A story headlined “Poverty shrinking fast in Bangladesh” published in this newspaper on Friday says the development experts are presenting Bangladesh as a role model for poverty alleviation before world community.
It also has made a phenomenal progress in economic development over the last 50 year.
The poverty rate in the country was more than 80 percent at the time of independence in 1971. After 50 years of independence, the rate has come down to 20 percent. In 1971, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Bangladesh was Tk 800.75 crore. At present, the size of GDP is Tk 31, 71,800 crore.
We applaud the Sheikh Hasina led Awami League government for attaching the poverty alleviation as the first priority to free the nation from the curse of it.
We have no alternative but to continue work
hard in the right direction so that not a single
person in the country would remain hungry
We hope common people’s basic needs like food security, housing, education, healthcare and job opportunities will be ensured.
For today’s achievement of the country, the economists say credit goes to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, as he took up three important policies including boosting food production, controlling population and ensuring quality education after independence.
Finally, under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the country turns almost ‘Sonar Bangla’ as most of the criteria have already been fulfilled and it has a target to achieve a developed country status by 2041.
On the other hand, the economic shutdown sparked by Covid-19 affected badly the government initiative in the field of poverty alleviation. We think it is the main challenge for country right now Bangladesh.
In terms of its land area, Bangladesh is very small country while its current population is around 17 crores. Therefore, it is a tough challenge for the government to ensure food security for such a huge population
We have no alternative but to continue work hard in the right direction so that not a single person in the country would remain hungry. We think the pace of poverty alleviation needs to be further enhanced.