POVERTY as an agenda receives seasonal attention at best. It seldom occupies the centre stage of national discourses. Poverty alleviation would figure either during election time or in the budget making season. Even the political party manifestoes are not sharply focused on poverty reduction except for making promisesin broad generalisations.

It perhaps, therefore, remains for in-depth studies by professional groups to highlight the actual state of poverty in terms of extreme income deficiencies and appalling nutritional status from time to time. That's how we come by a study styled 'The State of Poorest 2005-2006 -- Chronic Poverty in

Bangladesh" done jointly by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) of UK.

The revelations ought to jolt us into a new realisation that despite the GDP growth rate being steady at 5.5 percent per annum for some years now, no significant dent has been made in the hardcore poverty situation. About 24 percent of the total population currently live in extreme poverty with 19 percent of the rural households going without three meals a day and 10 percent subsisting on two meals or less for a number of months every year.

What is alarming to our mind, the policies remain'anti-poorest'; in fact, the absolute poor are virtually kept out of the budgetary or planning frameworks, or at best keep receiving marginal attention. Quality of growth is as important as its quantity. And this is where we are lacking in; for, although the growth figure has been moderately impressive and we have come out of the shadow of famine, the income gap between the rich and the poor has yawned with the rich getting richer and the poor poorer.

Reform of the tax system can help usher in egalitarian distribution of wealth. First, it will help curb inequalities in income; and secondly, make available public finance to invest in poverty reduction projects for the poorest.

The public and private sector need to work in hand in hand in extending necessary infrastructure support to the rural and urban areas. Access to finance and market linkages can give a tremendous fillip to income generation. There has been a surge in self-employment ventures and this must be carried forward by way of encouraging non-conventional and innovative approaches to poverty eradication. But, for all this to happen in ideal proportions, we need to elevate poverty on to the centre stage of our national agenda.