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New poverty pockets emerging: study

Star Business Report
Seasonal poverty and hunger is still prevalent in parts of the country due to a lack of government attention, a leading economist said yesterday.
Public awareness and efforts of the government and NGOs had earlier reduced the extent of the phenomenon in the northwest region where the situation is known as monga.
But in the north, the areas on the eastern bank of the Jamuna river in the Jamalpur district and the haor (water bodies) areas in the other northern areas remain ecologically-vulnerable poverty pockets.
New poverty pockets are emerging in the southern coastal belt because of factors such as climate change and inun-dation of saline water, said Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud.
He shared the concerns while unveiling the excerpts of a book, Seasonal Hunger and Public Policies: Evidence from Northwest Bangladesh, at a session at IGC South Asia Growth Conference 2012 at Sonargaon Hotel.
International Growth Centre (IGC) and Economic Research Group (ERG) coorganised the event, where economists from home and abroad shared findings on various topics and suggested policies.
Mahmud and Shahidur R Khandker of
the World Bank co-authored the book published by the World Bank.
During the monga period (September-November), the extent of starvation in the northwest region, namely greater Rangpur, has reduced in the last five-six years because of public awareness and initiatives taken by government and development organisations, according to study.
The measures include introduction of a short-duration rice variety, public works, safety nets and transfer of assets and specially designed microcredit programmes.Together their impact seems to have been greater than the separately estimated impact for each one, said the researchers in a policy brief on the mitigation of seasonal hunger in the northwest. The IGC published the brief circulated in the session.
"The message is that if we can create enough public awareness on this even in the weak or flawed democracy, incentives will be there to reduce seasonal hunger," said Mahmud.
However, he warned that seasonal poverty pockets in other regions may remain neglected from public infrastructure investments and other development programmes due to a lack of awareness.
He also recommended policymakers incorporate the seasonal dimensions of poverty and food deprivation with the objective to strike a balance between short-run seasonality oriented measures and longer-run programmes to cut poverty.
Another joint study, presented by Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, an associate professor of economics at Yale University, said seasonal migration helps reduce the effects of seasonal hunger in rural areas.
The study finds that total expenditures, consumption and caloric intake of the families of seasonally migrant people increase.
Another joint study, presented by Robin Burgess at London School of Economics, showed that income of the families under a programme of BRAC, a development organisation, has increased.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman said the improvement in living standards and income due to asset transfer and skill development training under BRAC's Ultra poor programme has created space for development.
He said the central bank runs various programmes for financial inclusion, and demand in rural areas would increase if constraints to capital and skills improvement are removed.
Another study showed that microfinance institutions have driven away a significant part of informal moneylenders' business in rural areas.
But the borrowers who still depend on moneylenders pay higher interest rate, said Forhad Shilpi, co-author of the paper.