Monga --not a newly coined word
We the people of Northern Bangladesh are familiar with this word for the last 50 years. During the time of Pakistan, monga affected people used to get food for work. The size of the population was small. The number of people and affected areas were not so wide. Moreover, there was no wide publicity of monga, the people of North Bengal used to see newspapers after 2/3 days of their publication in Dhaka. Again the local people used to provide loan against standing crops. So, the monga was never a national problem.
The government always kept an allocation in the budget to combat monga. Now the size of the population has increased substantially. Naturally, the area and size of affected people have increased and the media is focusing on the problem. But the media has never said anything about remedial measures. We have suggested that employment opportunities be created for the people. We have requested the authorities concerned not to give any cash dole to these people. Because by giving cash dole they are encouraging them to rely on help only.
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