Editorial
Poverty reduction figures
We need to reduce inequality too
A World Bank (WB) report prepared on the basis household income and expenditure survey of the period between 2000 and 2005, conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, depicts a positive picture of our poverty reduction endeavours; our rate of poverty reduction is only second to India's in South Asia. We must take heart in the findings since poverty remains the gravest of our problems, and to bring the country completely out of it occupies the greater part of the government's efforts.
However, notwithstanding the reduction related statistics, the fact is that with a constant increase in our population the absolute number of indigent in Bangladesh still remains staggering.
There is yet another aspect of this issue, which has to do with the rich-poor gap. Although the percentage of hardcore poor has decreased our economic growth has not led to equal distribution of wealth thereby escalating the iniquitous social configuration. The WB report suggests that rural inequality increased slightly while it remained stable in the urban areas which is to say that the figures are not indicative of decrease in the inequality. It has actually increased where it matters most viz. the rural areas.
Another factor that we should do well to keep in mind is the increase of regional disparity within Bangladesh, wherein the incidence of poverty is more severe and endemic in the northern districts in places like Lalmonirhat and Rajshahi than in other areas of the country. We should also keep in our reckoning the small pockets of severe poverty all too often overlooked, for example the 'monga' prone areas. The disconcerting aspect of this phenomenon is that poverty in such areas is attended by highly enhanced maternal and child mortality rates, almost five times that of other areas of the country.
We must not feel complacent about the findings of the study since the random sampling in the case of Bangladesh has taken only 10,000 cases into consideration while in countries like Sri Lanka and Pakistan almost double or seven times that number have been studied.
While we exult at having one of the fastest rates of poverty reduction in South Asia our task will be completed only when we bring every single person out of the cycle of abject poverty.
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