The issue of urban poverty that hitherto escaped attention of the policymakers deserves a close scrutiny.
With the process of urbanisation gathering speed, the problem of urban poverty has grown bigger.
In Dhaka city that is marked by tall buildings, newly built flyovers, roads clogged with thousands of shiny private cars and other vehicles and sprawling shopping malls, poverty is not visible to the extent of its real existence. One can, however, see or feel the intensity of urban poverty if one is really interested to go deep into the issue.
The administration, honestly speaking, has never recognised urban poverty as an issue. Deliberately or otherwise, it has either ignored the problem or mixed it up with the country's general poverty situation. Experts at an international conference, held in Dhaka very recently, examined the issues of urbanisation and urban poverty in Bangladesh and were unanimous in their views about the need on the part of the government to address the same with due seriousness. The pace of urbanisation in Bangladesh has been the fastest in South Asia with its urban population growing at an average rate of 5.0 per cent annually between 1960 and 2010. And a notable part of the urban population is poor, in terms of their income. They also have other deprivations.
The number of slums and shanties does indicate the presence of a large number of poor people in cities and towns. About 55 per cent of housing units of Dhaka, according to a World Bank economist, are 'kutcha' or 'Jhupri' while the existence of such structures at the national level is over 34 per cent.
Urbanisation is a process that can neither be stopped nor reversed. The influx of rural people to urban areas would continue also in the future. It is not that only poor people migrate to urban centres. Others, including affluent ones, do also move out of villages to enjoy the 'comfort' and services delivered better in large urban centres.
What remains, however, important here is the balanced urbanisation. The need for decentralisation of decision-making power and ensuring improved and modern civic facilities cannot be overlooked.
As far as the issue about addressing urban poverty is concerned, the government, in its plans and programmes, has laid emphasis on helping the rural poor, in terms of economic survival, human development and health issues. For instance, most safety net programmes are developed to provide help, temporary or otherwise, to the rural people in particular.
Undoubtedly, urban poor do have the opportunity to get work easily and earn more than their rural counterparts. But they have deprivations in some other areas including education, housing and pecuniary help coming from the government from time to time.
Most rural poor children do enroll themselves for primary education, but that is not true in the case of the kids belonging to urban poor families. Poor urban families very often engage their children in employments that fetch a paltry amount at the end of the day. Yet the parents consider such earning as a valuable 'contribution' to the survival of their families, economically.
Besides, a large percentage of the urban poor live in slums built on vacant government and private lands and they often become victims of eviction drive by the government agencies and owners of land. The rural poor do not face this kind of difficulty.
The government, hopefully, will try within its means to address the issue of urban poverty. A good number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been engaged in the job of helping the urban poor in various forms. The government could also design programmes to complement the efforts of the NGOs.
The urban poverty is far more visible in Dhaka, a city that has been described as the 'great symbol of 21st century urban dysfunction and the world's most broken city' in an article published in the New York Times (NYT) last week.
"Dhaka is Bangladesh', the NYT item said, claiming that power, business, better health facilities and employment opportunities are concentrated in the world's most densely populated mega city. It is, thus, obvious that like others the poor and hapless people would also flock to this city with a hope to make a living. In most cases, they are engaged in odd jobs, which are not available in rural areas. But the government should do its part of the job to help encourage the rural poor so that they stay in their homes. At the same time, it should try to make the life of the urban poor a little bit comfortable.
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