The issue of starvation deaths in Murshidabad, West Bengal came to notice on March 7, 2005 through an email from a Hong Kong-based human rights group. At once we alerted the appropriate authorities but, as you might know, here in India no politician now cares about anything except himself and his survival and the matter has reached to such an extent that for minor cases, people are forced to go to courts or take to violence.

As there was no response and the issue was serious and alarming enough, we sent a representative (a young advocate) from here in Delhi to do an on the spot investigation and offer immediate relief if needed. He was given enough funds to start this work while he is still there. He reached the area on 25 March. His inspection confirmed the truth: that people in the area (overwhelmingly Muslim - Murshidabad is 65% Muslim) were really starving and the authorities were not doing anything about it. He at once started distributing rice, which is the staple diet of the people there, and facilitated medical help as well where urgently needed.

Later during 12-15 April, I too visited the area to familiarize myself with the situation. In fact, Muslims in general in the area are a neglected lot and these people were even worse off.

According to an estimate, about 25,000 villagers along the Padma River have been uprooted due to erosion as a result of the river's changing course since about a decade. About a dozen villages as well as a small town (Jalangi) have disappeared as a result and new habitations with same names have sprung up on adjacent private and government lands. Now these people have no land of their own to cultivate or build their houses. They have to pay rent for the land they occupy now and face eviction all the time if they fail to pay the rent. During the early phase, the state government offered some land and promised cash help (which never came) to some people but now it does not care as the numbers of the victims have kept multiplying over the years. According to an estimate, about 5000 of these victims are in the worst condition and cannot find even a square meal a day, let alone other bare necessities of life. People from this segment are dying due to lack of nutrition and medical aid.

We have appointed two persons in Jalangi as full-time relief workers (Ghulam Kibriya and Saiful Islam, both are graduates and both are residents of the same area). I have personally met them and okayed their appointment. They are now distributing relief as well as keeping an eye on the situation and offering emergency medical and other help whenever necessary. They have enough funds with them for this purpose and are in constant contact with us as well. At present they are distributing weekly rice packets to 70 families (at 200 grams per person per day), which are worst, hit as confirmed by field
inspections. This list of food recipients is growing as more cases come to notice. It is clear that due to our limited resources we cannot offer help on a larger scale. We are only trying to prevent starvation in any family seriously disadvantaged.

Our own representative (Nadim Ahmad) is now back in Delhi after spending a month in the area but he will keep returning until we are satisfied that life has returned to normal and there is no danger of starvation threat.

Our next programme is to distribute some cash grants to people who can start small businesses. We have already done this on a limited scale like offering bicycle and cash to start ice cream vending, gadgets to start bicycle repairing shop, sewing machines, and the like. We want to distribute sewing machines on a larger scale to women who can use it to earn something and survive.  We can also go for buying some land there (land is pretty cheap in the area - Rs. 60,000 per acre) so that they can at least build their shacks on their own land and do not have to pay rent.

Our priority is that the government does the long-term rehabilitation work, like offering them work on a regular basis, giving them below poverty line (BPL) ration cards which entitle them to receive subsidized rice, giving them land to build their houses as well as farmlands to cultivate (they know no other profession). For this we have filed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition in the Supreme Court of India. We hope it may be heard within a week from now. The process will be slow but the fruits will be possible to see after a few months. We are also working with some members of Parliament to raise the issue in Parliament. We are also working to take some members of Parliament to the area and this may take place around mid-May.

All this will generate the needed pressure on the central and state governments.

As our newspaper (The Milli Gazette) was not the proper channel to coordinate help, we have now registered a trust for this purpose to coordinate this work as well as to have enough funds for future intervention whenever need arises. At present after a catastrophe takes place organizations start appealing and fund raising. As a result precious time is lost. We also want to concentrate on education by offering scholarships to both needy and meritorious students on a large scale as the community cannot progress without good education and many of our children are unable to continue education due to poverty.

At present we envisage to continue our operations in Murshidabad for another five months or so until government help arrives and is felt. Our current estimates of the need are as follows:

1. 100 sewing machines to be distributed at Rs. 2000 per machine:                                                                  Rs. 200,000
2. 150 households to be provided grant/loan of +/- Rs. 2000:                                                                       Rs. 300,000
3. Food packets of around 10 kg rice every week to 150 households for the next 5-6 months (at Rs. 10 per kg): 10x150x4x6xRs10/kg (at present we are giving to only 70 families but this is rising): Rs. 600,000 

Total:                                                                    Rs. 1,100,000             

Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan
Editor, The Milli Gazette / Chairman, Charity Alliance
P.O. Box 9701, D-84 Abul Fazal Enclave-I
Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110 025 India
Tel. (00-91-11) 2692 7483, 2632 2825, 2682 2883
Mobile: (0091) 98111 42151
Fax: (00-91-11) 2683 5825
Email: zik@vsnl.com
Website: www.milligazette.com