Nevertheless, the Kansat victory raises some serious questions which need to be addressed if it is to come to fruition. Why did it happen? What factors contributed to the people's victory? Is the compensation enough? Who will bear the cost of compensation? The people of Kansat were apparently victorious, but will their problems be solved? We as a nation must fully understand the causes, consequences and implications of the whole episode and learn lessons from it if we are to avoid such tragedies in the future.

I believe that the lordly mindset of the ruling elite is primarily responsible for the Kansat incident. Enormous sacrifices were made to achieve independence. In an independent country, the people are the owners and "all powers in the Republic belong to the people." (Article 7 of the Bangladesh Constitution) Those holding state power are merely their elected representatives or are public servants, and they exercise powers on the people's behalf. Even though this is stipulated in our Constitution, the reality is very different. In fact, people's powers have been usurpedsnatched away by the interest groups. The employees of the Republic have become the administrators. The people's representatives have become their masters and the common people have become their compliant 'subjects' and recipients of their generosity. Common citizens are now viewed with derision as 'flocks of sheep'. The Kansat incident merely reflected this anti-people attitude of the elite holding the levers of state power.

This medieval attitude of being masters of the people is reflected in the prevailing strategy to use force'use the stick to calm things down.' When people raise grievances in a democratic country, those in position of authority, and their underlings, should listen and try to redress them. Unfortunately, democratic values have not taken root in the minds of our elected representatives. Hence, they do not shy away from flaunting their powers or from unleashing the law enforcement agencies against innocent citizens who express their unhappiness. That is what happened in Kansat.

This attitude of being overlords of the people is also widespread among the law enforcement officers. For example, after the dastardly incident of mistreatment of journalists by police in Chittagong a few weeks ago, the second officer of the Kamarkhand police station of Sirajganj district was reported to have boastfully said: "(Expletives deleted) the journalists do not know how much power the police has. The British had handed sticks to the police to beat people and that law, authorising beating, exists even today. Beating was done in Chittagong stadium under that law. What is the use of writing so much about it? Police are given a year-long training for beating. If you want to stop police beating, the law must be changed." Such attitude of impunity clearly make the law enforcement agencies stick-happy, if not trigger-happy.

The government has accepted the responsibility of the killings in Kansat and agreed to compensate the victims and their families. However, when a government accepts any responsibility the actual burden falls on the shoulders of the citizens. That is, the common people of the country will have to bear the burden of the compensation. But, why? The people did not do anything wrong. They did not kill any innocent people of Kansat. Why do they have to shoulder the responsibility? There must be people who are truly responsible for these 'wrongful' deaths and injuries. Thus, we demand impartial investigations to identify the real instigators of the Kansat killings and give them exemplary punishment. The real culprits must also be required to pay the compensation.

Furthermore, is Tk 2 lac compensation enough for a death? Is the value of a life so little? How was that amount determined? There are standard procedures for determining the level of compensation in cases of wrongful death, such as the discounted value of the future flow of earnings. Had this procedure been used, the amount of compensation for each death would have been different.

Clearly, the demands of the people of Kansat were reasonable and legitimate, although they received bullets instead of electricity. The government also accepted the legitimacy of the demands by signing an agreement. The people of Kansat were ready to achieve their legitimate demandsdemands related to their life and livelihoodby sacrificing their lives. Undoubtedly, the mass upsurge happened because their demands were just and reasonable.

If leaders are honest and the people have confidence in them, followers generally show unconditional allegiance to them. Mr. Golam Rabbani, the leader of the Kansat upsurge, did not show his allegiance to any political party even though he and his colleagues were under tremendous pressure and were maligned by serious propaganda. As far as we know, they have not betrayed the cause of the people. More significantly, the leadership has shown tremendous courage and iron-clad determination. Personal honesty and the legitimacy of their demands were the source of their courage. Undoubtedly, the determination of the leadership gave the followers hope and confidence, and kept them going.

Even though the people of Kansat achieved the victory, it is unlikely that their problems will be solved in the near future. The lack of electricity is not the problem of the people of Kansat alone. This is a serious national issue. Shortage of supply relative to demand is the source of this problem. Thus, it is impossible to solve it locally. Furthermore, production of electricity cannot be drastically increased.

Many complex reasons lie behind the power shortage. However, the naked practice of patronage, partisan behaviour of the policymakers and corruption are the most important causes. Where patronage and partisan behaviour are rampant, the incompetent and corrupt win, because the competent and self-respecting persons do not normally indulge in sycophancy. Thus, many of our public institutions are now headed by dishonest and corrupt individuals, causing many government services to be in a pathetic condition. It goes without saying that the reasons for the recent shortage of fertilizers and diesel are similar to that of the power crisis.

In addition, the traditional bureaucratic system has become rather ineffective in our country because of patronage seeking and undue pressure by influence peddlers. The bureaucratic set up at the local level has almost broken down because of the undue interferences of the local ruling party Members of Parliament.

In an all-pervasive culture of corruption only those projects are formulated and implemented which the people in positions of authority, and their close associates, can illegally profit from. Power production has not significantly increased in the last few years probably because the vested interest groups did not see the prospect of unduly benefiting from them, as power generation projects are generally financed by donors and they impose more stringent requirements of transparency. A few projects that have been implemented in the power sector in recent years are also subject to serious accusations of widespread corruption. Therefore, solving the problem of power shortage of the people of Kansat will require transparency and accountability in all government activities, and the removal of corruption, patronage and partisan practices in all public procurements, thus ensuring the rule of law, and above all, good governance. However, the cry for good governance in our country falls on deaf ears.

Clearly, the explosion of Kansat is not just a sudden accident. It is, in my view, the result of pent up unhappiness with the state of things, developed over a long period of time. Shortage of fertiliser, electricity and diesel has caused the farmers to suffer enormously. Power crisis is responsible for the closure of many small manufacturing units in rural areas. The price spiral of many necessities of life has caused enormous sufferings for the common people. They are disgusted with corruption at every step which makes their life difficult, and they want a solution for all these problems. In addition, burgeoning extremism has made many citizens deeply concerned and even scared. But the policymakers have no time to solve the day-to-day problems people face with respect to many essential services; they are not even interested in doing so. The leaders and their followers are mostly busy plundering. As a result, the common people have no place to go to with their complaints, and they are very angry. The Kansat experience shows that the angry "flocks of sheep" are beginning to wake up and protest. Those who are in power and those who are aspiring to power must ponder seriously about the anger of the masses with the present state of affairs.

Another thing that is clear from the experience of Kansat is that the common people have no confidence in any of the major political parties. That is why they threatened to oppose Mr. Rabbani if he decides to contest the coming parliament election from the Awami League or even from the BNP, even through the area is known to be a fortress of BNP. However, they will support him if he runs as an independent. It is thus clear that the people of Kansat think that the major political parties do not speak for them or look after their interests. They are particularly suspicious of the honesty of the politicians. Thus, an important priority of all the political parties must be to take initiatives to instill people's confidence in politicians and also overcome their own lordly mindset.

Finally, there is now a great debate going on in the country about the civil society and its role. In my view, the members of civil society are nonpartisan; they speak their conscience, they speak out against the deprivations of the common people, they fight for the rights of the underprivileged, they are not driven by business interests and they are not merely contractors for the donors to deliver specific services. Kansat Palli Bidyut Unnayan Sangram Parishad meets all the above criteria and is truly, in my judgment, a civil society institution. Only such civil society institutions, not the traditional voluntary organisations, are able to foment true people's movements like that of Kansat.

Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar is Secretary SHUJAN, and Global Vice President and Country Director, The Hunger Project- Bangladesh.