Poverty and Development

  Dr AKM Nuruzzaman and Fariha Zaman Promi COVID-19 has affected most of the people in this world directly or indirectly. There have been 19,005,651 reported cases and 711,864 deaths as of August 6, 2020. Most of the countries or some parts of those countries are under lockdown since January 2020. The spread of this virus started in Wuhan, China on December 2019. It spread all over the world within 3 months and is still spreading as death tolls are rising in many regions and countries. As we observe, among all affected countries, COVID-19 remains mostly controlled in South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and even in China. There are some positive signs in other countries too. This is mainly due to some precautionary measures such as ‘personal hygiene’, ‘isolation’, ‘quarantine’, ‘lockdowns’ and ’social distancing’ taken to tackle the virus. However, there are have been some difficulties in implementing these methods in many countries. It is a unique experience for us. Th...

The world is experiencing rapid poverty reduction, while income inequality remains alarmingly high. Therefore, the benefits of accelerated growth could not be grasped by a segment of the population due to marginalisation and exclusion. They remain outside the mainstream of development, which is not desirable for a country. For example, the constitution of Bangladesh ensures rights for human dignity to all irrespective of their religion, class or race. The question is why some people have been excluded. As you may be aware, it happens through a process whereby someone is pushed to the edge of a group or excluded from participating in a decision-making process. And their needs are being ignored or unheard. This situation does not only exist in Bangladesh, but it is also a common phenomenon almost in all countries of the world. For this, recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations endorsed the issue of inequality. The number 10 goal of SDGs, out of 17 goa...