Time to assess how money has been used to reduce poverty
Sunday, 21 November 2010
IT brings money into the country -- an awful lot of money indeed! -- ending up where none knows! It does not usually reach the target groups who have reconciled with it as a fait accompli. It goes to those who talk, write, and prepare tons of documents about it. Successive governments in Bangladesh for about last 39 years have undertaken hundreds of projects in the name of creating jobs or works for the poor.
They prepared volumes of project proposals pinpointing the problems and explaining the sure shot solutions in lucid language. All concerned swallowed the bait and money came for the implementation of those projects in the shape of many alluring subject-headings coined like poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) and the like.
But real poverty reduction has been up to the desired expectation. This makes it an imperative to undertake a rigorous scrutiny about where the 'development' money has gone or how far it has given way to real corruption. Coterie interest-free activities are what are really needed in order to achieve solid progress in reducing poverty.
Ehsanul Kabir
Dhanmondi RA
Dhaka.
They prepared volumes of project proposals pinpointing the problems and explaining the sure shot solutions in lucid language. All concerned swallowed the bait and money came for the implementation of those projects in the shape of many alluring subject-headings coined like poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) and the like.
But real poverty reduction has been up to the desired expectation. This makes it an imperative to undertake a rigorous scrutiny about where the 'development' money has gone or how far it has given way to real corruption. Coterie interest-free activities are what are really needed in order to achieve solid progress in reducing poverty.
Ehsanul Kabir
Dhanmondi RA
Dhaka.