Enactment of famine code stressed to deal with monga

Sunday, April 9, 2006

Staff Correspondent - New Age
http://www.newagebd.com/2006/apr/09/nat.html

Infringement of government’s responsibilities has to be detected with ensuring legal action to make the government accountable for dealing with ‘monga’ situation in the north, speakers said at a roundtable discussion on Saturday.

   The Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust organised the discussion on ‘Food Security of Bangladesh: Legal Obligation’ at the CIRDAP auditorium.
   The discussion began with the appeal by the BLAST executive director to the discussants to explore ways to ensure food security in the poverty-stricken areas.
   Soma Islam, deputy director of public interest litigation cell of BLAST, in her presentation stressed the necessity of enacting ‘famine code’ to deal with the famine-like situation in the north.
   Qazi Shahabuddin Ahmed, director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said, ‘Right to food is not only a constitutional rights, but it is also a precondition to development to which Bangladesh is a signatory state.’
   ‘Unfortunately, there was no reflection of government’s will to ensure food rights in its activities.’
   A teacher of the Dhaka University MM Akash said, ‘We have to remove inequality in the ditribution of land, education, health facility, and political powers to deal with the monga situation permanently.’
   Advocate Sara Hossain, Abu Ala Mahmudul Hasan, Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, and Hossain Al Massum also took part in the discussion.