SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND POVERTY IN BANGLADESH

SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND POVERTY IN BANGLADESH Md. Ayub Ali

This report has been prepared as a chapter for a forthcoming book Measuring Multidimensionality State of Poverty in Bangladesh 2013, edited by Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir to be published by Shrabon Prokashani, Dhaka in October 2013 Copyright: Unnayan Onneshan The content of this publication may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes with proper citation (please send output to the address mentioned below). Any other form of reproduction, storage in a retrieval system or transmission by any means for commercial purposes, requires permission from the Unnayan Onneshan. For orders and request please contact: Unnayan Onneshan House: 16/2, Indira Road, Farmgate, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh. Tell: + (880-2) 815 82 74, 911 06 36; Fax: + (880-2) 815 91 35 E-mail: info@unnayan.org; Web:

SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND POVERTY IN BANGLADESH Md. Ayub Ali 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter intends to asses the situation of poverty in the light of social exclusion. Social exclusion systematically denies certain groups of people from the same rights, participation and opportunities as are afforded to others on the basis of their ethnicity, cast, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, health status, identity etc. Exclusion of particular people reduces their productive capacity, leads to higher rates of poverty as well as reduces the rate of reduction in poverty of a society as a whole. The term social exclusion was originated in the industrialised countries (most notably in France in the 1970s), where the Anglo-Saxon idea of poverty is thought to be used to patronize or denigrate equal citizens. Social exclusion mainly focuses on power relations, history, social dynamics, and political economy of a society. It has been defined as "the process through which individuals or groups are wholly or partially excluded from the society in which they live" (de Haan and Maxwel, 1998). Exclusion deprives individuals and communities of political voice and representation, of equitable access to social services, and of access to assets and predictable livelihoods as well as decent work. Economically and socially excluded groups live with gaps in health, education, access to essential social services, adequate shelter, and generally see their rights unfulfilled globally and across the South Asia as well (Köhler, Cali and Stirbu, 2009). Moreover, the violence and insecurity in the society is resulted from this social exclusion. According to DFID (2005), people who are excluded from job opportunities, decision-making and feel alienated from society may turn to violence and crime as a way of feeling more powerful. Besides, a particular group of people become more vulnerable, inferior, and underprivileged as well as excluded in terms of their rights and needs. Furthermore, exclusion may occur to anyone not even being poor. Many poor people are excluded and fastening attention on exclusion allowing a broader view of deprivation and disadvantage. Sometimes, lack of awareness among the people is responsible for social exclusion for a while, which can be considered as self exclusion. Consequently, the cause and process of social exclusion is multidimensional, dynamic and relational. Monetary and capability approach are individualistic. These approaches are not dynamic and do not look at situation. Whereas measuring the poverty, the participatory approach helps in eliciting people's own analysis of their poverty. This approach does not take into account income and consumption indicators. On the other hand, social exclusion approach is intended to capture structural features of poverty. Moreover, this approach focuses on the lack of participation of individuals or groups in the society.

2 DIFFERENT FEATURES OF SOCIAL EXCLUSION 2.1 Widowed, Divorced and Separated The number of socially excluded groups as widowed, divorced and separated is higher among the women and in rural areas. The percentage of exclusion as widowed, divorced and separated has decreased in the urban areas. Nevertheless, in case of rural areas the scenario is different. In case of women, the percentage of exclusion as widowed, divorced and separated decreased from 11.0 percent in 2000 to 10.8 percent in 2010 with only 0.02 parentage point in the urban areas. On the other hand, in the rural areas, this rate of growth increased at 0.03 percentage point from 12.3 percent in 2000 to 12.6 percent in 2010. In male-dominated society, women are often found in a trap of social exclusion as well as in poverty. Lack of employment, knowledge and awareness as well as inaccessibility to information as compared with the others have raised this redundant situation for widowed, divorced and separated in the country, mainly in the rural areas. Figure 1: Percentage of widowed, divorced and separated people Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2003; 2007 and 2011 Poverty among Widowed, Divorced and Separated People The poverty among the widowed, divorced and separated people is higher than the other groups. The rate of poverty within their group, though, has been decreasing over the years. In case of upper poverty line, the rate of poverty decreased from 59.7 percent in 1995-96 to 33.9 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 2.88 percent. On the other hand, the rate of people below the lower poverty line decreased from 42.9 percent in 1995-96 to 19.4 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 3.65 percent. By this time, the widowed, divorced and separated people have involved themselves in income generating activities mainly, in the urban areas. Therefore, the rate of overall poverty is decreasing among them.

Figure 2: Rate of reduction on poverty among widowed, divorced and separated people Rate of decrease 2.9% Rate of decrease 3.7% Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 1998; 2003; 2007 and 2011 2.2 Aged (65+ years) The number of 65+ years old people increased from 3.35 percent in 1995-96 to 4.81 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of increase of 2.9 percent. They are in distress with the consequences of age and disability begins to overlap that often relegate them to invisibility. In later life, they are inexorably excluded in their family as well as in the society. Increase of aged population, in a country, reduces the productivity as well as creates higher dependency. The number of aged female has increased from 3.11 percent in 1995-96 to 4.55 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 3.09 percent whereas the number of aged male has increased from 3.59 percent in 1995-96 to 4.81 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 2.64 percent. As the overall life expectancy is increasing, the rate of aged people is increasing as well. Figure 3: Increase rate of aged people Rate of increase 2.9 percent Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 1998; 2003; 2007 and 2011 Aged (65+ years) People by Region The socially excluded people according to their age are increasing both in urban and rural areas. This increment is higher in the rural areas than urban the areas. In urban areas, the number of aged people increased from 2.81 percent in 1995-96 to 3.81 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 2.37 percent whereas in rural areas the number of aged people increased from 3.46 percent in

1995-96 to 5.16 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 3.28 percent. Mobility among people from rural to urban areas occurs at the young ages rather than the old ages. Therefore, the rate of increase in rural aged people is higher than their urban counterparts. In Bangladesh, the life expectancy of female is more than the male. As a result, the women are more excluded from the society according to their age compared to men. This scenario is found in rural areas as well as in urban areas. In urban areas, the number of aged male increased from 2.99 percent in 1995-96 to 3.87 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 1.96 percent whereas in rural areas this number increased from 3.7 percent in 1995-96 to 5.43 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 3.11 percent. On the other hand, in urban areas, the number of aged female has increased from 2.61 percent in 1995-96 to 3.75 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 2.91 percent whereas in rural areas this number increased from 3.21 percent in 1995-96 to 4.9 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 3.50 percent. Table 1: Rate of increase of aged (65+years) people from 1995-96 to 2010 by regions Region Year Both RI (%) Male RI (%) Female RI (%) 1995-96 2.81 2.99 2.61 Urban 2000 4.21 4.59 1.96 3.81 2.37 2005 3.37 3.29 3.44 2.91 2010 3.81 3.87 3.75 1995-96 3.46 3.7 3.21 Rural 2000 3.5 3.41 3.11 3.6 5.16 2005 4.64 5.03 4.25 3.50 2010 5.16 5.43 4.9 Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 1998; 2003; 2007 and 2011 2.3 Landless Landless people normally continue their livelihood as excluded in the society. In rural areas, the percentage of household having zero land property decreased from 5.66 percent in 2000 to 5.3 percent in 2005 with an annual rate of 9.5 percent. The number of household decreased from 5.3 percent in 2005 to 4.6 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 8.7 percent. The reduction rate of landless people is decreasing due to the national reduction in the rate of growth of population. Moreover, the people who have no land are involved in some sorts of income generating activities that are effecting on their poverty status. Table 2: Rate of increase in household having no land in the rural areas Year Percentage of Rate of decrease between household 2000 and 2010 2000 5.6 2005 5.3 9.46 2010 4.6 8.68 Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2003; 2007 and 2011

Incidence of Poverty among Landless People The rate of poverty among the zero landowners is higher than the groups with land property. The poverty among zero landowners is decreasing over the years. Poverty among urban landless people has reduced more than the rural landless people. Figure 4: Trend of poverty among the landless people (upper poverty line) Rate of decrease 2.6% Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 1998; 2003; 2007 and 2011 The incidence of poverty among zero landowners reduced from 58.2 percent in 1995-96 to 35.4 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 2.61 percent based on upper poverty line. In urban areas, the incidence of poverty reduced from 45.8 percent in 1995-96 to 26.9 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 2.75 percent whereas this incidence of poverty reduced to 47.5 percent in 2010 from 69.0 percent in 1995-96 with an annual rate of 2.07 percent. Since there are more earning facilities in the urban areas than the rural areas, therefore, the rate of decrease is higher among the urban landless people than their rural counterparts. 2.4 Lowest Earners During the last 15 years, the socially excluded earners 1 in the household have increased countrywide according to their income and expenditure. The number of socially excluded earners has increased from 2.92 percent in 1995-96 to 2.96 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 0.09 percent based on the monthly household income. During 1995-2000, excluded earners have increased annually by 2.26 percent whereas further decreased from 3.25 percent in 2000 to 2.96 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 0.89 percent based on the monthly household income. On the other hand, based on the monthly household expenditure, the number of socially excluded earners have increased from 2.92 percent in 1995-96 to 3.15 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 0.53 percent. During 1995-2000, excluded earners have increased annually by 2.95 percent and further decreased from 3.35 percent in 2000 to 3.15 percent in 2010 with the rate of 0.60 percent per year. Joblessness of household members, factory layoff, serious accident/illness of income earners or other members, floods, landslides/erosion, excessive crop diseases and excessive livestock diseases are the cause of less earning in the family. Those causes impose the people to live in poverty under insufficient social security. 1 According to per household income scale of BBS 2011, lowest 5 percent earners are considered as socially excluded

Figure 5: Rate of increase among the lowest 5 percent income groups RI 0.53 RI 2.3% RI -0.9% Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 1998; 2003 and 2011 Lowest Earners by Region Income inequalities have been increasing over the years in both urban and rural areas. The socially excluded earners increased in the urban areas during the last 15 years and fluctuated in rural areas in case of both income and expenditure of the households. In case of income, the number of least earners increased from 3.2 percent in 1995-96 to 3.68 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 1.00 percent in the urban areas. On the other hand, with an annual rate of 1.39 percent, the number of lowest earners increased from 3.06 percent in 1995-96 to 3.70 percent in 2010 in case of expenditure. Furthermore, the number of lowest earners increased from 2.89 percent in 1995-96 to 3.31 percent in 2000 with an annual rate of 2.90 percent in rural areas and decreased to 2.83 percent in 2010 from 2000 with a rate of decrease of 2.90 percent per year according to the monthly income. On the basis of expenditure in rural areas, the number of lowest earners increased from 2.93 percent in 1995-96 to 3.32 percent in 2000 with an annual rate of 2.90 percent and decreased to 3.08 percent in 2010 from 2000 with a rate of decrease of 1.45 percent per year. The prices of essentials are increasing but the level of income has not matched. For this reason, the number of lowest earners based on monthly household expenditure is more than the lowest earners based on monthly household income. Figure 6: Rate of increase among the lowest 5 percent income groups by region Rate of increase 1% Rate of increase 1.4% Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 1998; 2003 and 2011

2.5 Unemployed People Over the years, socially excluded groups resulted from unemployment have been accelerating in the country. Bangladesh has been facing challenges to generate sufficient work opportunities for the poor people. The unemployed people are economically excluded from the society since they have no opportunities to support their family as well as society. In 1995-96, the socially excluded population due to unemployment was 1.3 million. Total unemployed people increased to 2.6 million in 2010 with annual rate of 6.67 percent. However, unemployment has a serious psychological and financial effect on the people which lead them to a miserable life, excluding them further in the society. Figure 7: Unemployed people in Bangladesh Unemployed Population (in Million) 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Rate of Increase 6.67% 1995-96 1999-00 2002-03 2005-06 2010 Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 1998; 2002; 2004; 2008 and 2011a Unemployment by Region The social exclusion caused by unemployment in rural areas is higher in number although the rate of increase is lower than the urban areas over the years. In 1995-96, urban unemployed people comprised of 0.4 million against 0.9 million of their rural counterparts. Urban unemployed population in 2010 has increased to 1.28 million with an annual rate of 8.33 percent from the year 1995-96. On the other hand, unemployed population in the rural areas was 2.2 million with an annual rate of increase of 5.9 percent in this period. The rising urbanisation is accelerating the number of slum dwellers. As a consequence, the lack of technical skills, insufficiency of required education and economic insolvency among the slum dwellers have increased the number of excluded people caused by unemployment in the urban areas.

Figure 8: Unemployment by region Rate of increase 5.9% Rate of increase 8.3% Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 1998; 2002; 2004; 2008 and 2011a 2.6 People beyond Health Treatment The excluded groups in the society are facing a lot of troubles in case of health treatment 2 such as, unaffordability of treatment and sometimes not being included in the required treatment due to various reasons. A total of 11472 people, from rural areas have opined that the source of getting medicine was not available to them (BBS, 2011). Unaffordability to Take Medicine In 2010, a total of 4932 people were out of treatment during their ailment because of their unaffordability to take medicine. Among them, 76.8 percent were from the rural areas and the others were (23.2 percent) from urban areas. Figure 9: Unaffordability to take medicine by region Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2011 2 People who do not get available health treatment or are not capable of treatment or do not take treatment are considered as socially excluded in this regard

2.7 Uneducated People The people having no education are excluded from the development process in the society. They become poorer due to their exclusion from the participation in better employment and lack of advanced knowledge. The percentage of uneducated people has decreased at a decreasing rate in the country over the years. The percentage of uneducated people decreased from 58.49 percent in 2000 to 50.28 percent in 2005 with an annual rate of 2.81 percent. The annual rate of uneducated people decreased at 2.02 percent from 50.28 percent in 2005 to 45.2 percent in 2010. Table 5.3: The percentage of population without education Rate of Rate of Rate of Year National Rural Urban decrease decrease decrease 2000 58.49 62.43 43.27 2005 50.28 2.81 55.39 2.26 34.97 3.84 2010 45.2 2.02 49.6 2.09 33.04 1.1 Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2003; 2007 and 2011 Incidence of Poverty among Uneducated Household Head The rate of poverty among the uneducated household head is higher than the other groups. Moreover, the poverty among the household head having no education is decreasing over the years. Since the overall poverty of this country has been decreasing over the years, this may have an effect in reducing their poverty. The incidence of poverty among uneducated household head reduced from 67.0 percent in 1995-96 to 42.8 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 3.2 percent based on upper poverty level whereas the incidence of poverty reduced to 25.1 percent in 2010 from 48.0 percent in 1995-96 with an annual rate of 2.4 percent. In case of poverty among the household head having no education is decreasing over the years because of their involvement in income generating activities Figure 10: Trend of poverty among the uneducated household head Rate of decrease 3.2% Rate of decrease 2.4% Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 1998; 2003; 2007 and 2011

2.8 Physically Disabled The number of social excluded people due to physical disability 3 is higher among the women than their male counterparts. Moreover, the people in rural areas are suffering from the problem of disabilities more than their urban counterparts. Countrywide net percentage of population suffering from physical disabilities was 9.07 in 2010. If it is specified, 10 percent women are suffering from physical disability whereas this rate was 8.13 percent for men. The physically disabled people in urban and rural areas were 7.49 percent and 9.63 percent respectively. Figure 11: Net percentage of population suffering from disabilities in 2010 Source: Author s calculation based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2011 It is a matter of fact that 10 percent women of the country and almost the same percentage from rural areas are excluded from the society due to their physical disability. 2.9 Religious Minority In Bangladesh, institutional aspects of discrimination are there between Muslim religious majority and the other religious believers (minor groups in Bangladesh). The main discriminatory patterns included here, are area of criticism in rituals and practices, verbal harassment, offering poor services, verbal threats, physical attack, obstructing the celebration of festivals, and land dispossession. In the recent years, temple of Hindu and Buddhist have been attacked. The participants from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more at risk in terms of discrimination than those from the upper groups. Above all, land grabbing is the most notorious and often happened to the religious minority. 3 Physical disability contains six types i.e. disabilities to eye sight, hearing, walking and climbing, remembering and concentrating, self-care, and speaking and communicating.

2.10 Ethnic Minorities and Culture In the constitution of Bangladesh, there is no recognition of ethnic differences in the population, notably for the position of indigenous peoples. So, the tribal groups from Chittagong Hill Tracts are deprived in different aspects. They have limited access to resources and their social indicators are dismal. Moreover, languages and cultural practices create barriers to the public services. Therefore, they are counted as marginalised group. The Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs deals with one particular group of indigenous people. Adibashi, the indigenous communities from the Northwest of Bangladesh, are the marginalised group in the society. Their ethnic identities are creating barriers to the inclusion of indigenous of people in wider social networks that led them to be excluded. The Adibashi s are socially isolated with little access to mainstream economic and political spheres. The complexity arises from the ethnic inequality, long-term discrimination, lack of education, little access to land, food, water and lack of employment which resulted in increased poverty amongst these indigenous groups. 2.11 Social Caste for Dalits Dalits are considered as economically marginalised and socially excluded groups in Bangladesh. The basic provisions like shelter, food and water are not adequately provided to the areas where Dalits are living. Rather they have been facing with inadequate access to healthcare and education as well as facing the lack of housing, employment opportunity and access to political spheres. Like Dalit, the traditional Bede community is also socially excluded in Bangladesh. In Bede community, some are economically solvent but still they are socially excluded (Khan and Hossian, 2012; Dyrhagen and Islam, 2006). 2.12 Sexual Orientation Hermaphrodite, gay (men who have sex with men), women sex workers, HIV/AIDs and STIs/STDs affected are stigmatised and excluded from socio-economic activities, suffering miserably in Bangladesh. These groups are regularly abducted, raped, gang-raped, beaten, and subject to extortion by the police and mastans as well as detested by their families and communities, and denied access to education, employment, housing, and health care. The same result is supported by the study of Human Rights Watch (2003) and Ali et. al (2013) in this context. 3 CAUSES OF SOCIAL EXCLUSION A vital question is: why does the exclusion occur? A child who cannot go to school as she lives too far from the nearest school, a woman who cannot engage in certain kinds of jobs due to social barriers or a minority community has no access to electricity because of political underrepresentation etc. are some familiar cases of social exclusion in the country. Gender inequality and social norms often force women to remain secluded from certain occupations, and accept lower wages. Moreover, joblessness of the household members, factory layoff, serious accident or illness of income earners or other members, floods, landslides or erosion, excessive crop diseases and excessive livestock diseases are the cause of less earning in the family. These factors are responsible to increase the incidence of poverty where social security is insufficient.

In addition, ethnic groups are inadequately represented in the parliament, which means investment in infrastructure is the lowest in their constituencies. The social and cultural stigma, for instance, to commercial sex workers and HIV/AIDS affected people exclude them from the mainstream society. In all these cases, individuals are deprived (or excluded) of/from access to certain essential services, often perceived as basic rights for the citizens of the country. Apart from these, people are excluded in the society due to having zero voice, no bargaining power in the society and not having physical or material assets or both. For the lack of sufficient social protection, people after the age of 65 years become excluded in the society. In case of widowed, divorced and separated people especially women face the social barrier due to structural rigidities and institutional barriers. Moreover, people with zero land property and lowest earning in the society are in the trap. From a social point of view, they have no social and political influences behind them, and so others do not give them value. Different people, in accordance with religion, caste and occupation are also excluded from the society. Norms, different myth and sometimes ego are responsible for this kind of exclusion in the society. 4 CONCLUSIONS Bangladesh is experiencing social exclusion on the basis of ethnicity, cast, descent, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, and region. As consequences of exclusion, the rate of reduction in poverty is slow in the country over the years. The rate of decrease of the national poverty is higher than the rate of decrease amongst the minor groups. With the decrease rate of 3.67 percent per year, the poverty of the country declined from 49.8 percent in 2000 to 31.5 percent. Whereas the rate of poverty among the widowed, divorced and separated people decreased from 59.7 percent in 1995-96 to 33.9 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 2.88 percent. The incidence of poverty among zero land owners reduced from 58.2 percent in 1995-96 to 35.4 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 2.61 percent. The incidence of poverty among uneducated household head has reduced from 67.0 percent in 1995-96 to 42.8 percent in 2010 with an annual rate of 3.2 percent whereas the incidence of poverty has reduced to 25.1 percent in 2010 from 48.0 percent in 1995-96 with an annual rate of 2.4 percent. Moreover, poverty rate among the physically disabled, religious minorities, ethnic minorities, dalits, homosexuals and sex workers are high than the mainstream groups. Therefore, endowments and the ownership of and access to assets, social provisioning and full and equal citizenship are must among the excluded groups. A social transformation must be engineered by changing power relations within the society, recognising the role of women and different minorities. To achieve the sustainable transformation, an effective action for the excluded people is required from the Government. Basic social protections for poor people as well as for non-poor are mandatory in an era of economic insecurity due to frequent crisis in job market. The government should promote participation and protect the rights of all people within the country for reducing social exclusion as well as poverty alleviation. Sufficient budget on social protection and creation of employment is also the demand of the time. The administration of the country should endorse economic opportunities and equal access to services for all the groups. Proper and required policy execution and monitoring is a must for decreasing exclusion that will help eliminate poverty from the country.

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