Boat people of Buriganga

Courtesy: Photosearch

I had conducted a study on the livelihood and socio-economic condition of the boat dwellers. It is an issue that received importance in quite a few countries in the last few years. But in Bangladesh, it is yet to get such attention. We went to the Buriganga river to find them. On reaching there, we saw boats that were old, dilapidated and poorly maintained.

Those who live in boats are called the boat people. But for our purpose, boat people are those who have selected their homes in boats. Boat dwelling is a phenomenon peculiar to this largest city of Dhaka in Bangladesh. They are also radically different from what people generally understand non-slum dwelling to be. People actually live in those old boats in various rivers surrounding Dhaka city and earn a living from the city. Some 30-40 people use each boat as their dwelling at a time. As a result the occupants have little privacy, or protection from the weather.

Predictably, boat dwellers are amongst the very poorest income groups in urban Bangladesh. Though a large population live on boats not a single study is known to have been conducted to understand their living or socio-economic condition. As a result a large portion of non-slum dwellers aren't counted in various studies which claim to have covered all areas of non-slum dwelling. There is a small community in Bangladesh like snake charmers called 'BEDEY' who also spend their lives with families in boats. But the boat people we talk about here live in the boats alone leaving their families behind in villages.

Length of their stay in the boat varies from a few months to 15-20 years. Most of these boat dwellers are married with children. But some are still single. Family size varied greatly from 2-3 children to 8-9 children. Those who aren't married have mostly 5-6 brothers and sisters. So, most of them come from or possess large families. Some have very strong family ties and feel it to be their only reason for staying at Dhaka. While others stay in Dhaka to be free from the family responsibilities that would fall on them if they stayed back with their family in their villages.

Everyone in boats eats three meals a day. They have to pay Tk. 30 per day to the boat owner for lunch and dinner. They don't have to pay rent for living in the boat. Most of them take bath in the river. Once a week some take bath in the nearby mosques by paying Tk. 3. Though it isn't hygienic the boat dwellers use toilet that is situated at the back of each boat.

This area of boat dwellers is right next to Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital. Most of the boat dwellers go to the hospital when they become sick. Some of them go to homeopath doctors.

Most of these boat people migrated looking for job and perhaps hoping to build a better future. They weren't able to do anything significant in their villages. Some respondents migrated just for thrill. But once migrated they had to stay and make a living. They couldn't go back because it would be shameful and embarrassing. They started by looking for a suitable job but finally ended up doing whatever was available. Most of them work long hours in laborious jobs. The most common jobs are that of rickshaw puller, day labourer, coolie and cleaner. Most of them are illiterate. Some of them can write their names but nothing more. Very few have completed primary education.

Eighty percent of them consider themselves to be in a substandard condition. They say their needs and wants are not fulfilled and that they are unlucky. But there are some respondents who are happy. They feel that this is their fate and they can do nothing to change it. Some feel that they are better off than others (like beggers on the streets). So they are grateful that they can have three meals a day.

According to Rowntree's primary and secondary poverty line none of the boat dwellers fall below the primary poverty line. But if we bring their families into the picture then the analysis will be different. The respondents living alone in Dhaka city spend minimum Tk. 50 per day on food. This means in a month they spend minimum Tk. 1500 only on food for themselves. They send home on an average Tk. 1000-2000 per month. In a family they have at least 4-5 members who live on that amount of money. So it can undoubtedly be said that their families suffer from primary poverty.

Relative poverty exists among 80 percent of the dwellers. They feel that they are poor compared to their relatives, neighbours, or friends. When they compare themselves with people living in Dhaka city with family in squatters or slums they feel that they are more poor because they cannot bring their families to live with them. Some feel that they are relatively poor because they weren't able to receive proper institutionalised education. They also feel poor compared to other non-slum dwellers who receive help and aid from NGOs.

So these men have to feed not only themselves but also a few other mouths. But the amount of money they earn they spend half, if not more on themselves. With the rest amount their families struggle for survival. So to understand their actual financial condition study alone on boat dwellers isn't enough. It is important to study their families also. Only through doing a broad study will it be possible to understand the actual condition of the boat people.

The study on life of boat people anchored at the river Buriganga reveals some unexplored aspects of their lives. They are mostly unknown to the mainstream of our society and hardly any studies have been made on them. They live in an extremely unhygienic condition, take inadequate life sustaining food requirements like proteins and vitamins. Their earnings are very meagre on which they themselves and their family members living far away in villages have to depend.

There are various ways in which government and non-government organisations (NGO) are involved in reducing the burden of poverty among the non-slum dwellers. But the non-slum dwellers who live in boats have remained outside the periphery of such projects. This is because they haven't even been considered as part of the non-slum dwellers. Mainly pavement dwellers, rail and bus station dwellers, or in other words vagabonds have been included. But how can we expect to bring sustainable development and reduce poverty without bringing this segment of population within the folds of development activities? They have to be included in our development programmes. Poverty has many facets, some are easily identifiable while many remain unknown, unexplored and unattended. Without improving the condition of those hitherto forgotten people the nation cannot claim to have addressed poverty in real sense of the term. So, it is high time that necessary and effective steps are taken to improve the socio-economic and living condition of the boat people. The NGOs, government agencies and researchers--- all have a role to play.

Tabassum Amina is doing her MSS at the Department of Sociology, University of Dhaka.