and making people aware of this hazard. The district administration is also active in distributing the reliefs through the set standard operation process of the Government to the vulnerable people and the card holders.
Nobel Laureate Economist Professor Amartya Sen suggests in his article, “Overcoming a pandemic may look like fighting a war, but the real need is far from that’ and that is, “tackling a social calamity is not like fighting a war which works best when a leader can use top-down power to order everyone to do what the leader wants—with no need for consultation. In contrast, what is needed for dealing with a social calamity are participatory governance and alert public discussion.’
National and international attention is required from the WHO, UNDP, World Bank and multilateral donor as the 28 percent of the total population of Bangladesh are from the coastal belt and they are already living against the threat of climate change and the victim of the negative impact of climate change and of salinity. As of today the voices and untold pangs of the new poor of this area are unheard. Let the voices of the battered teeming millions of the coastal lines are heard and issues shall be solved in the purview of the financial packages and other stimulus packages. Let the global conscience comes up again and let us all stand by the bruised people of the coastlines.
(Asad Zaman is a researcher hails from Sharon Khola Upazila which was ravaged by the Cyclone Sidr. He can be reached asaduzzaman1967@gmail.com.)