A nation requires a vision for its cherished development. The election manifesto of the present government 'Vision-2021' has been prepared with the dream of making a new Bangladesh at the outset of golden jubilee celebration of our great independence. A promise of fundamental transformation in all spheres including socio-economical and political arena has been reflected in this vision that also covers the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The present government has placed poverty alleviation and elimination of all sorts of inequity at the forefront of its development strategy. Strengthening of social safety nets, food autarky, faster agricultural growth, employment generation etc. are identified as some of the key challenges for attaining the goals. This article focused on the initiatives taken by the present government during last three years for improvement of mass people especially on poverty alleviation, social safety nets, food security and agricultural sector.
Poverty Alleviation
Poverty eradication, the first condition for development, is the main challenge of the present government. Adam Smith in his book 'Wealth of Nations' noted, 'No society can surely be flourishing and happy of which by far the greater part of the numbers are poor and miserable'. So, undertaking of long term effective programs is required. The government has taken a strategy for combating poverty reduction both in short and long terms. In the poverty reduction strategy framework of the revised National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction II (NSAPR II), special importance has been given on creation of macroeconomic environment, identification of critical areas and essential infrastructure for pro-poor growth and social protection for the vulnerable section of the society and human resources development. During the last three years, the government had succeeded in groundbreaking for attaining the desired growth. In spite of internal and external obstacles, real GDP growth rate was 6.7 percent in FY 2010-11 which is the highest in last 40 years due to the higher growth in agriculture, manufacturing and service sector and the target for FY 2011-12 is 7.0 percent. In FY 2009-11, per capita income increased by 24 percent compared to 19 percent in the period FY 2002-04. Due to macroeconomic stability, domestic savings rate increased to 19.93 percent during the last three years against 18.77 percent in FY 2002-04. Export growth has increased to 47 percent during the last three years of the present government.
On the other hand, export growth rate was 27 percent in FY 2002-04. The rate of inward remittance was three times higher during the last three years of the present government compared to that of FY 2002-04. According to the primary report of 'Household Income and Expenditure Survey-2010', population living below the poverty line decreased to 31.5 percent in 2010 from 40.4 percent in 2005. During this period, poverty gap reduced significantly while income inequality ratio decreased moderately. The government has been increasing its revenue budget to eradicate poverty. Bangladesh has achieved significant progress in poverty reduction and targets of the MDGs. Achievement of the United Nations Award on reduction of child mortality rate is undoubtedly recognition of the success of the present government.
Bangladesh is also in the right track for attaining other MDG targets including eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, women empowerment etc. In order to make the growth poor friendly and sustainable, and reach its benefit to the majority of the lower tier of the population pyramid, the most important steps taken are making the financial services accessible to the underprivileged people including extreme poor, landless, small farmers, sharecroppers, small entrepreneurs and poor women.
Social Safety Nets
Since the government believes in long term development vision, it considers social safety net programs not only as a tool of poverty reduction but also as a crisis-fighting-instrument. Microfinance is one of the important determinants for empowering poor population so that they can survive facing poverty. Growth of employment and income generating agricultural and SME sectors is speeding up the poverty eradication process and playing an important role in achieving extensive sustainable economic and social upliftment. The government is trying to empower the extreme poor by providing special grants and supports in the area of education, health, service and training to generate self-employment through microcredit facilities and to ensure food security for hardcore poor by providing food free of cost or at fair price. During the last three years, the areas of social safety net programs and allocation for it have increased.
Social safety net programs include Old Age Allowance, Widow, Divorced and Distressed Women Allowance Scheme, Allowances for the Insolvent Disabled Programme, Education Scholarship for disabled students, increase in honorarium of insolvent freedom fighter etc. 'One House One Farm' is a notable successful initiative of the government in reducing poverty. This project has been implemented in 9,640 villages of 482 upazillas. Government's housing loan scheme (Grihayan Tahbil), Returning Home Programme, microcredit for the self-employment of the women, and the rehabilitation and alternative employment programme for the beggars have been implemented with a view to eradicating poverty.
Development of Agriculture Sector
Agriculture is the prime among the priority sectors of the government. The aim of the government is to achieve self-sufficiency in food by 2013. A number of steps have been initiated for the expansion of small irrigation facilities, removal of water logging, production of improved quality and high yielding varieties of seeds and their distribution and development and expansion of the varieties of crops suitable for the weather and environment of a particular region. The highest priority has been attached to increasing the production of domestic food grains. The supply of agriculture inputs at a reasonable price is being continued with providing of subsidies.
The prices of fertilizers have been reduced thrice to keep them within the grip of purchasing power of the farmers. Taka 48.92 billion was granted as agriculture subsidy in FY 2009-10 and the allocation for agriculture subsidy was Taka 57.0 billion and Taka 45.0 billion in FY 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively. The successful decoding of genome sequencing of jute has unfolded a new vista for further invention of new high yielding species of jute, which are expected to be salinity-resistant and tolerant to drought, insects and diseases. Along with extensive credit facilities in the agriculture sector, Bangladesh Bank has brought qualitative changes in the process of credit flow specially by strengthening monitoring activities so that the farmers can avail hassle-free credit in time in a transparent way. Disbursement of agriculture credit in FY 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 (upto September 2011) was Taka 115.12 billion, Taka 121.84 billion and Taka 20.52 billion respectively.
The target for the current financial year is Taka 138.0 billion, which is the highest so far. A refinance scheme of Taka 5.0 billion has been launched to ensure the credit facilities for the landless sharecroppers who were otherwise deprived of institutional credit. Under this scheme, about Taka 3.1 billion was disbursed among 2,70,802 sharecroppers till date. To make the agriculture inputs available and agriculture credit disbursement easy among the farmers, 18.2 million agro-input assistance cards have been distributed across the country and savings accounts of more than 9.5 million farmers have been opened accepting Taka 10 only as an initial deposit. Steps have been taken to disburse credit at 4 percent concessional rate to encourage cultivation of different variety of pulses, oil seeds, spices specially ginger, turmeric, onion, chilly, cumin and maize. As a result, expenditure for importing food grains is gradually decreasing.
Food Security
Enormous success has been achieved in ensuring food security.. The government has updated the 'Food Security Policy' with a view to ensuring food security for the hardcore poor and prepared 'Bangladesh Food Security Investment Plan 2010' in order to develop a sustainable food security system. The three elements which are very important to ensure food security in the country are adequate supply of food, increasing the purchasing power of people for getting food and ensuring nutrition for all. There has been a record growth in food production due to favorable environment, extensive agriculture credit disbursement, agricultural equipments and other timely assistances of the government. During the last three years, annual food production has increased by 9.71 percent. The increase of wages and access of people to income-oriented activities have enhanced their purchasing power. In order to meet the food demand of the hardcore poor, the coverage of the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), Vulnerable Group Development (VGD), and Gratuitous Relief (GR) progrmmes have been widened. Steps are being taken to involve the hardcore poor in the development activities by providing them with temporary employment.
Initiatives are on the way for supplying food at fair price. Rationing system, Open Market Sale (OMS) of food grains and other distribution mechanisms have been introduced. Steps are being taken to make these arrangements more rationalised. Various steps have been taken to ensure food reserve. To build up stock, an initiative has been taken to procure food grains from overseas. It will help maintain farmers' earnestness and success for high level production and at the same time, build up a safe food reserve through import.
It is possible to make Bangladesh a country free from poverty and hunger, if the country can be upgraded to a 'middle income' country by 2020 in line with the vision of the government. For this, all the initiatives taken for poverty eradication must be expedited in the coming days. Campaign for 'financial inclusion' should be accelerated with the participation of poor and disadvantaged people as an effective weapon for poverty eradication; adequate credit flows should be ensured for social security and other productive pursuits including agriculture, SMEs and environment friendly projects; effective measures should be taken so that people can cope with the climate change. There exists a worldwide acclamation for Bangladeshi people for survival combating all odds. Their creativity is endless. Both society and government should create an environment of confidence for further advancement of this fighting nation. Let all of us strive to make this commitment meaningful.