Government Plans and Programmes for Poverty Alleviation in Rural Bangladesh: A Critical Appraisal

Abstract

Alleviation of poverty has been one of the core objectives 0/ the successive Plans 0/ Bangladesh. The growth in GDP during the period of all the plans was much below the target. The plansfailed to have desired impact on growth, income and wealth distribution. Neither the overall growth nor poverty focused sectoral development nor did structural changes, nor institutional reforms (land reform and administrative decentralization) take place after independence in any meaningful way to make a major breakthrough in poverty alleviation. The Government has introduced many programmes for socio-economic upliftment of the rural poor in Bangladesh. However, the poverty situation, despite showing some signs of improvement, is still very acute. The paper highlights the reasons for the less than expected levels of impact of the GOB programmes on poverty and suggests policy measures for future course of action. The micro-credit programmes implemented by government agencies as well as NGOs have some positive impacts in the programme-areas in terms 0/ education, employment, productivity and socio-economic conditions. In this respect, the BRDB's RD-12 programme has been a viable project. Employments in non farm sector and participation of women in the labour force have increased. A comparison between the approaches of GO and NGO programmes in poverty alleviation is given. Nevertheless, in spite of the various interventions over the years, alleviation of poverty remains a major challenge/or Bangladesh.