Journal Press India^®

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Bangladesh is categorized as a low income economy by the World Bank and faces a congenital problem of poverty. Its experience with this problem is noteworthy due to several reasons that include peculiarities of its economy, geography, demographics and culture. Once considered to be a country doomed to rely on foreign aid forever for its sustenance, Bangladesh has rewritten its fate. Despite unfavourable circumstances manifested in the above dimensions, the country is now being celebrated as an example of success over poverty, especially on account of commendable poverty reduction in the first decade of the 21^st century. This paper explores the origins of poverty in Bangladesh, highlighting the reasons for the same and takes an account of the poverty estimates. A discussion on economic planning and poverty alleviation programmes as instruments for poverty reduction reveals the efforts made at the level of the Government to tackle the poverty problem. However, the impact of these measures has been limited. The paper discusses the reasons underlying Bangladesh’s success in reducing poverty. ​

Keywords

Poverty, Poverty alleviation programmes, Poverty reduction, Bangladesh

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