Recent floods in Bangladesh - my thoughts

Floods and cyclones or tornadoes are quite common in Bangladesh. As a matter of fact, Bangladesh’s history of frequent flooding and subsequent losses have led to greater investment in flood management. Public schools and mosques are, thus, often built with a view to their potential use as shelters.

The August floods were caused primarily by overflow from the Brahmaputra River, which flows from northeastern India into northern Bangladesh. The problem is, sadly, worsened by India's opening up the sluice gates on dams on some of the major international rivers that crisscross Bangladesh before dumping its load to the Bay of  Bengal. On the other hand, during the dry winter season, when Bangladesh requires water, India shuts down the same gates to hold onto water for its use in agriculture and navigation, thus causing artificial famine-like condition inside Bangladesh. For its selfish purpose, India has refused to deal with equitable share of such common rivers. In spite of such Indian crimes against the people of Bangladesh, the latter's people have been very generous to flood-affected victims in India, which had its share of this year's flood problem. Hundreds of the Indian flood victims were provided shelter by Bangladeshi farmers. This is an interesting development, not new though, esp. given the fact that every year tens of Bangladeshi civilians are killed by trigger-happy Indian border guards on the suspicion that they may be trying to enter India, and that in recent years, after Modi's coming to power in India, many Muslims have been lynched to death on suspicion of cattle trading, or eating beef in adjoining parts of India. Fortunately, the Bangladesh government, keen on pleasing Indian government, did not object such influx of Indian refugees to Bangladesh.

I wish the Govt. of Bangladesh (GOB) had shown similar courtesy when it came to Rohingya refugees that are fleeing Myanmar to escape genocide. They were denied entry, and many died in the  sea. It's surely a clear case of double standards by the GOB, which is criminal and needs to be changed for greater good of humanity.

 

In a recent NY Times article K. Anis Ahmed of the Dhaka Tribune discusses the flood issue. Here below are some salient points:

 

• In previous floods, the destruction of agriculture caused acute food shortages. Since 2010, Bangladesh has become a food-surplus state; because of its grain reserves, there is little risk of the food scarcity of the past.
• There is a limit, though, to what Bangladesh can do by itself. Floods are a transnational affair, and when the big river systems running across China and India and then pouring into Bangladesh go into their seasonal churn, borders mean little.
• During the floods this time, 800 Indians from the state of West Bengal bordering Bangladesh sought shelter in Lalmonirhat, a northern district of Bangladesh.India has erected a forbidding barrier of wire along the thousands of miles of border between the two countries. Indian border guards routinely shoot Bangladeshis attempting illegal crossings and kill 50 or more every year. The Bangladesh border guards, however, did not try to prevent the Indians from crossing to escape the floods. The Indians are reported to have found shelter not just on streets, but also in Bangladeshi homes. A local resident said they “stood by the flood-affected Indians.” Common sense and humanity prevailed over jingoism and xenophobia on the India-Bangladesh border.
• The increasing frequency and intensity of floods point to the need for cross-border cooperation on shared rivers. India, being both the bigger country and the one upriver, has to take the lead. That means signing water-sharing agreements, which have been pending for two decades. It also means rethinking India’s frighteningly dangerous river-linking project that harks back to an era of grandiose development schemes.
• If South Asia cannot work together on shared natural resources, it will be ill equipped to cope with the desperate rush of refugees. Going forward, climate change will displace millions — and there is no concertina wire strong enough to hold back multitudes desperate to survive.