Bangladesh has witnessed growing inequality in wealth and consumption over the last 15 years, said Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and convener of Citizen Platform Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya on Wednesday.

He said this at a media briefing on 'Citizen Agenda for Inclusive Development and Equity: Education, Health, Climate Change and Social Security' at BRAC Centre at Mohakhali in the capital on Wednesday.

“Inequality not only in wealth or money but also in consumption and getting state benefits has widened. Backward people could not be pioneers in terms of education, health, and consumption,” Debapriya said.

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Shaheen Anam, executive director of the Manusher Janya Foundation, presided over the function. The media briefing was conducted by Professor Dr Mostafizur Rahman. Three separate presentations on education, health, and climate-focused topics were released at the event.

Debapriya said, “I was not motivated to give advice because of the pre-election situation in 2014 and 2018. But this time, on the eve of the national election, we have tried to evaluate the development experience of the last decade and a half.”

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It is necessary to understand how true and strong the narrative of national development the people always are hearing.

“Understanding that, I discussed with about 500 people of endangered and backward communities in seven places of Bangladesh,” he said.

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In response to a question the economist said, the middle-class society of Bangladesh has become weak and decayed. The decline of middle-class society has economic, political, and cultural significance.

The middle class played a major role in the cultural values and political values of Bangladesh. But in recent times that role has become murky. Because of this, we have fallen behind, said Debopriya.