Replying to a question from Shamsul Alam Pramanik (Naogaon-4), she said the government has taken massive and multifarious pogrammes to build a happy and prosperous Bangladesh through poverty alleviation.

She said the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (IPRSP) has been finalised and steps have been taken to halve the rate of poverty by 2015. The government has decided to increase allocation for poverty reduction by an average of one per cent of GDP from the current financial year, she added.

Khaleda listed a number of measures taken by her government for welfare of the poor and disadvantaged people, including divorced women, elderly people, insolvent freedom fighters, victims of natural calamities and acid burn and the disabled.

She told a questioner during the Prime Minister's question hour that training centres for unemployed youths will be set up in all districts in the next two years.

There are 646 youth training centres at present, she said adding that training centres will be set up in the next two years in 18 districts.