News
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Flood victims to beggars,and now choosers
By Almas Zainab
For the people of Basti Almani, a small town of 1,000 people at the east bank of the River Indus in Muzaffargarh, life is taking a new ugly turn after the recent flooding in summer that displaced 20 million people, killed around 1,500 and submerged parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and other parts of the country.
The behaviour of the people now trying to come to terms with post-flood era is a study for anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists as a flood of donation and aid converging to the area from all parts of the world has impacted the attitude of people towards daily life.
Nasir Almani is a progressive farmer and has cultivated 30 acres of sugarcane at the Idus bank. As some of his farm remained unaffected from the flooding, now when the crop is ready to be harvested, he faces difficulties in finding labours to cut the crop and transport it to the mills.
“No one is ready is work for wages as every one likes to survive on free aid which means free edibles, charity cash, free medical treatment, free fertilizers and seeds and free beds,” he said while pointing towards a crowd of people gathered at the Government Middle School, Chanwala, awaiting delivery of free ration from an international charity.
According to him, floods brought miseries in terms of damages, deaths and displacement as well blessings in the shape of aid.
Donors and volunteers from all over the world helped the affected population, most of who already lived below the poverty line. The donation and charity included a plethora of items ranging from basic food items to tents along with mosquito nets. Doctors and medics travelled to the remote parts to prevent malaria and choleras outbreaks.
Different NGOs took up the job of rehabilitation and reconstruction of the displaced villages and towns.
Fast forward four months and we see almost all the households have received much more than the minimum required for sustaining a comfortable life. People have started to stock or sell the aid commodities. “Just visit the nearby market of Qasba Gujrat and you will see many shops selling products labeled ‘Made in Turkey’”, said Nasir Almani, who is also a former union council nazim.
“Black-markets for baby pampers have mushroomed in the villages,” he said. Standing in long queues to get ration has become a full-time and profitable job.
Many well-to-do and respectable families have turned to this profession of gathering aid materials. The population is being lured by this lethargic habit of being spoon fed by someone else. In short, we have become beggars being fed by the relief programs.
Giving assistance to the victims of the flood was no doubt necessary for without it thousands of people would have perished due to starvation and diseases. However, now that the hard time has passed, it is high time for the government to look past the short term solutions. How long can this cycle of assistance continue. It has to end sometime. In the long term we are doomed to face a more vicious cycle of poverty. The best method will be to establish schools for children in the affected areas, provide vocational training to the people to generate skilled labor and, last but not the least, encourage cottage industry/small scale businesses to grow. These will ensure that we become self-sufficient and self-reliant instead of waiting for the next delivery of aid blankets.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk