***Sen’s analysis point to the potential role that democratic institutions and press can play in preventing death from arsenic poisoning by poor in Bangladesh villages. Unfortunately, the current situation in this regard cannot be said to be encouraging. The Parliament, the political parties (including the parties in opposition), and many sections of the press are as yet hardly paying attention to the brewing tragedy. Have the rural poor in Bangladesh become so marginalized from the political arena that even their death by the scores fail to be of any consequence for the national polity? Perhaps, Amartya Sen is taking note!***

THE New York Times, in its November 10 issue, carries a front page (with a full page follow up inside) report on "New Bangladesh Disaster: Wells That Pump Poison." It quotes Willard R. Chappell, a physicist, one of the world s leading experts on arsenic contamination, as saying that "if this were the United States, they would call' out the National Guard."

WHO’s safety standard for arsenic in water is a maximum of 0.01 milligrams per litre. Sampling tests showed that in parts of 43 districts of Bangladesh's 64 districts, the level is more than 500 per cent of this maximum. The report quotes Dr. Allan H. Smith, an epidemiologist at the University of California. Berkeley, who has visited Bangladesh three times this year on behalf of WHO. to note that "we could be talking about hundreds of thousands of deaths. We just don't know. The cumulative dose is what kills. Every day that people continue to drink the contaminated water could result in more arsenic-related deaths down the road in 5. 10 or 25 years. This is really a major emergency."

It is certainly very depressing to see Bangladesh hit international news again as a locale of disaster. As if flood, cyclone, and other natural disasters were not enough. As if poverty, malnutrition, and other material deprivation were not enough. Now Bangladesh has to emerge as the country of manmade ecological disaster!

Slow, Inadequate, and

Conflicting Government Response The report details how the authorities have been dismissive of the early reports and cautions, and how the authorities are still slow and inept in responding to this serious emergency. It is actually difficult to believe that behind all high sounding speech making, and all cheerfulness around sports tournaments, a disaster of such serious proportions is in the process of unfolding. However, it is not unknown that there are some members of Bangladesh elite who often sneer at environmental concerns. They rather proffer the wisdom that environmental concerns are luxury of rich countries. They would like people to appreciate the material achievements as manifested in the form of nice cars they ride and modern apartments they occupy, and not be worried by

what has happened to the environment.

Rehman Sobhan in his recent Nazmul Karim memorial lecture titled "From Two Economies to Two Societies" (carried by The Daily Star of Aug. 26) notes that "after 26 years (of independence), over half the population of Bangladesh.still live in poverty: household income disparities have accentuated, ana social polarities have widened to the point where we are witnessing the emergence of two societies in what is now one economy."

Given this polarized situation. it is no wonder that many of the elite and authority in Bangladesh fail to perceive the gravity of the situation regarding environmental degradation. be it water contamination or air pollution. They can indeed be out of reach of Bangladesh's poisonous air and water by remaining inside air-conditioned cars and by drinking purified bottled or boiled water. Meanwhile, environmental disaster Jias started to take its toll among the poor and the. meek, the members of the other society of Bangladesh.

It is clear that there is no coordinated national response to the emergency. Like with air pollution, everything again depends on World Bank. In this case, our response is to have the $32.4 million World Bank loan for arsenic-control project. Plenty of people are certainly getting plenty of funds. Whether that is proving of any difference to women like Pinjira Begum of Miapur is a different story.

Most of the experts agree that falling ground water level is one of the main reasons for increased arsenic, and adequate annual replenishment of ground aquifers is a pre-condition for long term solution of the'arsenic problem. Yet. the government is pressing ahead with 3.000 crore taka embankment construction from Joyde-vpur to Demra. when it is clear

that such embankments hinder river water from reaching the interior lands and percolating to the underground aquifers. This is likely to aggravate ar-seniC\aroblem for Dhaka area. Thus, different components of development effort are not meshing with each other well, and often are proving conflicting.

Some Lessons for Bangladeshi Newspapers

The New York Times story also has something for our newspapers and other media. Among the newspapers. The Daily Star has been consistently reporting on arsenic issue. But. how many of our newspapers, ever thought of devoting a full page on this issue? Many Bangladeshi newspapers have so far chosen to limit the coverage to only a few column -inches in the inside pages. Apart from the issue of amount of space devoted, there is also the issue of quality of reporting. In most cases, the reports in Bangladeshi newspapers have furnished some numbers. Generally there were no human faces behind these numbers. The New York Times story not only gives numbers but puts concrete human faces, with their pictures included, behind those numbers. Thus it puts living human faces behind the story. That makes the report so effective and poignant.

It is not that Bangladeshi newspapers are incapable ol producing similar reports. Many may remember the Daily Ittefaq's reporting on 1974 flood from Rangpur with Bas-anti's picture who was left with only the fishnet to cover her body. That one picture with a name captured the flood devastation more than thousands of words and numbers could do. So. Bangladeshi newspapers and journalists can play an el -fective role in highlighting and

combating this new disaster that Bangladesh is facing. The question is whether they will choose to do so.

Relevance of Amartya Sen’s Analysis

Arsenic poisoning is emerging as a plague poised to kill thousands of people. Such deaths have already started to occur. Just on November 10, The Daily Star reported four such deaths in Barisal. These are common people who live in rural areas and are, therefore, far removed from the seat of power. Political parties do not agitate over their deaths in a way they do with hartal deaths in Dhaka city.

Much has been written about Amartya Sen since the announcement of his Nobel prize. Note that there is an obvious parallel between the current arsenic situation and the famines that Sen analyzed. Sen shows that non-availability oi food is not the main cause of starvation deaths. Similarly, nonavailability of solution is not the reason for arsenic deaths. The simplest solution is to boil water before drinking. But. unfortunately. the poor village people in Bangladesh do not have the purchasing power to buy necessary fuel. However, as Sen shows, it is not absence of purchasing power in the narrow sense that is the whole story. It is lack of requisite entitlement. The government provides subsidized gas (unlimited supply at a ilat rate, accompanied by widespread pilferage) to urban dwellers, including the rich. But. it does not do so for the rural population^For obvious political and other reasons, their entitlement set is much more limited than the urban dwellers.

The relevance of Sen's analysis is not limited to diagnosis of the problem only. Il is possible to benefit in thinking about the solution too. One implica-

tion of Sen's analysis is that increasing aggregate food availability by itsfelf will not solve the problem of famine. Instead, increasing the poor's entitlement is the surer way of preventing starvation death. And, this goes beyond increasing his immediate purchasing power. Sen notes that democracy in general, and existence of energetic free press, in particular. are very effective in increasing poor's entitlement. According to Sen. that is the main reason why India could avoid famine during the past fifty years since independence.

Thus. Sen's analysis point to the potential role that democratic institutions and press can play in preventing death from arsenic poisoning by poor in Bangladesh villages. Unfortunately. the current situation in this regard cannot be said to be encouraging. The Parliament. the political parties (including the parties in opposition). and many sections of the press are as yet hardly paying attention to the brewing tragedy. Have the rural poor in Bangladesh become so marginalized from the political arena that even their death by the scores fail to be of any consequence for the national polity? Perhaps. Amartya Sen is taking note!

The turner is Professor of Economics. Emory University. Atlanta. USA. and Coordinator. Bangladesh Environment Network.