poverty
‘Need some rest now,’ BGB man says in suicide note
A Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) member allegedly killed himself with his own gun on Friday night apparently having failed to endure acute poverty.
“Too tired of fighting with poverty for the past seven years; need some rest now,” the BGB man said in his Facebook handle barely an hour before taking his life.
Sohrab Hossain Chowdhury, 23, hailing from Parshuram upazila in Feni district, killed himself at 39 BGB battalion camp in Khagdahor area in Mymensingh, said assistant director of the battalion Yunus Ali on Saturday.
Around 8:03 pm on Friday, he posted the suicide note on social media about his job dissatisfaction and urged all to forgive him.
Read: Schoolboy commits suicide over motorcycle
Sohrab narrated how “shamefully” he had to borrow money from his uncle for his mother’s treatment last month as he could not afford it with his small amount of salary.
“Didn’t get any chance to do anything for my physically- challenged younger brother,” he wrote.
“Amid the situation, people ask me why I’m not getting married. I never thought of getting married; only wanted to live a decent life somehow, but that has not been possible.”
”I’m too tired after fighting with mental pressure and poverty for the last seven years. Now I need some rest,” he wrote adding, “I seek pardon from my family, seniors, juniors and friends for this heinous act. But I had no other alternative.”
Bangladesh reports 70% more deaths from suicide than Covid-19, according to a recent study by Aachol Foundation published on March 14, this year.
Read: RU student commits 'suicide'
Poverty in Bangladesh
The percentage of the population living below the poverty line (upper poverty line) in Bangladesh has nearly doubled from 21.6% in 2018 to 42% in 2020, while the percentage of extreme poor (lower poverty line) trebled from 9.4% in 2018 to 28.5% in 2020, according to South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM).
The poverty rate has increased in both urban and rural areas in Bangladesh. The percentage of the population below the poverty line in rural areas was 45.3%, while the number was 35.4% in urban areas. The percentage of extreme poor in rural areas was 33.2%, while in urban areas it was 19%.
Bangladesh learning a lot from China in poverty alleviation: Minister
Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni on Wednesday said Bangladesh has been learning a lot from its biggest development partner, China, in poverty alleviation.
“Both Bangladesh and China are among the most populous countries in the world and poverty alleviation is very important for both states,” she said while addressing a webinar as the chief guest.
At the same time, Dipu Moni said, other countries are learning from Bangladesh a lot on how it has progressed tremendously under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Referring to the deep-rooted ties between the two nations, the minister said people normally talk about the 46 years of diplomatic relationship between Bangladesh and China. “But, I believe, the friendship between the two countries goes at least 2,000 years back.
She appreciated Chinese outstanding contribution towards Bangladesh’s socio-economic and education sectors, and urged the Asian giant to strengthen it in the days to come.
Underlining the observations of some speakers, Moni said that for creating more skilled and time-befitting human resources Bangladesh is putting emphasis on technical and vocational education and training.
The webinar titled “Poverty Eradication: Experiences from Bangladesh and China” was held on the occasion of declaration of a 25-member and two-year-long executive committee of the Association of Bangladesh-China Alumni (ABCA).
Dipu Moni welcomed the newly-announced executive committee of the ABCA with Ambassador Munshi Faiz Ahmad as President of the association and Professor Dr Shahabul Haque as general secretary.
Bangladesh performing well in fulfilling SDGs, but many challenges ahead
Although Bangladesh is on track and performing well in achieving many of the UN-adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in time, it still faces the challenges of low external resources and lack of global partnership apart from lower revenue-GDP ratio.
Achieving SDGs will critically depend on the availability of resources including external resources and global partnership, according to an official document collected by UNB.
The United Nations adopted the SDGs in 2015 with a global call of action on 17 integrated goals with a pledge to end poverty, protect the earth’s environment and climate and ensure peace and prosperity for people everywhere by 2030.
Read: Hasina receives SDGs Progress Award
Bangladesh’s performance has so far been commendable in various fields, including poverty reduction, gender equality, child and maternal mortality, nutrition, sanitation, electricity, annual GDP growth and disaster management.
But it has to overcome a number of the hurdles to further improve its performance, the document observes.
“Government revenue as a proportion of GDP needs to be substantially increased through undertaking measures for increasing the number of taxpayers and improving tax collection and management mechanism,” it says.
The document calls for a substantial increase in inflow of FDI and remittance for achieving of the the goals.
Read KOICA to help generate statistics to indicate progress on SDGs
According to official data, the tax to GDP ratio of the country has been 9.9 per cent on an average since 2015-2019, while it is 19.8 per cent for India, 23.9 per cent for Nepal, 14.7 per cent for Pakistan, 13.5 per cent for Sri Lanka.
The ratio is 25.6 per cent for developing countries and 35.9 per cent for developed countries, according to the data.
Read UNDP launches Accelerator Lab in Bangladesh to support SDGs
The tax-to-GDP ratio is a ratio of a nation's tax revenue relative to its gross domestic product, the value of goods and services produced in a country during a certain period. The ratio is also a marker of how well the government controls a country's economic resources.
The document says that Bangladesh has undertaken a comprehensive strategy and actions to effectively internalise Sustainable Development Goals. The 7th Five Year Plan incorporated 82 per cent of sustainable development targets. As a result, the country is well on track in achieving SDGs.
Out of 17 SDGs, Bangladesh has made considerable progress in reducing poverty. In 2019, the proportion of population living below the international poverty line (absolute poverty measured by USD 1.90 per day) was 10.5 per cent.
Read: Hasina seeks SDGs roadmap for countries falling behind
Climate crisis no longer a looming crisis: Mia Seppo
UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo has said the climate crisis is no longer a looming one but it is widespread, rapid and intensifying.
“Few countries know this better than Bangladesh,” she said, adding that this pressing issue (climate crisis) will play a central role in the current session of the UN General Assembly.
In a recent programme with the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh, Mia said the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a code red for humanity.
But it also made clear that it is not too late to meet the Paris Agreement 1.5 degree target. “We’ve the tools to achieve this target but we are rapidly running out of time,” said the UN Resident Coordinator.
Read:World needs journalists more than ever: Mia Seppo
Countries like Bangladesh have not historically contributed to the problem but are bearing the brunt of its consequences, with the most vulnerable being hardest hit, she said.
While the global outlook is dire, Mia said, the impact on the Asia Pacific is particularly alarming.
Sea-level rise is reportedly occurring faster than the global average and the region is predicted to experience more intensive heat waves and heavier rainfall in the decades to come, said the UN official.
Moreover, with the majority of the world’s poor in the Asia Pacific, the impacts of climate change threaten to push millions more into poverty and hardship, she said.
For Bangladesh, Mia said, the IPCC predicts more frequent high-intensity cyclones and storm surges they create, which are particularly devastating for already-vulnerable coastal regions undermining livelihood security, food and water security, and fuelling internal displacement and migration.
She said climate change threatens to increase the level of poverty and inequality, pushing poorer Bangladeshis into situations of protracted economic uncertainty.
And as urban migration increases in the years to come, Mia said, public infrastructure will be put under further stress, creating a host of social protection concerns for those already at risk.
Read: UN to provide electoral assistance to Bangladesh if requested: Mia Seppo
According to a recent report, sea-level rise alone is predicted to submerge 17 percent of the country by 2050, leaving approximately 20 million people homeless.
Mia said this does not take into the account the millions more who will be forcibly displaced by extreme weather events or the slow-onset impacts of climate change, such as saltwater intrusion.
In line with continued global leadership on climate advocacy, the UN official acknowledged that Bangladesh, as the chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, has made a similar plea for greater recognition of the cross-cutting impacts of climate change on human rights, peace and justice.
Mia hoped that Bangladesh will use the expertise for advancing the human rights, climate and environmental justice agenda domestically, too.
DCAB President Pantho Rahaman and its General Secretary AKM Moinuddin also spoke at the DCAB Talk held at Foreign Service Academy on Sunday.
Afghanistan on brink of universal poverty: UN
Afghanistan is teetering on the brink of "universal poverty" which could become a reality in the middle of next year unless urgent efforts are made to bolster local communities and their economies, the United Nations development agency has said.
It said the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has put 20 years of steady economic gains at risk.
The UN Development Programme outlined four scenarios for Afghanistan following the Taliban's August 15 assumption of power that predict the country's total economic output will drop between 3.6% and 13.2% in the next fiscal year starting in June 2022, depending on the intensity of the crisis and how much the world engages with the Taliban.
Read: Bangladesh waiting to see a permanent govt in Afghanistan
That is in sharp contrast to the expected 4% growth in GDP before the fall of the government.
"Afghanistan pretty much faces universal poverty by the middle of next year," Kanni Wignaraja, UNDP's Asia-Pacific director, told a news conference Thursday while launching its 28-page assessment.
"That is where we are heading – it is 97-98% (poverty rate) no matter how you work these projections," Kanni added.
Currently, the poverty rate is 72% and she pointed to many development gains after the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.
Per capita income more than doubled in the last 20 years, life expectancy at birth was extended by about nine years, the number of years of schooling rose from six to 10, "and we got women into university," Kanni said.
Read: Policy towards Afghan depends on its attitude: FM
However, she said Afghanistan now faces "a humanitarian and development disaster" resulting from political instability, frozen foreign reserves, a collapsed public finance system, "a crush on local banking because of this," as well as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Covid: 77pc families in Bangladesh hit hard by first wave, says study
The first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown shoved millions of families into poverty across the world. And Bangladesh was no exception.
Between April and October last year, around 77 percent of the households in Bangladesh saw a decrease in their average monthly income and around 34 percent had at least one member who lost jobs or earning capacity, according to a new study.
To cope with the situation these families used up their savings and took loans, which led to a 62 percent decrease in the average monthly savings of these households and a 31 percent increase in debt.
The study was conducted by the Center on International Cooperation of New York University, BRAC and UN WOMEN Bangladesh on the changes in demographic, economic and social environments in the secondary towns, peri-urban (upazila) and rural areas of Bangladesh brought on by the rise in reverse migration during the pandemic.
The research findings were unveiled at a virtual international dialogue titled, 'Demographic and Socio-economic Changes induced by the Covid-19 Pandemic: Challenges of New Circumstances' held recently.
Govt’s focus is both on life and livelihood: Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said the government with its limited resources is trying to improve the lifestyle of the people at the grassroots.
"With our limited resources, we’re trying to reach the common people and grassroots ones for improving their lives and livelihoods. That's our aim," she said.
Sheikh Hasina said this while distributing 53,340 well-built semi-pucca homes along with land ownership documents among homeless and landless families across the country in the second phase under the Ashrayan-2 project.
Read:PM to distribute over 53,000 new homes to the homeless Sunday
The highest 12,436 houses were given in Rangpur division, while 10,547 in Chattogram, 7,630 in Dhaka, 7,172 in Rajshahi, 7,153 in Barishal, 911 in Khulna, 2512 in Mymensingh and 1979 in Sylhet divisions.
The Prime Minister virtually joined the distribution programme from her official residence Ganobhaban.
Hasina said the government, since assuming power, has been trying to help the ultra-poor in every way and the result of which is now visible. "The ultra-poor are gradually learning to stand on their feet …they’re coming up…that’s what we want."
She mentioned that the government’s main target is to improve the living standard of the people at the grassroots by engaging them in livelihood activities.
Read:International vaccine institute to be set up in Bangladesh: Hasina
The economic policy of the government is to ensure resources up to rural level in addition to ensuring their access to education and healthcare, Hasina said adding, ``That's the policy of the Awami League and that’s what the Father of the Nation taught us.”
"When one gets a home, he or she is thrilled with joy and happiness, and that becomes visible on their smiling faces. I want nothing more than that," she said.
UN report says Myanmar poverty could double from coup chaos
Political turmoil and disruptions following the coup in Myanmar could undo years of progress and double the number of its people living in poverty to nearly half the population, a United Nations report said Friday.
The report by the U.N. Development Program, or UNDP, said 12 million people could fall into dire economic straits as businesses remain shuttered in a standoff between the junta and a mass civil disobedience movement.
“The hardest hit will be poor urban populations and the worst affected will be female heads of household,” Kanni Wignaraja, the UNDP’s assistant secretary-general for the region, told The Associated Press via a Zoom recording.
The Feb. 1 coup wrested power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained along with more than 3,400 other people. Since then, the military has severely restricted internet access and gradually stepped up violent repression of protests.
Many factories, offices, banks and other facilities have closed and trade has been disrupted by work stoppages and other disruptions at ports, economists and others familiar with the situation inside Myanmar say. That has worsened already bleak conditions due to the pandemic.
Also read: Myanmar airstrikes target ethnic forces on 2 fronts
The UNDP said conditions could deteriorate by early 2022 to a level of poverty last seen in 2005.
The economy grew rapidly after a previous military regime initiated a partial transition to a civilian government, while keeping control of key ministries and industries and seats in parliament.
Foreign investment in garment manufacturing, tourism and other industries helped create millions of jobs, providing a lifeline of support for many families living in rural areas.
But that progress has ground to a halt as the coup added to troubles from the pandemic.
“With the effects of the political crisis, we could see these gains removed in just a few months,” Wignaraja said.
The research agency Fitch Solutions has forecast that the economy will contract 20% in the current fiscal year, which ends in September. In a report released last week, economist Jason Yek noted that food insecurity is rising due to hoarding and inflation, while people struggle to access cash to pay for necessities due to the closure and cash limits put on ATMs.
A weakening of the Myanmar kyat to about 1,600 kyat per dollar from about 1,350 kyat before the coup also hinders the country’s ability to import much needed medicines and other supplies.
“We really cannot rule out any worst-case scenario,” Yek said in an online briefing.
So far, foreign governments and businesses have sought to levy pressure on Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and others in the junta through targeted sanctions meant to cut off financial support to the army, or Tatmadaw.
The UNDP report’s findings suggest that ordinary people already are suffering regardless of sanctions.
Also read: Myanmar guerrillas capture gov't base; airstrikes follow
The magazine Nikkei Asia Review said Thursday that the group Independent Economists for Myanmar issued a report urging the targeting of sources of foreign exchange, such as Myanmar’s exports of natural gas, its biggest revenue earner, and of gems and jade.
Sanctions could freeze deposits linked to the state-owned Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank and Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank, it said.
It said targeting the junta’s sources of hard currency with international sanctions could reduce its revenues by roughly $2 billion annually.
It said the military was prioritizing spending on weapons and security operations over providing desperately needed public services.
Also read: ASEAN leaders demand Myanmar coup leaders end killings
The U.S. recently ordered sanctions against the company that controls most of Myanmar’s gems, pearls and jade sales, though a huge share of that trade is done illicitly.
So far, foreign energy companies involved in Myanmar’s natural gas industry have resisted calls for them to stop paying revenues to the government, saying such moves might endanger their employees and hurt access to already scarce electricity.
Lockdown in Bangladesh: Secretary says no one will go hungry
The government has taken steps so that the low-income and jobless people do not face any food crisis during the “strict lockdown” slated to be enforced from April 14 to contain the transmission of coronavirus.“So far, an amount of Tk 527.9 crore has been allocated by the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief in two tranches. We’ll increase the allocation, if needed,” its Secretary Md Mohsin told UNB.The fund has already been sent to upazilas and will be disbursed in due time, said Mohsin adding, “Some 12.4 million families will get assistance. We’ll ensure that not a single family without income is left out.”
Also read: Extreme poverty to fall to 3% by 2030: FM
Bangladesh is set to undergo a week of “strict lockdown” from April 14. People with no fixed income will be out of jobs during this period. Millions had lost jobs during last year’s months-long ‘general holiday’ at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. Food crisis had hit a large number of people during that period.But, Secretary Mohsin said, a contingency plan has been drawn out this time to make sure no one suffers from hunger.
Extreme poverty to fall to 3% by 2030: FM
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Monday said extreme poverty rate will come down to 3 percent by 2030 and that the country will be free of poverty after 2041.
"Once 80 percent people were poor in Bangladesh but now the poverty rate stands at 20 percent thanks to good initiatives. The Sheikh Hasina government laid emphasis on eliminating poverty from the country in 2009," he said at the unwrapping ceremony of the book titled "Sheikh Hasina Sarker" at Jatiya Press Club in the capital.
Momen said Bangladesh needs the incumbent government for its further development.
Also read: SANEM survey: Population below poverty line doubled, extreme poor trebled in 2020
"Once our annual average growth rate was 2.2 percent. Now it’s 6.9 percent. It's an unbelievable development. Bangabandhu brought freedom and his daughter fulfilled his dreams," he said.
Momen said Bangladesh once faced serious food crisis. The government announced to resolve the problem providing subsidy in agriculture sector. Now there is no food crisis.
"Earlier, power cuts were common [but now] the government has increased power production to 24,000MW from 2009-2020," the minister added.
The Foreign Minister said the government took lots of initiatives to make the population skilled to eliminate unemployment. Besides, the government took steps to tackle climate change impact.
He said that is why the Prime Minister won champion of the earth award and earned the respect of the global audience.
Also read: PM vows to wipe out poverty through united efforts
About Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka, Momen said we are honoured that he chose Bangladesh to be his first tour abroad since the coronavirus outbreak.
He added that 65 countries sent messages to appreciate Bangladesh. They also appreciated Sheikh Hasina for the Rohingya response.
Momen highlighted Bangladesh’s development and said the country currently has a forex reserve of $44 billion and is regarded as a leader in South Asia.
Also read: COVID-19 could push over 1 bln into extreme poverty: UNDP
The author of the book Razu Alim said he tried to include various information about the government of Sheikh Hasina in his book. Jatiya Press Club President Farida Yesmin and Awami League Office Secretary Biplob Barua were also present at the event.