Sustainable poverty reduction

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WHEN the first poverty survey was carried out in 1973-74, about 70 per cent in the population of Bangladesh were seen as hard pressed to obtain two square meals per day. In 1991-92, the percentage of such people came down to 58.8 per cent according to official estimates and further down to 49.8 per cent in 1999-2000. The last conducted survey mentioned that the percentage of people under the poverty line in Bangladesh had come down to 40 per cent. The related report was quoted in several prestigious foreign newspapers as indicative of greater success in poverty alleviation in Bangladesh during the last decade when neighbouring countries like India and Pakistan seemed to be behind Bangladesh in this respect.
But notwithstanding the optimism expressed in the report, it is obvious that substantial poverty alleviation remains still a distant target in the context of Bangladesh. Forty per cent persisting in the throes of poverty in a population of over 130 million is a huge figure. Besides, the outcome of the poverty surveys cannot be relied on so completely because the same can mask many unrecognised developments.
The surveys may not have taken into account the number of those who fail to sustain in their existence above the poverty line due to all kinds of adversities that afflict their lives including crop failure, flood, cyclones, river erosion, etc. These factors and more make accurate poverty estimation a truly formidable exercise in this country. Thus, there is no room for relaxation from a thinking that anti-poverty measures are making a major impact. The road to poverty alleviation remains long and hard and policy makers need to apply themselves with even greater dedication to make a sustainable dent in the poverty situation.
Amin Ahmed Chowdhury
Gulshan,
Dhaka