Poverty and politics
Yes, the revelation has been brought to light by a study done by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) in collaboration with the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) of UK. The study also mentioned that around 31 percent of the rural population has been suffering the indignity of chronic poverty -- low consumption, hunger and under-nutrition, lack of access to basic health services, illiteracy and other deprivations, for more than a decade.
However, poverty has significantly been reduced in the five years since 2000, by 8.9 percentage points to 40 percent, but the rich-poor gap has widened further, according to the latest Household Expenditure Survey (HES). In fact, inequality in Bangladesh also deepened for the decade since 1990. The earlier HES showed the co-efficient was 0.259 in 1991-92, but it reached 0.306 in 2000.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Experts rightly claim that the sources of rising inequality are linked with the uneven spread of economic and social opportunities, unequal distribution of assets, especially with respect to human capital and financial capital, growing disparity between rural and urban areas as well as between developed and underdeveloped areas.
In this regard, Dr Zaid Bakth, the research director of the BIDS, said "unearned" income -- which is also a burgeoning phenomenon in Bangladesh -- of a segment of the people has increased over the years leading to non-distribution of income.
Meanwhile, a recent CPD report reveals that the widening income disparity in Bangladesh is explained most convincingly when we compare the income shares of top and bottom quintiles of the population. It also adds that between 1999 and 2004, national income attributable to the poorest 10 percent of Bangladesh population declined from the miniscule proportion of 1.7 percent to 1.5 percent. Besides, the income difference between the poorest and the richest increased from 20 times in 1999 to 24.5 times in 2004.
Experts also complain that the policies taken by successive Bangladesh governments to eradicate poverty remain grossly "anti-poorest." In fact, poverty as an agenda receives only seasonal attention in Bangladesh. It rarely occupies the centre stage of national discourses. Regrettably, poverty alleviation figures either during election time or in the budget-making season. Even the political party manifestoes are not sharply focused on poverty reduction except for making false promises.
From the lackadaisical approach of the successive governments to eradicate poverty, the proposition comes to the fore that the political leaders have a vested interest in the continuation of poverty. The rationale is simple: as long as there will be poor people, the crooked politicians will be able to manipulate them with even scanty allurements.
Admittedly, social unrest and criminal activities in the country are fueled by poverty and the affluent yet criminalised sections of the society are direct beneficiaries of the crimes perpetrated by the poor used as playthings of the former. Who doesn't know that even the religious political parties used abject poverty as a weapon for collecting suicide bombers in the recent past?
I am also prompted to comment that almost all the political parties of Bangladesh tend to exploit the poor to the greatest possible extent. A few examples are in order. We hear of people being hired by political parties to make their political gatherings a success. This is not to say that all the participants are hired, but a good number of the participants are paid in cash for their mere presence. How can the political parties show off their prowess if there are less poor in the society?
Our political parties come to power with the promise of a happy land. While in power, however, they look upon the 5 years' tenure as a one-time chance and make the best of it. The masses are made to endure hardships in many respects. But, will there be shortage of people in rallying round the political leaders in the next general elections? No, because there are so many poor and desperate people in our society that it is easy to hoodwink them.
In fact, poverty of a section of people is also a boon for the affluent section of the society, as it provides them with an opportunity to show off their wealth. Don't we notice thousands of poor people thronging the gates of the rich people who announce their zakat in advance to the poor? Don't we also hear of human casualties at stampedes almost every year during these zakat events? What a joke at the cost of the lives of poor people! What a loss of precious lives for a saree or lungi!