The word, “Monga” has been derived from Hindi language “Mehenga” meaning “expensive” which indicates high food price, poverty and hunger. In Bengali, monga is an indicator of seasonal and chronic food shortage which prevails in some North-Western districts. Undoubtedly women face the worst consequences amongst the monga affected poor, particularly in Gaibanda, Joypurhat, Kurigram, Lalmanirhat, Jamalpur and Sherpur districts. Recent studies reveal that monga is not only a consequence of natural disasters but also due to human interventions or ignorance causing extreme poverty.

Hunger and famine-like situation prevails in north-western regions of Bangladesh particularly during the lean season (Ashwin and Kartik - September, October) as the poorest do not have access to livelihoods and work. Bangladesh Constitution states the right to employment as a fundamental principle. The mainstream policies and interventions focus predominantly on increasing food production through infusion of technology based on the premise that increased supply of the food will decrease hunger. There is also a trend of consolidation and commercialization of smallholder plots, often used for cash crop cultivation. There has been a major change in the agro-industry dependency in the region over last two decades. Structural adjustment has led to the closure of many agro-based industries: jute, cotton, sugar, paper in the region. This has created both industrial unemployment and reduction in agro production and price, making both agriculture and industry vulnerable leading to monga.

People started to notice this particular phenomenon after independence. The depth and breadth of poverty may have increased overtime. Despite desperate situation, a small GOB initiative has been taken to tackle the chronic food shortage problems comprehensively. Broadly the approach seems to be: providing welfare support to the distressed people and not to enable the people to fight their way out of their miserable condition. There is an urgent need for a sustainable action oriented projects for the livelihoods security by making right to work a legal guarantee and implementing it poorest people’s, particularly the people living in the monga prone areas.

In response to growing consensus on the need for a paradigm shift from a relief oriented approach to a comprehensive action oriented and maturational transformation in understanding and addressing monga, Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP) and Actionaid Bangladesh (AAB) jointly setup “Monga Secretariat” named (Monga Mukta Bangladesh Prochar Obhijan Daptar (MMB).

To provide guidance in finding out contributory factors of monga, formulating appropriate strategy and policy prescription for sustainable solution, a national advisory committee was formed.

Under the dynamic direction of the noted Economist, Chairman of BUP and President of Bangladesh Economic Association, Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, MMB successfully completed a comprehensive bench mark survey in monga hit areas in North-Western districts like Gaibandha, Joypurhat, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat Jamalpur and with ActionAid, MMB recently arranged a grand caravan named Monga Muktir Misil covering the same areas as part of its consciousness raising programme. Simultaneously MMB started in-depth panel survey to further investigate certain key aspects, particularly aspects not so far adequately investigated to help develop more effective interventions.