Sheikh Muhammad Anwar Hossain
Poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity; it means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and cloth a family, not having a school or clinic to go, not having the land on which to grow one's food or a job to earn one's living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and social exclusion of individuals.
It means susceptibility of violence and it often implies living on marginal or fragile environments. (UN statement) The concept of social exclusion emerged largely in reaction to this type of narrow definition of poverty. Social exclusion systematically denies certain groups of people from the same rights, participation and opportunities as are afforded to others on the basis of their ethnicity, cast, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, health status, identity etc.
Exclusion of particular people reduces their productive capacity, leads to higher rates of poverty as well as reduces the rate of reduction in poverty of a society as a whole. Reducing poverty has become international concern, yet there is no international consensus on guidelines for measuring poverty.
Analysis:
Widowed and Divorced: The number of socially excluded groups as widowed, divorced and separated is higher among the women and in rural areas. In male-dominated society, women are often found in a trap of social exclusion as well as in poverty. Lack of employment, knowledge and awareness as well as inaccessibility to information as compared with the others have raised this redundant situation for widowed, divorced and separated in the country, mainly in the rural areas.
Aged 65+ Years: The number of 65+ years old people increased from 3.35 percent in 1995-96 to 4.81 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of increase of 2.9 percent. They are in distress with the consequences of age and disability begins to overlap that often relegate them to invisibility. In later life, they are inexorably excluded in their family as well as in the society.
Aged 65+ Years people by Region: The socially excluded people according to their age are increasing both in urban and rural areas. This increment is higher in the rural areas than the urban areas. Mobility among people from rural to urban areas occurs at the young ages rather than the old ages. Therefore, the rate of increase in rural aged people is higher than their urban counterparts.
Landless: Landless people normally continue their livelihood as 'excluded' in the society. Moreover, the people who have no land are involved in some sorts of income generating activities that are effecting on their poverty status. The rate of poverty among the zero landowners is higher than the groups with land property.
The poverty among zero landowners is decreasing over the years. Poverty among urban landless people has reduced more than the rural landless people. Since there are more earning facilities in the urban areas than the rural areas, therefore, the rate of decrease is higher among the urban landless people than their rural counterparts.
Lowest earners: During the last 15 years, the socially excluded earners in the household have increased countrywide according to their income and expenditure. The number of socially excluded earners has increased from 2.92 percent in 1995-96 to 2.96 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 0.09 percent based on the monthly household income.
Unemployed people: Over the years, socially excluded groups resulted from unemployment have been accelerating in the country. The unemployed people are economically excluded from the society since they have no opportunities to support their family as well as society. However, unemployment has a serious psychological and financial effect on the people which lead them to a miserable life, excluding them further in the society.
Unemployment by region: The social exclusion caused by unemployment in rural areas is higher in number although the rate of increase is lower than the urban areas over the years. The rising urbanization is accelerating the number of slum dwellers. As a consequence, the lack of technical skills, insufficiency of required education and economic insolvency among the slum dwellers have increased the number of excluded people caused by unemployment in the urban areas.
People beyond health treatment: The excluded groups in the society are facing a lot of troubles in case of health treatment such as, unaffordability of treatment and sometimes not being included in the required treatment due to various reasons. A total of 11472 people, from rural areas have opined that the source of getting medicine was not available to them (BBS,2011).
Uneducated people: The people having no education are excluded from the development process in the society. They become poorer due to their exclusion from the participation in better employment and lack of advanced knowledge. The percentage of uneducated people has decreased at a decreasing rate in the country over the years.
Uneducated household head: The rate of poverty among the uneducated household head is higher than the other groups. Moreover, the poverty among the household head having no education is decreasing over the years.
Physically disabled: The number of social excluded people due to physical disability is higher among the women than their male counterparts. It is a matter of fact that 10 percent women of the country and almost the same percentage from rural areas are excluded from the society due to their physical disability.
Religious minority: In Bangladesh, institutional aspects of discrimination are there between Muslim religious majority and the other religious believers (Hindu, minor groups in Bangladesh). The main discriminatory patterns included here, are area of criticism in rituals and practices, verbal harassment, offering poor services, verbal threats, physical attack, obstructing the celebration of festivals, and land dispossession.
Ethnic minorities and culture: In the constitution of Bangladesh, there is no recognition of ethnic differences in the population, notably for the position of indigenous peoples. So, the tribal groups from Chittagong Hill Tracts are deprived in different aspects.
They have limited access to resources and their social indicators are dismal. Moreover, languages and cultural practices create barriers to the public services. Therefore, they are counted as marginalized group. Their ethnic identities are creating barriers to the inclusion of indigenous of people in wider social networks that led them to be excluded. The Adibashi's are socially isolated with little access to mainstream economic and political spheres.
Social caste for dalits and bede: Dalits are considered as economically marginalized and socially excluded groups in Bangladesh. The basic provisions like shelter, food and water are not adequately provided to the areas where Dalits are living. Rather they have been facing with inadequate access to healthcare and education as well as facing the lack of housing, employment opportunity and access to political spheres. Like Dalits, the traditional Bede community is also socially excluded in Bangladesh.
Zero voice: Zero value: People are excluded in the society due to having 'zero' voice, no bargaining power in the society and not having physical or material assets or both. For the lack of sufficient social protection, people after the age of 65 years become excluded in the society. From a social point of view, they have no social and political influences behind them, and so others do not give them value.
Conclusion: Since her traumatic birth Bangladesh has evolved through a lot of complex challenges and hurdles which have made her resilient and vibrant to a great extent. The approach Bangladesh has taken to fight poverty and underdevelopment relies on inclusive growth and continued liberalization.
Thanks to the farsighted and committed leadership of Bangabandhu, Bangladesh fought against all those odds and came out successfully out of the initial challenges. But his dynamic leadership was suddenly cut short by bullets and the country remained radarless for many years.
However, the struggling millions fought for end of autocracy and finally were able to restore democracy. Even in democracy, inner spirit of pro-people inclusive development strategy was missing until visionary leader PM Sheikh Hasina's government came to power. During her tenures Bangladesh confidently moved forward and aspires to be a middle-income country by 2021.
References: (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).deHaan, 1998, Poverty and social exclusion in North and South.'Consultative Meeting on the Situation of Dalits in Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch. 2003, 'Exclusion and Poverty: An Analytical Approach for Understanding Exclusion and Assessing Programmes Targeting the Very Poor in Bangladesh', BRAC/ Economic Research Group, Dhaka.. Total Number of Words Usages: 1424.)
Sheikh Muhammad Anwar Hossain working as Evaluation & Documentation officer at BIBM (Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management).
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