Back to Clip Index

Achieving a higher economic growth alone is not enough to address the multi-dimensional problems of poverty in view of the structural rigidities and complexity of sociocultural environments in South Asia. The critical importance of economic growth for faster poverty reduction has to be recognised, but greater attention has to be paid to the poverty-growth interface. These were stated in a report of the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation (ISACPA) that was presented Friday at a seminal` on the follow-up of the SAARC Summit decisions at a city hotel. Chaired by former Foreign Secretary of India Muchkund Dubey, the seminar was attended by Principal Secretary of Bangladesh government Kamal Uddin Siddiqui as the chief guest. Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Rehman Sobhan, Executive Chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre Hossain Zillur Littman and professor of the Economics Department of Dhaka University MM -Akash also spoke on the occasion. Kamal Siddiqui found three models of poverty reduction in South Asia, which are Indian, donors-driven and Bangladeshi models. In the case of Bangladesh, he said the poverty reduction strategy is home-grown, where sufficient emphasis was given on gender, pro-poor growth, governance and sustainable development issues. He, however, pointed out that the government would try to achieve the target of 50 per cent reduction in poverty by 2010, five years ahead of the stipulated time under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Dubey said India runs the biggest poverty reduction programme in the world. But he noted, corruption and weak law and order in some regions have handicapped the poverty reduction initiatives. Referring to the success in poverty reduction in Far-East countries like Korea and China, he said the mixture of policies and initiatives helped them reduce the poverty limit from about 60 per cent to between 5.0 to 15 per cent. According to Rehman Sobhan there are inherent weaknesses in the poverty reduction strategy where a macroeconomic paradigm is absent. The Washington-based policies like the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), which advocates market expansion through economic liberalisation, export-led growth market and stopping subsidies for agriculture have fundamental theoretical flaws, he observed. While focusing on the ISACPA report, Zillur suggested undertaking six initiatives at the SAARC level, which included a South Asian data-base on poverty alleviation, best practices and regional cooperation on dissemination and promotion of rural technology, review of law and policies that impact on the livelihood of the poor.

He also said despite differences and complexities between the South Asian nations, them is a consensus among them on poverty reduction. A BSS report adds: The ISACPA identified "policy"-driven approaches at the government level along with replication of "best practices" as the way out to overcome chronic poverty of the populous region.

"We have laid emphasis on prudent macro-economic policies and replication of best practices of poverty alleviation initiatives along with enhancing gender equality, developing a poverty data base, mobilisation of the poor, promotion of rural technology and expertise sharing in our report," convener of the commission Kamal Siddiqui said Talking to newsmen on the side-lines of the seminar he also said the commission identified problems of governance, transparency and accountability as common obstacles to fighting poverty. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Islamabad last month accepted the commission report. There Indian Prime Minister Atal Behan Bhajpayee promised $ 100 million to raise a fund for its implementation. The commission has set a target to halve the poverty level by 2010 against the global target of 2015 in an apparent bid to create pressure on the South Asian countries to expedite the anti-poverty campaign. Siddiqui said the South Asian countries exercised a number of "prescriptions" like subsidy reduction, deficit budgeting and disinvestment of state-run enterprises, considering that one day such recipe will help eradicate poverty". Bangladesh now undertook a new approach to fight poverty under the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), he said stating that it would be formulated internally without seeking any foreign consultancy or financial assistance. Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, who co-authored the Commission report, said they identified the "best practices" cutting across sectors in different countries as "a garden of hope". He pin-pointed "pro-poor growth" for over-coming poverty. "Efficient documentation and appropriate dissemination of such lessons of best practices can offer a critical ray of hope to create a more conducive South Asian ground reality," he said. On the other hand, he said, "growth can't be left for the rich alone and it has to be pro-poor, otherwise poverty will never be alleviated". Prof Rehman Sobhan identified synchronisation of regional and national agenda as an "inherent problem" of regional initiatives to fight poverty. He echoed the participants' views in criticising donor-driven development approaches, saying "they continued to suggest things like disinvestment and subsidy withdrawal but such prescriptions did not help in overcoming poverty".