The resolute perseverance with which Dinesh Kumar Mishra has chronicled major rivers, flowing through the flood plains of Bihar, during past three decades makes one realise if this civil engineer could have been anything but a ‘river biographer’. Meticulous with details, ranging from mythology to hydrology, the narrative weaves people as victims of hydrological madness. Multiple voices and divergent perspectives only testify what Voltaire had long said: ‘The progress of river to the ocean is not as rapid as that of man to error.’ The story of Bagmati is no different!
While the river has preserved its status of a free-flowing drain in Nepal, caging it between embankments has forced the river to roar occasionally in Bihar. Largely unnoticed, the embankments have breached no less than 58 times over last 35 years. Notable aspect of this rather familiar story across major river basins in the sub-continent is that ‘neither have lessons been learnt nor are there any intentions.’ Not surprising, therefore, that the narrative reflects author’s pain and anguish in equal measures.
Mishra’s relentless documentation on rivers may not have gone unnoticed but it has not been able to capture popular imagination as yet. Bereft of detailed prescription, the diagnostic narrative has seemingly remained restricted to researchers and academics. Being critical of structural development along river course and the consequences thereof, his books have remained on the periphery of political discourse on flood plain management. Like his previous biographies, River Bagmati may not be a game changer yet but has essential elements to challenge history.
One may well argue that the world is not at the tipping point for a change in managing our rivers yet. Should that be so, these river biographies have surely been written ahead of their times. However, the time is not far for the ‘business-as-usual’ scenario of (mis)managing the rivers to transform. It is then that wise, witty, patient, persistent and persuasive anthology by Dinesh Kumar Mishra will merit serious consideration....Link
River Bagmati: Bounties Become A Curse
by Dinesh Kumar Mishra
PSI/SANDRP, Dehradun/Delhi
208 pages, Rs.595
Were it not for over-hyped half-truths, micro-credit would have pulled Sufiya Begum out of poverty. The very first client of Grameen Bank died in abject poverty in 1998 after all her income-generating projects came to nothing. If accumulated evidence from Bangladesh to Bolivia and from Cambodia to Mexico are anything to go by, micro-finance has proved nothing but a powerful ‘poverty trap’. Contrary to commonly held belief that it can pull people out of poverty, micro-finance has instead been a major contributory factor in the destruction of the positive economic and social development trajectories.
Milford Bateman wonders if the net impact of micro-finance could have been any different as it is now clear that a few individual ‘success stories’ were carefully promoted to give the world an impression that much progress in fighting poverty has been achieved. In reality, it has been a politically suspect model of poverty alleviation that the international development community sought to legitimize and perpetuate across the poverty-ridden developing world.
Backed by few ‘success stories’, the popular narrative on microfinance focused on its successful operational aspects, such as achieving high repayment rates, increasing the number of clients and expanding the volume of microfinance disbursed. It was automatically assumed that since the model was operationally sustainable it would have led to poverty reduction. Subsumed under this euphoria were stories of debt-ridden clients, many of whom ended up taking their own lives.
Spread over eight chapters, the book explores the depth and dimensions of micro-finance in exposing the ‘business of fighting poverty’. Through provocative reasoning, Bateman argues why micro-finance is not the solution to poverty and underdevelopment that we were originally led to believe it would be. In fact, it is an ‘anti-development policy’ that has outlived its social relevance. Why doesn’t microfinance work forcefully argues that the role of micro-finance in development policy should be urgently reconsidered?
It is a readable critique on micro-finance that should not be read by those who are overwhelmed by the myths attached to micro-finance....Link
Why Doesn’t Microfinance Work?
by Milford Bateman
Zed Books, UK
262 pages, US$ 35.
