The fact that the country's development efforts are skewed to a substantial extent and remain yet to be properly directed towards the areas and the population who need the same most has again been highlighted by the latest Poverty Map. Prepared jointly by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the World Bank (WB) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the Poverty Map 2010 was unveiled at a function in Dhaka recently. This has updated the upazila-wise state of poverty and extreme poverty in the country. It has also revealed that Rangpur division has the highest number of poor people followed by Barisal division.
The previous updated one of the kind that was prepared and unveiled by the same national and international organisations had highlighted the identical findings. At the launch of the previous Poverty Map on April 02, 2009, the speakers had termed it an important statistical instrument for identifying the relatively more poor areas and taking appropriate measures to help reduce the high incidence of poverty. At the launch of the latest Poverty Map, the observations by the speakers who, among others, included a minister, were more or less the same.
The higher incidence of poverty in some particular areas could be due to a variety of factors, including those which are specific to such areas. The poverty level of all upazilas of any given district is not the same. It varies with some upazilas having a greater number of poor people than the others. The regional variation in poverty rates could be for geographical or economic reasons or for both. But the important issue here is whether the government, after having adequate information about poverty situation across the country courtesy of the Poverty Map or other surveys and studies, does initiate appropriate actions to pull the poor people out of the vicious cycle of poverty. There is no denying that the country's overall poverty situation has improved over the last two and a half decades. But it is important to design special projects and programmes and implement those particularly in the areas where the greater number of the poor live. The authorities concerned do need to plan for appropriate actions, taking the cue from the latest Poverty Map for addressing the region- or district-specific poverty-related issues. Here the areas where the poverty level is relatively on the higher side should be prioritised for the purpose.
Since the latest Poverty Map has provided areas-wise information about the poverty situation, it is not difficult for the policy-makers to identify the reasons behind the concentration of poverty in some particular areas. Admittedly, the government does not have enough resources to eliminate poverty overnight. But appropriate policies and programmes and their implementation through prudent use of public resources can surely help reduce poverty steadily. The strengthening of local government (LG) bodies through administrative decentralisation and development devolution would make that job easier.
