Hundreds of thousands of people are leaving their rural homes for the glimmer of opportunities that big cities seem to offer. This migration has transformed the cities, once sleepy towns or manageable urban centres, into busding human hives. From Dhaka to Chittagong to other big towns there is no turning back the relentless parade. These changes in the cities have come with an awesome swiftness that has caught the administration unprepared.

Dhaka, which was designed to accommodate 9 million people at best in 1960, now teems with 15 million, with a population density of more than 18,000 persons per sq km. Now there are about 6 lakh mechanised vehicles moving on 2,250 kilometres of roads. The city is suffering from serious growing pains.

New arrivals are pouring at the rate of 3 lakh a year, crushing into a highly overcongested area. With each new wave come ever greater problems. Half of Dhaka city's population are under 22, and almost 60% of them are without regular jobs. Almost 45% of the population are slum dwellers. In recent times the slum population has been rising at an alarming rate.

The migration has been spurred not so much by rural restlessness as by catastrophes like drought, cyclone, flood, loss of farmland through river erosion and fam-ine-like conditions in the rural areas in the lean months of Ashwin, Kartik and Agrahayan. With its quarter million pavement dwellers, Dhaka city epitomises the country's urban nightmare and bitter poverty.

Travellers may marvel at the city's gleaming skyscrapers and rise apartments, but the average family income is a horrific $1 a day for most of the male workforce. Analysts opine that the incentives for farm activities during the last decade have been disappointingly low. Until this government came to power, farm subsidies, in the form of fertilizer, irrigation facilities, and price protection, were non-existent.

Farmlands have given way to shrimp farms in large areas of greater Khulna, Barisal and Chittagong region, benefiting only a few landlords. More so, price stabilisation and price support to farm products like rice, potato, vegetables, fruits, sugar cane and jute at the growers level have been totally non-existent.

The present government made Tk.4,000 crore available in the form of agricultural subsidy to draw the farmers to farm activities. The decision, it is believed, is yielding satisfactory result in relieving the distress of the rural populace. Despite the fact that food production has increased substantially to 3 crore 25 lakh ton in the last harvesting year, the country still suffers from a deficit of 1.5 million ton as evidenced by the rising

price of rice in the market, which is largely manipulated by the mill owners' syndicate.

The past governments in the last two decades hardly took any measures to create growth centres beyond the city limits. In many ways the cities are selffeeding monsters perpetuating their own growth in some selected areas by devouring the country's resources. Dhaka perhaps now controls about 70% of the country's money supply. Of the country's entire capital investment, more than 60% is invested in Dhaka and Chittagong.

Most of the other cities and district towns, not to speak of the rural areas, remain brazenly neglected. Roads, bridges and other infrastructure, deemed to be most essential for overall growth and mobility in business are in a bad state. This discriminatory attitude has created a great imbalance in income

generation in the districts and has given rise to tensions and mounting discontent that tend to bedevil the good works done in some selected areas. All told, the unending tide of mass exodus to cities, especially Dhaka city, can hardly be stopped even by draconian measures with the conditions in the rural surroundings remaining neglected.

The country needs to speed up its growth momentum for a wider section of the people, and that is the only option left to halt the migration of the people to city areas. After all, people want to stay in the area they grown up in provided all facilities, including employment generation, basic needs of health and education, are readily available there.

Even when the country is experiencing recurring shortage of food items, caused by repeated floods, devastating cyclones compounded by breakdown in production and supply-side chain, neither the government nor the corporate houses in

the country seem to have shown any inclination to either establish or expand their businesses in those areas. But sensible citizens are beginning to realise that rural Bangladesh is no longer unviable, there is opportunity for those who can see.

In India, big corporate houses like Mittal, Tata, Godrej, Mahindra, Reliance and Imperial Tobacco Company have made big headway in expanding rural business, especially agribusiness.

The irony is that farmers in our country buy everything at retail price and sell their produce at wholesale price. In an effort to put production and sale on a competitive edge, innovative methods are being brought into play in many countries. Taking a cue from India, we can transform our agriculture so that the country does not remain an import-driven one and can fight the vagaries of

nature, and compensate the crop losses in the wake of natural calamities.

We can replicate what ITC in India has brought about by initiating a mass awakening through e- choupal internet services in selected villages. These internet services are run by conductors in selected centres in the villages to inform villagers about innovations in farming methods, seed quality, and fertilizer availability and application.

The government could instill those innovative methods in farming that are geared to maximise production so that companies engaged in such endeavours can transform the entire food chainfrom farm to firm to fork. Most firms in many states of India are not only selling products to farmers but are also bringing village produce to cities and even to markets abroad, forming a two-way transaction channel between rural India and the rest of the world.

The biggest hindrance in our country

is the lack of incentive, compounded by the farmers' inability to invest in productivity improvement. This is where private investment will make a big difference. By investing in the farmers' ability to grow more and grow better, government and companies will not only get better product for their agri-business but will also help farmers get prosperous.

During my visit to remote places in Satkhira after Aila, I saw that vast tracts of farmland being turned into shrimp farms by allowing saline water into the paddy lands. This region, once known as the granary of Khulna, is now a food deficit area. Like many other places in the country, availability of electricity is still a dream. Grameen Shakti, a solar business firm has spread the use of solar charged batteries in the houses in rural areas.

A farmer with computer learning could be a key driver in bringing about

rural push towards better living. Internet will make a new eco-system in rural Bangladesh with cheap, efficient two-way channels between villages, companies and NGOs and the government. They can get the latest farm techniques, weather forecasts, and expert advice on e-mail. They may have insights into development issues like water harvesting, on-line land records, advances in health and education services.

It is said that Bangladesh lives in its villages. But villagers need to live as well as the rest of the country for the country's growth. Rural road projects must be made easier, faster and hazard-free for farmers to get their produce to markets while communication tools will give them access to weather forecasts and critical inputs. That's the only option left to stop migration to cities.

Md. Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.

e-mail : aukhandk@gmail.com