Almost 30 percent of national resources are lost and wasted due to the bad governance and corruption, causing Rs 50 million to Rs 100 million loss in every district due to lack of capacity and expertise. This was stated by Minister of State and Chairman of National Commission on Human Development (NCHD) Dr Nasim Ashraf, while speaking at the launching of a "Report of the Independent South Asian Commission on poverty alleviation; our future responsibility" here on Monday.
The ceremony was also attended by the representatives from South Asian states. Dr Nasim Ashraf said the issue of governance was the big challenge for poverty eradication in South Asian states, and added "if we managed to reduce unemployment, remove inequalities in income distributions, lessen poverty, then globalisation is not a big issue for South Asia."
He called upon the member countries of the South Asian association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc) to share their good practices and expertise regarding poverty alleviation.
He said the government spending must be proper and directed towards the poor, and added the districts must be empowered to make their plans without political intervention regarding implementation of their plans and policies.
Dr Nasim said that 32 percent people lived below poverty line and earned less than one dollar a day.
He said the decentralisation in its true shape was more necessary for involvement of civil society in decision-making process, and urged the civil society to play their role as watchdog regarding implementation of policies.
He said that expansion in micro-finance policies and schemes could help the government in alleviation of poverty.
National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) member Dr Mushtaq A. Khan said that poverty was on rise in the country and the females were poorer as they were more illiterate.
Principal Secretary to the Bangladesh Prime Minister and co-convenor Dr Kamaluddin Siddiqui said usually the policies regarding enhancement of employment opportunities "mismatched" the existing situation in South Asian countries.
He said strategies for poverty alleviation must be productive and according to the existing conditions prevailing in South Asian countries so that all states could eradicate poverty and be able to meet the future challenges of globalisation.
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