Sustained dev not possible leaving behind the poor

Sustainable development cannot be achieved if excluded and marginal communities are left behind, eminent economist Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud said at a convention in Sreemangal upazila of the district yesterday.

It is very important to make need basis plan for these communities along with steps to save forests, rivers and other water bodies, he said while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural session of a two-day-long convention titled 'Leaving No One Behind' at the Brac learning centre auditorium in Sreemangal.

Society for Environment and Human Development, Power and Participation Research Centre, Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh and Gram Bikash Kendra organised the programme with the support from the European Union and ICCO Cooperation.

“Bangladesh has made commendable achievements in addressing the challenges of poverty. However, poverty is a multi-dimensional reality. One feature of this reality is reflected in the present condition of the excluded and marginal communities who are yet to reach desired levels in reducing poverty.

“There is a lot of progress in different sectors including reducing the rate of infant mortality rate, improving the child education rate and meeting various social needs.

“But three to four percent of the population, who are marginalised and isolated from the mainstream, are virtually deprived of this development. Keeping them behind, it is not possible to overcome extreme poverty by 2030.

Rambhajan Kairi, general secretary of Bangladesh Tea Workers Union, said poorly paid tea garden workers are deprived of nutrition and they have a poor literacy rate.

The garden authorities should take the responsibility to ensure housing, safe water, sanitation, medical and educational facilities for the tea garden labourers and their families, he added.

“It is very important to improve the life of tea workers who get a meagre wage of Tk 102,” said Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed, vice chancellor of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.

Philip Gain, director of Society for Environment and Human Development, presented the keynote titled “Social, economic and political protection of the marginal and excluded communities” at the programme presided over by Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre.

Md Tofail Islam, deputy commissioner of Moulvibazar, writer Dr Harishankar Jaldas, Shulekha Mrong, president of Achik Michik Society, Md Abdul Awal, vice-chairman of Bangladesh Tea Association, Dr Mohammad Abdul Wazed, former director general of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Moazzem Hossain, chief executive of Gram Bikash Kendra, spoke on the occasion.