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Definition of Poverty:

Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. It is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution refers to the deprivation of basic human needs, which commonly includes food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter, health care and education. Approximately, 1.7 million people are living in absolute poverty in the present world. Relative poverty is defined contextually as economic inequality in the location or society in which people live.

However, poverty is more, much more than just not having enough money.

The World Bank Organization describes poverty in this way:

“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.”

According to Oxford Dictionary:1. The state of being extremely poor: thousands of families are living

in abject poverty2. The renunciation of the right to individual ownership of property

as part of a religious vow.3. The state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount: the

poverty of her imagination

Despite the many definitions, one thing is certain; poverty is a complex societal issue. No matter how poverty is defined, it can be agreed that it is an issue that requires everyone’s attention. It is important that all members of our society work together to provide the opportunities for

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all our members to reach their full potential. It helps all of us to help one another .

Classification of Poverty:

Different people think about poverty in different ways. Some people think that poverty is about being able to buy and sell but other people think about getting a fair share of education and health care or about being given respect, and having some influence over what happens in their life. Because of these differences it is useful to think about two main types of poverty - income poverty and non-income poverty

Income Poverty: Income poverty happens when a household takes in less than one US dollar per day. This means that people will not have enough food or medicine and they will have poor clothes and houses. Income poverty is due to people not having access to money or other assets. If people do not have any other assets like land to grow their own food, then income poverty can result in stunted growth and early death.

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Non-income Poverty: Non income poverty happens when people may have a little bit of money but otherwise the quality of their life is not good. They do not have access to affordable social and physical services (schooling, health care, medicines, safe water, good sanitation, good transport) and they may not feel safe in their homes either because they cannot trust the authorities or because they belong to some particularly vulnerable group.

Poverty in Bangladesh :

Condition of poverty in Bangladesh is not so good. Now, We would like to delineate the present situation of poverty in Bangladesh. Around 31% of the rural population presently suffers 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. About 24% of the total population currently lives in extreme income-poverty. About 19% of rural households cannot have 'full three meals' a day; about 10% subsist on two meals or less for a number of months every year. While Bangladesh has come out of the "shadow of

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famine", the problem of starvation still persists. However, 47% people are staying below poverty line and 28% of our population lives under the extreme poverty line. About 40 million people go to bed without meal every night. This observation shows that Bangladesh is a country of poor. Although, several international organizations like IMF, World Bank; Government and Non Governmental organizations have been working for the alleviation of poverty but the success in the field is very negligible i.e. 1% or 1.8% at best each year. Statistics show reduction of poverty in the years (1995---2007) from 51.00% to 38.66%. But according to the principles of Millennium Development Goals (MDG), we have to reduce poverty by 1.15% every year.

Figure: Poverty rate in various district of Bangladesh.

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Reasons of Poverty:

There are many reasons of poverty in Bangladesh. Now, the reasons that are working effectively behind the poverty of Bangladesh are stated below:

1. Rapid growth of population.

2. Corruption of top level personnel of the society.

3. Death of chief wage-earner.

4. Incapability of chief wage- earner through accident, illness, and old age.

5. Chronic irregularity of work.

6. Largeness of family.

7. Low wage.

8. Habits drinking , betting, and gambling .

9. Careless housekeeping for improvident expenditure.

10. Chronic shortage of cash.

11. Absence of food reserves.

12. Natural calamities (river erosion, cyclone, tidal surge, excessive rain).

13. Under developed communications system.

14. Lack of education and skilled labor.

15. Lack of administrative fairness and accountability.

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16. Limited access to public services.

17. Lack of mass people's participation in local government etc.

18. High inflation rate.

19. Inadequate employment.

20. Misuse of natural resources.

21. Inequitable distribution of land, income and productive assets.

Impacts of Poverty:

1. Illiteracy: Poor people can not afford to send their children to school. Thus a bigger part of society remains illiterate.

2. Malnutrition: Poverty affected people are unable to buy nutritious food. Sometime they can not manage three meals a day and that’s why they suffer from malnutrition.

3. Shelter Problem: Poverty affected people do not have proper living place. Sometime poverty compel them to sleep under open sky.

4. Lack of Clothing: Poor people can not manage proper clothing for them. They wear rag dress. During winter many poor people suffer from cold, even some of them die for want of warm cloth.

5. Lack of Health Service: Because of poverty many people do not get proper medical treatment. They suffer a lot from various diseases even die without any treatment.

6. Increasing Crime : When people are unable to fulfill their basic needs they are compelled to involve in various crime.

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7. Increasing Child Labor: Because of poverty many parents send their children to do different types of work at an early age instead of sending them to school. Thus child labor is increasing day by day.

8. Slowdown Development: As poverty affected people can not contribute to national income thus they slowdown development process of our country.

9. Social Discrimination: Poverty creates discrimination between rich and poor.

10. Psychological Problem: Member of a poverty affected family always suffer from mental stress. Thus poverty hinders their psychological growth, particularly for children member of family.

11. Unplanned Life Leading: Poor people do not have any plan for leading their life style. They lead a very unorganized and untidy life.

Definition of Poverty Alleviation:

Poverty reduction (or poverty alleviation) is any process which seeks to reduce the level of poverty in a community, or amongst a group of people or countries. Poverty reduction programs may be aimed at economic or non-economic poverty. Some of the popular methods used are education, economic development, and income redistribution. Poverty reduction efforts may also be aimed at removing social and legal barriers to income growth among the poor.

Poverty Alleviation Process in Bangladesh:

Although poverty alleviation process in Bangladesh is very slow but the

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happy news is that Bangladesh is progressing. We can easily understand progress of poverty alleviation process of Bangladesh by comparing the previous two decade’s poverty rate that are given below.

Year Rural Urban National1990 61.20% 44.90% 58.80%1995 55.30% 29.50% 51.00%2000 52.30% 35.20% 48.90%2005 43.80% 28.40% 40.00%2007 42.30% 27.60% 38.66%2010 35.20% 21.30% 31.50%

2015*30.60% 22.50% 29.40%

Table: Proportion of population below national poverty line

Ways of poverty alleviation in Bangladesh:

1. Education: Education is compared to light and poverty is compared to darkness. Poverty can not affect us if we are educated. Educated nation is never underdeveloped. So education is a must for us if we want to get rid of the curse of poverty.

2. Employment Opportunity: Unemployment is one of the most important causes of poverty in our country. In order to eradicate poverty, employment opportunity must be enhanced in government sector as well as in private sector.

3. Population Check: We know that Bangladesh is an over populated country. It is very difficult for the government to ensure proper facilities to the excess population and that’s we can not lead a standard life style. So we should convince people to accept family planning in order to control birth rate to check population.

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4. Proper Utilization of Natural Resources: Almighty Allah has blessed our country with huge amount of natural resources. Our prosperity depends on proper utilization of those natural resources. So we should make the best use of our natural resources to erase poverty from our fate.

5. Train up Manpower: We regretfully say that our country is over populated! But population of a country can never be a problem. If we can train them up properly they will surely turn into asset and will play a vital role in eradicating poverty from society.

6.Eradication of Corruption: At present corruption is prevailing in our country like spider wave. Every year millions of money goes to individual pocket as a result of corruption. If we could utilize this money behind development purpose we could reduce poverty to a great extant.

7. Promotion of Gender Equality: Women fall into poverty more easily and more frequently than men. They constitute majority of the people living in poverty. Ending discrimination against women and girls and promoting gender equality were critical for poverty eradication.

8. Self-employment: self-employment played a central role in poverty eradication. Access of the poor to land, capital and other productive resources must be improved.

9. Reduction of Hunger and Malnutrition: Hunger and malnutrition were the worst manifestations of poverty. The chronically hungry cannot grow out of poverty. This is morally reprehensible and economically wasteful. Efforts should be redoubled to reduce the proportion of under/nourished by half by 2015.

10. Supply of Safe Water and Clean Environment: Sufficient supply of safe water and a clean environment are necessary for life. Poverty

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eradication and environment protection should be mutually supportive.

11. Social Service: Social services must be developed with more social investments by governments and less military expenditures, if poverty is to be defeated.

12. Good Governance and Effective Administration: Good governance and effective administration are prerequisites to effectively fight poverty. Public policy should aim at preserving social cohesion and promoting social stability, especially through democracy, the rule of law and the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

13. Jakat: Jakat is an effective way to eradicate poverty. If the wealthy people provide Jakat according to Islamic rule there will be a proper distribution of wealth among the poor. In this way we can eradicate poverty from our country.

14. Micro-credit Program: By enhancing micro-credit program in our society particularly, in rural area we can uplift the economic condition of the poor people which will be helpful to reduce poverty.

15. Allowance Scheme: By allocating different allowance scheme for poor, old-aged, unemployed etc. government can help them to be economically self-depended.

16. Helping Peasantry: As most of the farmers of our country live under poverty line so government should try to up lift their condition in order to reduce poverty. In this case government can provide them interest free loan; free or less price fertilizer, seeds, different types of agricultural instrument etc.

17. Small and Cottage Industry: Government should patronize the entrepreneur to build up small and cottage industry for developing the socio-economic condition of rural population . Government can allocate

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land, provide electricity connection, loan, technological support etc. to them so that they can easily start this type of industry.

Flowchart of poverty reduction strategy:

Source: www.imf.org

To fulfill the vision of poverty reduction, four strategic blocks are identified. These four blocks are enhancing pro-poor growth, boosting critical sectors for pro-poor economic growth, devising effective safety nets and targeted programmes and finally ensuring social development.

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The framework also identifies four supporting strategies or crosscutting issues. These are (i) ensuring participation, social inclusion and empowerment of all sections, groups and classes of people, (ii) promoting good governance by ensuring transparency, accountability and rule of law, (iii) providing service delivery efficiently and effectively, particularly to the poor and (iv) caring for the environment and sustainable development on a long-term basis. Identification of problems and recommendations of actions to be taken in four strategic blocks and four supporting strategies are based on nationwide consultations with stakeholders at various levels.

Steps Taken by Bangladesh Government to Alleviate Poverty:

1. Emphasize on Education: Bangladesh government has emphasized on education sector to reduce poverty. Government has made free primary education for all. Now government provides text book to the high school level student free of cost. It has started food for education program where students are provide with food who come to school.

2. Job Creation: Every year government adds about one million new entrance to the total workforce by introducing new mills and industries or by expanding prevailing offices, mills and factories . Many of which are occupied by women.

3. Immigration Scheme: Government has taken a grandiose scheme to send people to the country like Malaysia, Saudi Arab, UAE, Oman, Singapore, Korea etc. Every year a lot of people are going to abroad for earning their livelihood. Through immigration process government earns huge amount of remittance and person who goes to abroad can uplift his or his family’s economic condition.

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4.Training: Training given by different govt. organization as well as by NGO’s. Training plays an important role in poverty alleviation. Government has taken effective measures to train up unemployed people.

5. One House One Farm: The present government has undertaken a Tk 11.97 billion project named "one-house-one-farm" for the poor and distressed people in order to create employment in the rural areas and reduce poverty. The Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB), Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD) in Comilla; BARD in Bogra and Department of Cooperative will implement the project.

6. Development in Agriculture: The Ministry of Agriculture of Bangladesh government is working to develop the agricultural sector of Bangladesh through numerous projects and agencies. The grand success has mainly been brought by the farmers through using modern technologies developed by research organizations and effective Agricultural Extension Services of the “Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE)” . Again BADC is entrusted with the task of multiplication, production and supply of high-yielding varieties of seeds.

7. Birth Rate Control: As over population is one of the main causes of poverty in Bangladesh, government has taken effective measures to control the birth rate. Government is rising people awareness about overpopulation problem by television, radio, newspaper etc. There is a slogan saying “Duti Sontaner Besi Noy, Ekti Hole Valo Hoy”. Finally, by the government effort birth rate has come down to 1.566%(2011 est.)

8. Anti-corruption Activity: In order to eradicate corruption government has made “Durnity Domon Commission” free from all barriers and made it independent.

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9. Old-age Allowance Scheme: Government has introduced old-age allowance scheme in all rural area of Bangladesh as well as in municipal areas. Poor persons are receiving this pension. Each beneficiary gets 300 tk. Per month.

10. Food-for-Work Program: The FFW program was launched by the Government of Bangladesh in1975 in response to the 1974 famine. The main objectives of the program are• to improve the performance of the agriculture sector through theconstruction and maintenance of infrastructure for production andmarketing;• to reduce physical damage and loss of human life due to floods andother natural disasters through appropriate protective structures; and• to generate productive seasonal employment for the rural poor.

11. Encourage NGO: Government encourages NGOs to work in rural areas, because they play an important role to alleviate poverty from rural area.

Government Barriers to Alleviate Poverty:

1. Shortage of fund.2. Lake of proper planning.3. Slow economic growth and inequality.4. Corruption in every sector.5. Lack of Proper monitoring.6. Lack of sufficient infrastructure.7. Slow industrial development.8. Political instability.9. Lack of commitment in people.10. Lake of technology.

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Grammen Bank and poverty reduction in Bangladesh:

Introduction: Grameen Bank (GB) has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity. GB provides credit to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh, without any caution money. At GB, credit is a cost effective weapon to fight poverty and it serves as a catalyst in the overall development of socio-economic conditions of the poor who have been kept outside the banking orbit on the ground that they are poor and hence not bankable. Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder of "Grameen Bank" and its Managing Director, reasoned that if financial resources can be made available to the poor people on terms and conditions that are appropriate and reasonable, "these millions of small people with their millions of small pursuits can add up to create the biggest development wonder."

Social Wellbeing: The Bank started its journey by giving loans to 42 women. By 1980 the number of member- borrowers increased to around 15,000; by mid-1984 its membership grew to nearly 100,000. By the end of 1998, Grameen had a membership of 2.34 million people, where 2.24 million comprised of women. In 2008 the Bank services extended to 7.56 million poor people, 97 percent of whom are women. As of October, 2011(Last update), it has 8.349 million borrowers, Out of which 65 percent has managed to improve their socio-economic conditions and are able to push themselves out of extreme poverty. The Grameen Bank provides this service through its 24,638 staff with 2,565 branches in 81,379 villages covering more than 97 percent of the total villages in Bangladesh. It is estimated that the average household income of Grameen Bank members is about 50 percent higher as compared to the target group under the control of non-Grameen Bank villages. From Grameen Bank service, the landless have benefited most, followed by marginal landowners. This has resulted in a sharp reduction

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in the number of Grameen Bank members living below the poverty line, that is, 20 percent in comparison to 56 percent non-Grameen Bank members. Thus, Grameen Bank has not only provided help to the poorest to come out of abject poverty but also provided employment to thousands of educated young people.

Replicability: Replicability of the Grameen Bank model is well recognized. In 1976 it started at Jobra, as far October, 2011(Last update), the bank functions in 81,379 villages which cover around 97 percent of Rural Bangladesh. Internationally, the Grameen model is replicated in some of the African countries, in India and even in Australia.

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Reference:www2.gnb.cawww.hakikazi.orgwww.thedailystar.netwww.caricomict4d.orgwww.undp.org.bdwww.imf.orgwww.grameen-info.orgwww.bbs.gov.bdBangladesh Studies