Lawmakers have suggested the Finance Minister AMA Muhith to prepare the next budget in a manner that can help eradicate extreme poverty from the country.
United efforts of all, strengthening and increasing efficiency of local governments, keeping transparency at the distribution level, identifying extreme poverty hit people, equal distribution of resources, creating employment opportunities at the rural areas and putting importance on health and education were some of the recommendations made by the Members of Parliaments (MPs) to help alleviate ultra poverty.
They were speaking at a pre-budget dialogue on National Budget 2015-16: Expectations of the Country’s Extreme Poor Groups and the Role of Members of Parliament, arranged by the All Parliamentary Party Group (APPG) on extreme poverty held in a city hotel yesterday.
One of the major goal of the next budget should be to obtain higher economic growth for wiping out poverty from the country, said the Mps.
Over the last five years tremendous success were achieved in socio-economic development that had brought down poverty rate at 24% in 2013-14 from 40% in 2005 and hardcore poverty to over 12% from about 24% in 2006, according the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
Food intake or direct calorie intake is used as the yardstick to measure poverty. If any person has a daily intake of less than 2,122 calories, he or she will be considered poor. Food intake less than 1,805 a day equates with ultra poor.
Alongside food intake, BBS is also used the Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) method. This assesses a person’s access to eleven needs including food, education and clothing.
Speaking as chief guest Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury said there should be separate budget for the extreme poverty-stricken women and children to get them out of woods.
She underscored the need for strong monitoring the fund allocation under the social-safety net programmes.
“The lawmaker can play greater role for ensuring proper use of fund allocation.”
She also observed, “Poverty growth rate has fallen but inequality has also risen in the society.”
In a sharp contrast, Finance Minister AMA Muhith, however, claimed that in every country across the world, poverty rate was declining while inequality was also widening.
“But Bangladesh is the only exception in this regard,” he said adding poverty reduction rate in Bangladesh is remarkable since 2010.
The minister observed: “It cannot be said exactly why the inequality has been squeezed. But I think delivering services to the targeted people through social protection progarmmes is working better.”
He said there were some difficulties in identifying and quantifying people hit by the extreme poverty.
It is easy to identify physically impaired people but not mentally because many families have tendency to hide this, he added.
Putting emphasis on strengthening local government, he said, “It can play a pivotal role to eradicate extreme poverty and for this we need to decentralise the power, as national government cannot do alone in poverty alleviation.”
He reiterated that the country would be free from poverty by 2018, as the government had been working hard to attain that goal.
Waresat Hussain Belal MP said identifying those people who were really suffering from extreme poverty, the government needs to make a strategy to free the country from extreme poverty.
“Joint efforts among the government and other social organisations are also important.”
Shirin Akter MP underlined the need for correct statistics of ultra poverty in Bangladesh.
“We’ve heard the poverty growth rate is falling but it is not visible to me. Yet Sidr affected people are deprived of basic needs. They are yet to get access to clean water.”
Another MP said employment generation by setting up small and medium enterprises at the rural level needs to be focused as a way of poverty eradication.
“Fund allocation under social safety programme should be proportionate with the poverty rate in different areas.”
He said many MPs could not work impartially in fear of losing of their votes, which is a disparity. “Ensuring quality education is also important in the rural areas for alleviating poverty.”
Economist and chairman of Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, in his key note paper, said, “MPs should do their best to deliver on the promises they have or their parties have made to the people.”
“For lawmakers, it is also necessary to help mobilise ‘social capital’ towards promoting cohesiveness in communities, facilitate undertaking of projects to address local problems and promote local people’s aspirations, work cohesively with the local institutions and not displaying muscle power but extending friendship to all,’’ said the keynote paper.
