Regional parity in development
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
THE Constitution of the country has made it clear that there must not be any disparity between regions in the matters of development and allocation of resources. Yet violation of the clause concerned of the Constitution has taken place and some regions of the country have remained under-developed for decades. In the past, there were a few piecemeal but specific policy measures, including lower duty and tax rates, to lure investments in the under- developed regions such as Rajshahi, Barisal and Khulna divisions. But those measures failed to yield the desired results, mainly because of the absence of necessary infrastructural facilities. The successive governments have not been serious enough to improve such facilities so that the investors, local and foreign, feel encouraged to make investments in those regions.
The finance adviser of the incumbent caretaker administration in his budget speech, while mentioning about the need for a balanced development, enhanced allocation by 35 per cent for development projects in the under-developed divisions. But one particular agency of the ministry under his control -- the General Economic Division (GED) -- has produced a report recently asking the government to do something more than the annual budgetary allocations to help address the issues of regional disparity and improve the overall conditions in those under-developed administrative divisions. The GED quoted from the recent Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) reports of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and other statistics concerning division-wise public investment, bank deposits and advances and social safety-net programmes to highlight the extent of socio-economic backwardness and high incidences of poverty in the three administrative divisions in question. The incidences of poverty in Barisal, Rajshahi and Khulna divisions in 2005 were 52 per cent, 45.7 per cent and 51.2 per cent compared with that of 34 per cent in Chittagong, 32 per cent in Dhaka and 33.8 per cent in Sylhet.
The higher incidences of poverty do speak of the extent of under-development in these three administrative divisions. In reality, there has not been any improvement in poverty situation in these areas for the last one and half decades despite the fact that the rate of poverty at the national level declined significantly during the same period. The GED has recommended some short and medium term measures to help improve the situation in these divisions. It has suggested completion of the upazila connecting roads, rejuvenation of the Mongla port, which is now in a moribund state, and transformation of the Kuakata and Barguna under Barisal division into full-fledged tourist spots. As medium term measures, it pleaded for the improvement in power situation and development of the much-needed infrastructures, including construction of the Padma Bridge and a second bridge over the Jamuna in the upstream, in these regions. It has also felt the need for monitoring and encouraging the flow of public and private resources there.
The GED report has also suggested to the government to devise means to improve the flow of remittance money, which has been an important factor in making all the differences in poverty situation in rural Bangladesh, to these under-developed regions. The flow of remittance in the divisions of Barisal, Rajshahi and Khulna has been very poor compared to that of Chittagong (one in every four households receives remittances here), Sylhet and Dhaka divisions. A recent report revealed that ownership pattern of the recruiting agencies had a bearing on the recruitment of increased number of people from the divisions of Chittagong, Sylhet and Dhaka. The manpower ministry has, reportedly, requested the association of manpower agents to ask its members to maintain a regional balance in their recruitment for jobs abroad. The rate of under-development in three divisions is very high and the poverty situation is a testimony to that fact. The government needs to do something more than providing the lip-service to help improve the situation in these places. The sooner, the better.
The finance adviser of the incumbent caretaker administration in his budget speech, while mentioning about the need for a balanced development, enhanced allocation by 35 per cent for development projects in the under-developed divisions. But one particular agency of the ministry under his control -- the General Economic Division (GED) -- has produced a report recently asking the government to do something more than the annual budgetary allocations to help address the issues of regional disparity and improve the overall conditions in those under-developed administrative divisions. The GED quoted from the recent Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) reports of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and other statistics concerning division-wise public investment, bank deposits and advances and social safety-net programmes to highlight the extent of socio-economic backwardness and high incidences of poverty in the three administrative divisions in question. The incidences of poverty in Barisal, Rajshahi and Khulna divisions in 2005 were 52 per cent, 45.7 per cent and 51.2 per cent compared with that of 34 per cent in Chittagong, 32 per cent in Dhaka and 33.8 per cent in Sylhet.
The higher incidences of poverty do speak of the extent of under-development in these three administrative divisions. In reality, there has not been any improvement in poverty situation in these areas for the last one and half decades despite the fact that the rate of poverty at the national level declined significantly during the same period. The GED has recommended some short and medium term measures to help improve the situation in these divisions. It has suggested completion of the upazila connecting roads, rejuvenation of the Mongla port, which is now in a moribund state, and transformation of the Kuakata and Barguna under Barisal division into full-fledged tourist spots. As medium term measures, it pleaded for the improvement in power situation and development of the much-needed infrastructures, including construction of the Padma Bridge and a second bridge over the Jamuna in the upstream, in these regions. It has also felt the need for monitoring and encouraging the flow of public and private resources there.
The GED report has also suggested to the government to devise means to improve the flow of remittance money, which has been an important factor in making all the differences in poverty situation in rural Bangladesh, to these under-developed regions. The flow of remittance in the divisions of Barisal, Rajshahi and Khulna has been very poor compared to that of Chittagong (one in every four households receives remittances here), Sylhet and Dhaka divisions. A recent report revealed that ownership pattern of the recruiting agencies had a bearing on the recruitment of increased number of people from the divisions of Chittagong, Sylhet and Dhaka. The manpower ministry has, reportedly, requested the association of manpower agents to ask its members to maintain a regional balance in their recruitment for jobs abroad. The rate of under-development in three divisions is very high and the poverty situation is a testimony to that fact. The government needs to do something more than providing the lip-service to help improve the situation in these places. The sooner, the better.