Policy Failure on Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh: Seeking an Alternative through RNFE

Abstract

Poverty remains an overarching problem for policy makers in Bangladesh since its independence in 1971. Though the country has experimented different socialist as well as open market policies to alleviate poverty, still more than 40 per cent of its population remain below the national poverty line. This paper attempts a critical evaluation of the contemporary poverty reduction policies implemented in Bangladesh and argues why such policies have failed to succeed at the given socio-economic structure of Bangladesh. A framework of analysis has been developed to delineate these arguments graphically. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates why the development of Rural Non-Farm Economy (RNFE) would be a better policy option to alleviate poverty under the current socio-economic context of Bangladesh, and presents a statistical model that can be used as an alternative framework for poverty reduction through RNFE development in Bangladesh. Similar models may also be adopted in other developing countries of Asia.