Call for PRSP draft amendment

Friday, Feb 11, 2005

Staff Correspondent - New Age
http://www.newagebd.com/2005/feb/11/nat.html

The National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction, draft of which has already been made, might further worsen the poverty situation by widening the existing gap between the poor and the rich, said leaders of some NGOs on Thursday.
They came up with a number of suggestions, including consultation up to division-level with the civil society, discussion in parliament and television debate especially with the opposition politicians, before finalising the draft policy.
Addressing a news conference at the National Press Club, they also demanded extension of the March 15 timeframe by May for its finalisation.

Sushasoner Jonno Procharavizan organised the conference after it made the keynote paper along with 23 other NGOs.
The suggestions also include assessment of khas land, its distribution among the landless, reform in land record and legal process against land-grabbing, increasing subsidy, direct and indirect, in the agriculture sector, revival of the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation and special financial support to the cooperatives or producer participated enterprises in respect of milk and meat production.
They also underscored the need for extended coverage of rural electrification, subsidy on renewable solar energy, infrastructure to minimise digital divide between rural and urban, rich and poor, and separate section on biotechnology and information and communication technology.
‘Academic curriculum from primary to higher secondary-level should be reorganised in such a way that could help the dropped out students to engage themselves in productive activities.’
An action plan to stop and withdrawal of all political appointments in all institutional management committees, actions irrespective of political affiliation to improve tertiary education in public sector, regulation of the private sector and specific action to reduce illiteracy were also recommended.
They suggested enhanced budgetary allocation, analysis on medical education, plan on the development of paramedics and medical assistants and preparing a policy and regulatory framework to monitor private hospitals and private practice of the government service doctors.
Immediate action to reduce the losses incurred by Biman, which has 10 carriers and 6000 staff, was also recommended.
The Sushasoner Jonno Procharavizan secretary, Rejaul Karim Chowdhury, expressed his doubt that the draft PRSP, if passed and implemented without necessary amendment, would rather serve the purpose of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund than eradication of poverty, its main agenda.
In this regard, he mentioned privatisation of the banking sector, reduction of import tariff from 24 per cent to 4 per cent and shrinking of subsidy for agriculture from 31 per cent to 9 per cent since 1971 and farm subsidy from 2.73 per cent to 0.45 per cent since 1988.
‘Although there were suggestions for discussion with people from all walks of life before preparing the PRSP, it was bureaucratically managed and politically bypassed and there was a limited participation of the civil society,’ said the joint secretary of the organisation, AHM Bazlur Rahman.
Its members, Ahmed Swapan and Swapan Lal, among others, attended the conference.