Changing times, changing minds

A farmer from Gaibandha, locally known as Helal Member, summed up a grave looming national crisis in simple words: “The price of what I have to buy is increasing, and the price of what I have to sell is decreasing.”

Helal Member was part of a group of activists who stood in unison on a sunny morning on April 24 in front of the National Museum demanding fair price for the farmers. He was one of two farmers who came from outside Dhaka to participate in a human chain that was far more than just about fair prices. It was about saving the very fabric of our economy. If the farmers lose money on rice production this year, many of them will inevitably turn to other crops next year potentially pushing our food security to an extremely precarious position..

The human chain organised by Facebook Agriculture Group and Jagoree, both non-partisan platforms to mobilise citizens for ensuring government accountability, had clear demands: fair price of rice (at least Tk. 500 per maund), interest-free loan to farmers to ensure they can choose to sell when they want to, fair distribution mechanism to ensure that the subsidies reach the farmers directly instead of benefiting the middlemen, government purchase directly from the farmers, subsidised pricing of agricultural inputs, development of a farmer database as an integral part of creating Digital Bangladesh, and formulation of an agricultural policy that will be based on national interests rather than donor preferences.

While the group felt that government's efforts in announcing agricultural subsidies and increasing agricultural loans were laudable, they expressed their concerns about past shortcomings when it came to execution of policies and taking these benefits to actual farmers.

One by one, students, teachers, young professionals, economists, agricultural researchers took their turns in expressing their opinions, ranging from suggestions of avoiding bad donor recommendations to the importance of food self-sufficiency.

To the casual observer, the chain was like any other, but a closer look would reveal the seeds of a new kind of citizen campaign that is in initial stages of developmentone that has its roots not in the physical world but in cyberspace, not over tea at Modhur Canteen, but over chat on Facebook.

The internet helped turn the fight of a lone passionate individual named Murtoza Lodi into an army of warriors organised through Facebook and then subsequently a human chain organised with support from another non-partisan group called Jagoree, which also relies heavily on the internet for communication, strategic planning, and organising. While the government makes plans for Digital Bangladesh, a silent revolution is taking place among the part of the citizenry that is fortunate enough to have internet access.

This is a phenomenon that is sure to find increasing reach in the near future. While I stood in that human chain not knowing whether our voices will ever reach the government, I knew one thing for sure:

We are now living in a rapidly changing world, where an increasing number of youth are using Internet tools for social causes and carrying their fights to the physical world. They will use the tools not only to organise campaigns and voice demands, but also to track whether government policies taken at the top level are being executed on the ground.

The day may not even be too far away when Helal Members will use the internet to let others know whether they have got access to subsidies or agricultural loans as promised by the government.

We hope that the government will take the demands from citizens, particularly farmers, seriously. While the government has shown good intent and commitment by announcing agricultural subsidies and loans despite discouragement and sometimes threats from some large donors, the real challenge will be in ensuring that they actually reach the farmers.

Citizen-based initiatives like Facebook Agriculture Group and Jagoree will surely keep tab of that using the power of technology and so will NGOs and individuals. To me, this is at the core of our nation's progress towards the vision of Digital Bangladesh.

Mridul Chowdhury is a co-founder of Jagoree and CEO of ClickDiagnostics.