Bird Flue: Posing Threat to Economic Security
*Saumitra Mohan

It is the world of complex interdependence among members of the Comity of Nations. Joseph Nye and Robert Keohane told that much earlier. But still when the bird flue spectre was raging in our neighbourhood, we were busy basking in our 9 per cent plus economic growth rate as symbolised by a booming stock market. But it was not long before the monstrous H5N1 virus travelled the distance from South East Asia and Bangladesh to our shores.

What appeared to be a stray and sporadic incident with the bird flue reports from Maharashtra and Manipur in February 2006 and July 2007 respectively has become a grim reality today with West Bengal in the thick of a raging bird flue crisis. The dreaded pestilence is said to have affected different isolated pockets scattered over the fourteen districts of West Bengal.

And, now it seems to have spread its tentacles to other countries of South Asia as well as confirmed cases of bird flue have been reported from Nepal and Pakistan, not to speak of Bangladesh where the disease has been raging for the past one year.

All this has been giving sleepless nights to the governments in these countries as if allowed to spin out of control, this lone disease may take the shine out of a flourishing Asia and may have a very debilitating effect for the entire regional economy. Not only this, it can also deprive millions of people of India and the sub-continent of their livelihood.
Even though such a bird flue of epidemic proportion was first reported from the South-East Asian countries, we remained oblivious to the threat in the belief that our poultry upkeep standards were much higher. But one should realise that these viruses are air-borne and do not recognise geographical barriers.

And now if the dreaded H5N1 viruses have struck our shores resulting in the state of West Bengal reeling under the spectre of bird flue, the usual and sure suspects are the infected migratory and poultry birds from South East Asian countries and Bangladesh. The porous land and coastal borders make the task of border surveillance extremely difficult.

Bird flue outbreak in West Bengal has more to do with the unfamiliarity with a disease of such nature including lack of prior training, resistance from the local people whose birds are supposed to be culled, inclement weather conditions, and failure to effectively seal the international borders with Bangladesh which has more to do with the difficult terrain and geography than any administrative failure.

The bird flue has serious implications for the economy as a whole as it sends negative signals to the outside world about the poor hygiene and sanitation standards obtaining here, with negative portents for our food processing industry. The same could not only take away the livelihood of millions of people in this country, but can also hurt our larger economy in one way or the other.

The epidemic has definitely left certain lessons for us all. There is definitely a stronger case for prior preparations, building better surveillance infrastructure including testing laboratories, easy availability of more sophisticated equipment and bird flue kits, better training and capacity building to tackle such a pestilence. In this instant case, training on the different nuances of tackling the bird flue for the rapid response teams has been organised instantly after the disease has been reported.

Effective border sealing and checking the inter-regional movement of birds from inside and outside the infected zone need to be ensured for better control of the contagion. Last but not the least, the media management has to be more effective as things have often been blown out of proportion. The very fact that reports of bird flue outbreak has resulted in people completely stopping buying and consuming poultry products has also affected the poultry industry despite the fact that well boiled and cooked poultry, even though infected, does not carry any threat for the consumers.

The reaction abroad to the news of bird flue outbreak in West Bengal has, however, been overboard and completely unwarranted. If media reports are to be believed, many countries have prohibited poultry imports from as far flung states as Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the states which, by no stretch of imagination, are affected by this spectre. One should realise that India is not a small country, but is a sub-continental entity and as such, bird flue outbreak in one state is not likely to affect the other states. Though precaution is in order, the same should not verge on unwarranted overreaction.

For the moment, the pestilence is well under control. The government has to ensure that the aftermath of the outbreak is well tackled so that the poultry industry comes back to the normal. Media again has an important role to play here. Also, better standards of hygiene and sanitation have to be ensured through better training and awareness among the operators and personnel engaged in the poultry business to prevent any future outbreak of the disease, including its spread to other states for better securing our economic interests. *Saumitra Mohan is an IAS officer presently working as an Additional District Magistrate, Hooghly in West Bengal.
(The views expressed here are author’s personal views and do not reflect those of the Government.)
Address for correspondence:
Saumitra Mohan, IAS, Additional District Magistrate, Office of the District Magistrate, Hooghly-712101.
E-mail: saumitra_mohan@hotmail.com.
Phone: 033-26806456/26802043(O)/26802041(R).
Fax: 033-26802043.
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