When the government launched its “Ektee Bari Ektee Khamar” project five years ago, the main aim was to alleviate poverty in the country. However, in Kishoreganj, little progress has been made in alleviating poverty.
The project is supposed to enable the rural poor and the community people to find self-employment opportunities with the physical and financial supports offered by the project. Besides, the village organisations coming under the project are supposed to work as the driving force to mobilise the poor, including the women, in their respective areas.
But the reality tells a different story. In the project’s cooperative associations in the district, more than 90% members have been found affiliated with the ruling party in one way or the other – some are leaders, some are activists, and some are just followers of the Awami League.
This reporter spoke with several members of the cooperative associations in the Mahinanda, Maizkhapon, Kadirjangal and Sogra unions under Kishoreganj Sadar upazila. When asked if they met all the criteria to be eligible to be a part of the project, they all admitted that they, in fact, were not.
“We got the membership with inside help, as we know the local influentials as well as Awami League leaders,” they told the Dhaka Tribune.
It is to be noted that the target beneficiaries of the project must be: 1. Poor women in charge of their households in the village, 2. Households having only homestead, 3. Landless people or those who own land up to 0.5 acre of land, including their homestead, and who earn their livelihood by selling manual labour and have no regular sources of income, and/or 4. Small and marginal farmers having up to 2.5 acres of land, including homesteads. Applicants are prioritised based on the aforementioned order.
In case of backward/char areas, households having land up to 4 acres can also be included as project beneficiaries.
This reporter also found that several people in Mahinanda and Maizkhapon unions who actually met the criteria for membership in the cooperative associations did not get it.
“The government gave the project to its own supporters. They are not poor, and they have sufficient land. They take the money, but they do not invest in farming,” they alleged while talking to the Dhaka Tribune.
