Sustainable poverty alleviation

Poverty is still a big challenge for Bangladesh even though its pangs on the whole are not that much harsh. A report of this newspaper yesterday stated that 47 million people in Bangladesh still live in poverty and 28 million of them are the hardcore poor struggling desperately to subsist every day. To face the daunting challenge of poverty alleviation, a coordinated multi-sectoral action plan, more investments to raise agricultural productivity and promoting more jobs in manufacturing and service sectors, are necessary. But it must be pointed out that efforts to mitigate poverty should be concentrated more in Barisal, Khulna and Rajshahi as these regions are lagging behind Chittagong, Dhaka and Sylhet regions.
People of the former three divisions are often hard hit by natural disasters. Floods, cyclones as well as drought every year displace many people of these regions turning them homeless and workless. They just add to the floating people of urban areas or at best end up taking shelter in urban slums. The practice of early marriage and dowry also causes many families to fall into poverty. True a great number of rural village women are now engaged in garments industries, the fact remains to be faced that only four per cent of women work for cash wages in the country. Due to early marriage and pregnancy, many rural women are denied the opportunity of becoming a fully active and productive member of the workforce. Since the causes of poverty in Bangladesh are many and varied, it is necessary to address this challenge on all the fronts. For sustainable poverty alleviation employment generation is a must. The social safety net programmes that the government undertakes have to be more efficient. A greater number of cash allowances can be linked to human capital formation and targeted to the poor in this regard. The micro credit institutions that are working in the rural areas need to be more useful for the hardcore poor people from substantial reduction of the interest rates on loans distributed by them. Our country often bleeds for political reasons. There is little doubt that Bangladesh could have performed better in terms of poverty reduction if it could be conclusively freed from political instability.

 

Sustainable poverty alleviation

Poverty is still a big challenge for Bangladesh even though its pangs on the whole are not that much harsh. A report of this newspaper yesterday stated that 47 million people in Bangladesh still live in poverty and 28 million of them are the hardcore poor struggling desperately to subsist every day. To face the daunting challenge of poverty alleviation, a coordinated multi-sectoral action plan, more investments to raise agricultural productivity and promoting more jobs in manufacturing and service sectors, are necessary. But it must be pointed out that efforts to mitigate poverty should be concentrated more in Barisal, Khulna and Rajshahi as these regions are lagging behind Chittagong, Dhaka and Sylhet regions. People of the former three divisions are often hard hit by natural disasters. Floods, cyclones as well as drought every year displace many people of these regions turning them homeless and workless. They just add to the floating people of urban areas or at best end up taking shelter in urban slums. The practice of early marriage and dowry also causes many families to fall into poverty. True a great number of rural village women are now engaged in garments industries, the fact remains to be faced that only four per cent of women work for cash wages in the country. Due to early marriage and pregnancy, many rural women are denied the opportunity of becoming a fully active and productive member of the workforce. Since the causes of poverty in Bangladesh are many and varied, it is necessary to address this challenge on all the fronts. For sustainable poverty alleviation employment generation is a must. The social safety net programmes that the government undertakes have to be more efficient. A greater number of cash allowances can be linked to human capital formation and targeted to the poor in this regard. The micro credit institutions that are working in the rural areas need to be more useful for the hardcore poor people from substantial reduction of the interest rates on loans distributed by them. Our country often bleeds for political reasons. There is little doubt that Bangladesh could have performed better in terms of poverty reduction if it could be conclusively freed from political instability.