Internal migration in Bangladesh has greatly impacted development. Rural-urban migration is a major driver of urban growth and demographic change. Migrants are predominantly young, low-income individuals from rural areas who move to cities for work. They face numerous challenges including lack of affordable housing, poor access to basic services, and health issues. While migration provides economic opportunities, policies are needed to maximize its benefits and protect migrants' rights.

1. “Internal migration and
the development nexus:
the case of Bangladesh -by Rita Afsar”
Date: 6. 05. 2014
Md. Zakiul Alam
Roll: ZH013
BSS (Hons) 5th Semester
Dept. Of Population Sciences
University of Dhaka

2. Introduction
 The land of Bangladesh has been changed rapidly because of mobility of people
having questions about development strategies. Migration has great impact on
people’s daily strategies and in the national economy like markets,
communications and transportation and availability of electricity.
 The rural area is no longer confined to food production but is now a source of
labor for urban areas. Rural urban migration is one of the forces of changing
among growing diversity and complexity in the patterns of migration. Changes
through rural, the linkage between migration and development need to be re-examined.
A lack of knowledge about the migration and poverty facing in
Bangladesh.
 Government policies can influence the impact of migration on development and
poverty reduction. Knowledge about migration and the policy context in the
country to enable DFID to understand and work toward maximizing the benefits
of migration for poverty reduction and to promote the rights of poor migrants.

3. Objective and Structure of this Article
This paper summarizes what is known about migration and the policy context in the
country to enable DFID to understand and work toward maximizing the benefits of
migration for poverty reduction and to promote the rights of poor migrants.
 The paper aims to review existing policies related to migration in order to examine
the relationship between migration and development.
 In doing so, this paper examines:
 The patterns and trends of internal migration in Bangladesh
 Profile of migrants
 Labor markets – conditions and entitlements
 Key problems faced by migrants
 Consequences of migration including remittances, migration and poverty and inequality
 Policies issues ……..
I. Government policies and instruments
II. Policies and programmes of international agencies and donors
III. Welfare entitlements
IV. Main pro-poor organisations working to support migrants
V. Key policy issues, gaps, drivers of change and recommendations

4. Scale and Determinants of Migration
 Existing sample vital registration system such as BBS suggest that life time internal
migration has increased significantly and the proportion of lifetime migrants doubled
between 1974 and 1982 and reached 10.2% in 1991.
 Migration pattern changes according to gender, 40% male migrant and 28% female migrant
moved from rural to urban areas.
 Marital migration and intra district migration are the important reason of rural-urban
movement.
 The net migration increased in urban areas than in rural areas .From panel data generated ,62
randomly sampled villages in Bangladesh, Rahman et.al(1996),found that nearly two- thirds
of emigration from rural to urban areas. The figure for rural-rural migration was 10% and
was 24%for overseas migration.

5. Scale and Determinants of Migration cont.
 Rural-urban migration is the most dominant form of migration. This is especially true for 17
coastal district where accreted fertile char land is the cause of the violent confliction.
 According to Kuhn's study of Matlab Thana (2000), he found that loss of homestead land
does not necessarily lead to emigration. Sometimes debt seldom results in seizure of
homestead lands unless the family’s local social ties are extremely weak.
 The lack of year round employment in rural areas or recurrent flooding of coastal and other
district can also push people into migration. Such as –Faridpur, Barisal, Noakhali, Rajbari
and Sirajgong are the example of such district.
Furthermore, migrants maintain connection with their natal families. In the context of limited
provision of insurance and social security services, urban-rural co-operation and mutual
support are important for both migrants and their natal families.

6. Migration and urbanization
 Migration is one of the major contributors to urban growth in Bangladesh. The proportion of
people living in urban areas rose from 6.2 in 1965 to 9.9% in 1975 and reached 25% in
2000( UN 2002).
 To reveal migration pattern and trend, we use sex ratios as indicator of emigration or
immigration. cities with high sex ratios are generally considered to be receivers of migrant
and those with lower sex ratios are considered to be sending areas. For instances
1. Theremetropolitan is a positive correlation between higher sex ratio and and higher urban
growth for all cities. A high sex ratio suggests that more men than women migrated to the
cities. Chittagong had the highest sex ratios of 155 in 1974 but in 2001 it was declining only
119. sex ratio for Dhaka 123,Khulna 112 and for rajshahi 110 in 2001.
2. Among cities with population of 100000 or more a higher sex ratio is found in higher urban
growth. For example Sylhet, Bogra ,Rangpur,and Jessore. cities where lower urban growth
found lower sex ratio.Saidpur,Jamalpur and Tangail.Barsal and Nawabgonj are the exception.
3. There is a close relationship between rapid urbanization and significant demographic change.
for example Dhaka ,Chittagong,Khulna urbanized rapidly and also show high sex ratios.
These cities benefited either from industrial or high agricultural growth.

7. Profile of Migrants
 Migrants are predominantly young adults from low- income families.
 But the traditional picture of young males leaving their villages is changing as more
and more women migrants are more informed about job opportunities at work
destinations.
Selectivity of Migration:
 Age
 Household surveys at destination shows that 75% of temporary, 50% of permanent and
33% of non-migrants of Dhaka city were 15 to 34 years of age.
 Of the female labor force in RMG factories, 90% were under 30 years of age

8. Profile of Migrants cont.
 Marital Status
 Almost 90% of permanent migrants and non-migrants were married at the time of the
survey.
 In contrast, nearly half of temporary migrants were never married.
 For female workers, almost half were never married and less than 10% were
divorced/widowed or separated; the remainder were married.
 Among the extreme poor, the divorced and widowed women were more likely to migrate.
 Gender
 The RMG sector absorbed more than 1.5 million workers in the mid-1990s of which 70%
were women and more than 90% were migrants.
 In other industries such as food processing, pharmaceuticals and electronics, migrants
constitute about half of the work force and the gender ratio is almost balanced.

9. Profile of Migrants contd.
 Socio-economic Background
 Generally it is the landless who migrate as they have nothing to lose.
 At the other end, are those who have enough resources to take the risk.
 Thus 3/4 of women and 2/3 of men working in RMG factories were functionally landless.
 Migrants to slums had only one year of schooling and were predominantly engaged as
agricultural workers prior to migration.
 On average, a non-poor migrant had 8 years’ education and they migrated mainly to give
their children a better education. The extreme poor and destitute also migrated to earn
money for survival in a situation of social exclusion and having little or no supportive
networks.

10. Labour market: Conditions and entitlements
 Studies on internal migration clearly demonstrate that greater job opportunities in the
cities and metropolitan areas ‘pulled’ migrants from rural areas (Skeldon, 1997; Hugo
1991; Afsar 1999, 2000).
 Around 50% migrants came in Dhaka city had been agricultural labourers.
 The migrants choose to migrate in nearer towns, cities or metropolitans in search for
more income in non agricultural sector. But Why?
 Because estimation about agricultural growth is that agricultural income was less then 1% as
opposed to nearly 6% in annual income in non agricultural income between 1988 to 1995. rural
landless agricultural workers has a little incentive in agriculture sector. As a result, they choose
to migrate. But there has a risk of unemployment(Todaro).
 Most of the rural poor migrants settle in the slum.
 ¾th of the rural migrants are secured their first job by the help of their social networks.
 Every three of five get their works/jobs within one weeks(Afsar, 1999). About 1/3 of
migrants had information about his/her jobs before migration by their kin networks.

11. Labour market: Conditions and entitlements cont.
 The unemployment rate of active-age migrants is 4% which is almost double to the
non migrants age cohorts.
 The fact is that poor people hardly try to remain unemployed, as a result they
migrate to the nearest towns or cities to relief their unemployment & poverty
temporarily. Thus unemployment rate is almost smaller in the case of recent than
long term migrant.
 Low and irregular payment of wages is so widely even in the formal sector. Because
there is no labour entitlements for formal sector and informal sector workers enjoy
no such provision.
 Nearly half of the RMG sectors workers leave jobs for the particular reasons.
 Income difference between male and female RMG workers remains at a quarter.
Had they not migrated they would have remained either unemployment or under
employment. This is a particular true for women that the scope wage employment
is extremely limited in rural areas. Around one-tenth of the rural forces is engaged
as employee and one-fourth of them as day labourer (BBS, 2002).

12. Labour market: Conditions and entitlements in
the formal sector
Worker
strategy
Income (monthly)
Wage Others
Working
hours
Paid leave and other
entitlements
Factory Condition
Skilled/RMG
Male 2000 500 11.1 Nearly 2/3rd of worker do not
receive appointment letters,
1/5th male and 1/3rd female
worker had salary cuts for
taking sick leave, more than
1/3rd also do not enjoy
maternity leave.
Factories generally
lacks adequate
lighting, ventilation
and washing
facilities, canteen
and safe drinking
water. Rooms are
crowded. Average
per toilets for male
are 40 and female
81.
Female 1800 500 10.8
Remarks Delayed , irregular
payment and severe
penalties for coming
late.
30/45
minutes
launch break
Other
Manufacturing
Male 2800 - 6.5 90% of women workers
demanded paid leave for
effective combination of
productive and child-care
facilities.
Ventilation safe
water, toilet
facilities in most
factories are not
better than such in
RMGs.
Female 2300 - 6.0
Remarks Not much problems
in payment
No shift duty
in general

13. Trends in Population by Residence, 1901-2000
Census
year
National
population
Growth
rate %
Urban
population
Growth
Rate %
Rural
population
Growth
rate %
Urban %
1901 28928 - 708 0.00 28226 0.00 2.40
1911 31555 0.94 807 1.40 30748 0.90 2.60
1921 33254 0.60 879 0.80 32376 0.50 2.60
1931 35604 0.74 1074 2.00 35428 0.90 3.00
1941 41997 1.70 1537 3.60 40460 1.30 3.70
1951 44166 0.50 1820 1.70 42346 0.50 4.30
1961 55223 2.26 31111 5.40 52112 2.10 5.60
1974 76398 2.48 73901 6.70 69008 2.20 9.70
1981 89912 2.32 140891 9.20** 75823 1.30 15.70
1991 109877 2.01 215602 4.20 88317 1.50 19.60
2000 137439 2.51 34354 5.30 103085 1.73 25.00
2001 - - - - - -

14. Changes in occupation by Migration Status, 1998: Pre & Post-
Migrational status
Occupatio
n Status
Long-term
migrant
Recent
migrant
Non-
Slum
Slum Non-
Slum
Slum
Post
migration
occupational
status
Trading 31.5 21.4 41.3 -
Labor: Non-farm
8.7 43.8 7.1 50.0
Services 21.5 71.4 8.7 -
Renting - - - -
Not working 7.9 3.1 - -
Others - - - -
Total 100(277) 100(13
0)
100(14) 100(46)
Occupatio
n Status
Long-term
migrant
Recent
migrant
Non-
Slum
Slum Non-
Slum
Slum
Pre-Migration
occupational
status
Agriculture 5.4 3.9 - 17.4
Trading 6.9 21.4 15.2 -
Labor: Non-farm
1.8 3.9 - 10.9
Labor: Farm 10.5 43.9 7.1 41.3
Services 3.8 35.7 2.2 -
Unemployed 14.4 7.7 21.4 4.4
Not working 48.7 29.2 14.3 8.7
Others 0.7 - - -
Total 100(277) 100(13
0)
100(14
)
100(46
)

15. Labor market: Conditions and entitlements (Cont.)
After all the proportion of underemployed is estimated at 6.5 million. And
16.5% of the total employed population are under-employed of which 80%
live in rural areas and 66% of them are women.

16. Problems of Migrants
The main problems that migrants face
1. lack of low cost housing,
2. physical insecurity,
3. skewed distribution of the delivery of basic services
4. and subsequent health problems.
Housing problems:
 More than half (53%) of poor migrants live in private slums and 44% squat on public land
with about 14 square metres space for a family of average five members or 2.7 square
metres per capita space, which increases almost six times for a non-slum resident.
 Although poor migrants eventually improve their living spaces, for example replacing
thatched roofs with corrugated iron sheets for better protection from cold and rain, living
in such conditions give rise to many health problems, particularly given the combination
of mud floors, flimsy walls, heat and humidity and torrential monsoon rains (Afsar,
1999).
 Squatter settlements are formed with the help of muscle power, strong social networks
built on kinship ties and district based affinities and with the patronage of political
leaders.

17. Problems of Migrants cont.
Water and sanitation problem:
 Worse still are the health and environmental risks associated with poor access to water
and sanitation services, which determine health and environmental safety.
 Nearly three-quarters of slum dwellers depend largely on outside water taps, which are
shared by 5-6 families.
 To fetch water for drinking and cooking, a female slum resident must travel an average
distance of 69 m daily, adding to her workload and affecting her health and productivity.
 Nearly 90% of the slum dwellers use hanging and other types of non-sanitary toilets in
Dhaka city, whereas 90% of non-slum residents have modern toilets and 25% of
households in small and medium towns have septic tanks.

18. Problems of Migrants cont.
Health and health service problems:
 Morbidity rate is estimated at 52% for slum dwellers and 42% for a female worker in a
garment factory (Afsar, 1999).
 Around one-fifth of female garment factory workers also suffer from sexually transmitted
diseases (Afsar, 2001 and Paul-Majumder, 1998).
 Lack of safe, affordable transportation, inexpensive one-stop treatment and medical
facilities increases women’s vulnerability. Institutions providing childcare, health care
and boarding facilities at affordable prices are rare even in the capital city, and much less
so in other cities and towns.

19. Problems of Migrants cont.
Physical insecurity and negligence:
 Women are the major victims of deteriorating law and order and the resulting human
rights violations
 Hossain, Khan and Seeley (2003) also found that problems of accommodation, sickness
and disease, robbery and physical harassment loom large for seasonal migrants at
destination.
 Hossain, Khan and Seeley (2003) showed how poor migrants are treated as outsiders,
deprived from entitlements and denied justice at the place of destination.
The experience of one migrant – Nuru – is one example:
 “Nuru is 18 years old works as a day laborer. A year ago, he moved to Cox’s Bazaar with a
work crew for road construction job. They received only three days’ wages though they
worked 7 days. When Nuru protested, the contractors threatened to kill him. Nuru has faced
various other hardships as a migrant worker.”

20. Consequences of Migration
 The consequences of internal migration remain unclear. They are influenced by a
range of factors including
1. Gender,
2. Space,
3. Time,
4. Migration context
5. And the strength of social capital among migrants.
 It is widely acknowledged that migration provides material benefits for migrants
and their families though difficult to prepare cost-benefit analyses from existing
studies on internal migration.

21. Consequences of Migration cont.
Consequences for Long distance Migration:
 Kuhn’s qualitative study (2000) provides that the costs of a long weekend sojourn from
Dhaka to Barisal Division could be around Taka 500. Added to the income loss of around
Taka 100 per day, a four-day trip can consume more than 30% of a month’s potential
earnings.
 But, Active support and cooperation from social contacts at destination minimize the costs
of moving.
While travel costs and opportunity costs of internal migration depend on the distance
between origin and destination and types of job, it ultimately also depends on the
strength of migrants’ social capital at destination and origin.
 It is finalized according to Hugo that,
 Remittances do not represent the total economic losses or benefits in areas of origin.
 As transmission of skills, status and experience, flow of ideas, loss of economic and
political leaders and social disruption can influence development in the area of origin.

22. Remittance
Problems of measuring internal remittance:
 Remittances from internal migration are difficult to estimate due to the importance of in-kind
transfer (Not in Cash).
 It is also difficult to separate the contribution of internal migration from international
migration since a sending household often has different types of migrant members.
 Generally, panel data and in-depth interviews are needed to capture the role of
remittances as a security back-up.

23. Remittance cont.
Though remittance measurement is very tough; but estimates from different
scholars are given below:
 It is argued that rural-urban remittances range around 12–15% of the rural income for
Asia and Africa.
 Kuhn estimated from Matlab in 1996, that the net transfer from sons living in urban or
overseas destination accounted for 18% of the total income for all households and 27% for
migrant sending households.
 Temporary migrants send around 40% of their urban incomes to rural households, which
increases to 64% for married migrants but declines to 27% in the case of unmarried ones
(Afsar, 2000a). But why?
 It’s very simple as a married temporary migrant had left his spouse and children at the
place of origin.
 The intensity of social ties and the types of responsibilities that migrants bear at origin
and destination influence remittances.
 For example, sons who lived in the city with their conjugal families contributed less than
their siblings who lived alone in the city (Frankenberg and Kuhn, 2001).

24. Use of internal remittance
In Bangladesh, like in many other developing countries, migrants’ households in rural areas
use remittances
 Predominantly for consumption
 Some portion for construction, savings and investment
 And some portion for education .
Use of remittance for consumption:
 Existing evidence suggests that consumption expenditure alone constituted between
80% and 90% of the remittances.
 In a country like Bangladesh, where half of rural households live below the poverty
line, priorities on consumption expenditure can be viewed as consonant with ‘basic
needs’ approach to development; without this the situation of families of migrants
would have been worse off (Afsar, 2000b).
 Hossain et al (2002) suggest that remittances contributed 12.8% to the household
income whereas trade and business enterprises accounted for 22%.
 A 10% increase in income would lead to 6.5% increase in the demand for food items.

25. Use of remittance cont.
Use of remittance for savings, investment:
 From the existing data, we can say only that savings and funding from friends and relatives
constituted around four-fifths of the initial capital invested in those enterprises but how much
of the savings are generated from the remittances is not clear.
 However, existing estimates (Hossain et al 2003b) also suggest that income gains from
business are the most unequally distributed source of income, followed by services and non-rice
agriculture, benefiting the higher income groups more than others.
 House repairs, including extensions, building a new room and replacing thatch with
corrugated iron roofing sheets, also consumes a significant proportion of remittances.
 Investment in housing not only helps to expand business in construction materials but also
gives rural families protection from natural calamities. In addition, it minmizes production
and storage benefits.
 Productive use of remittances to purchase irrigation equipment, to establish shops and other
businesses also show up in survey data and case studies (Kuhn, 2000).

26. Use of remittance cont.
Use of remittance for Education
 Around 40% of temporary migrants’ families also used remittances to educate children and
treat sick members.
 Existing studies (Afsar, 2001b) reveal that remitters among RMG workers, predominantly sent
money directly for family maintenance and education of siblings.
 School enrolment rates among members of migrants’ families in rural areas is greater
compared with age cohorts of non-migrant families (Rahman et al 1996).

27. Migration and poverty
Migration have Positive effect for Rural but in some context negative effect for urban
areas.
Positive effect:
1. Role of migration on Land in Rural:
 Land-poor households before 1990s was much dependent but in the 1990s are much less
dependent on the agricultural labor market.
 Hossain et al (2003b) estimated that the proportion of agricultural workers was halved
between 1987 and 2000, due to greater employment opportunities generated in the rural
non-farm sector (labor transition).
 A new ‘class’ of people has emerged in rural areas, which depends more on physical and
human capital than on land and manual labor (laborer transition).

28. Role of migration on Land in rural cont.
 The incidence of tenancy has increased, thus providing additional access to land
for land-poor households.
 For example, Hossain et al 2002 told that most of the tenants are small landowners
who find it economical to rent land to increase the capacity-use of the farm
establishment.
% of Land Tenancy
47% 40% 13%
50%
0%
<0.2 hect 0.2-1 hect >1 hect
 Rural-urban migration stimulated land tenancy. Hossain et al (2002) observed that, in
rural areas, 1.3% of the owned land was sold, compared with 1.7% of owned land in
1987/88; land purchase was reported at 2% in 1999/00.
 The higher incidence of land purchase compared to land sale indicates the important
contribution of rural-urban migration to the land market in a land-scarce country.

29. Migration and poverty cont.
2. Role of migration on some important structural changes:
 Income from agriculture declined from 59% to 44%, whilst income from trade, services and
remittances increased from 35% in 1987/88 to 49% in 1999/00.
 Hossain et al (2002) also observed that the most dramatic increase has been in the share of
remittances from relatives who migrated to cities and overseas.
 The proportion of households receiving remittances in 1999/00 was 21%, almost double the 11%
of such households in 1987/88.
 The contribution of remittances to household income has increased significantly from 7.3% to
12.8% over the period, registering 8.1% annual growth when per capita income grew at 3.2%.

30. Role of migration on some important structural changes cont.
 Some positive consequences of migration
 Landless and land-poor farmers have left the agricultural labour market for tenancies.
 Wage labour in trade and business enterprises,
 Rickshaw pulling and other manual non-agricultural activities.
 Members of medium and large landowning households – with correspondingly larger
endowments of human and physical capital – switched from cultivating their own farms
to services and business.
 As a result, the proportion of poor people dropped to 43% in 2000 from 59% in
1988, a reduction of 1.2% per year.
Year % of poor people
1988 43%
2000 59%
 There is no direct estimate of the contribution of remittances to poverty alleviation
but, indirectly, some conjecture can be made in this regard.

31. Role migration on Poverty Reduction
 From the panel data from rural sending areas, Rahman et al (1996) found that the
extent of poverty was much lower for households having migrant members, much
lower than for non-migrant households.
% of poor as different household
30%
60%
Migrants household Non-migrant household
 The proportion of those who perceived themselves poor or extremely poor
declined from around 60% to 30% between 1990 and 1995, a -26.7% change.
 In the case of non-migrant households, a large number (54%) still considered
themselves poor or extremely poor and only a small proportion perceived (8.7%)
improvement in their situation compared to 1991.

32. Negative effect migration
 Rural-urban migration is often considered to be a process of transferring rural
poverty to urban areas.
 From their longitudinal study of Dhaka city, Hossain et al (1999) came out with the
following startling results, which challenge this conventional wisdom:
 For households in slum and squatter settlements, the head count ratio for
moderate poverty was estimated at 79% in 1991; this dropped to a staggering low
of 49% in 1998 and extreme poverty from 44.5% to 23%. These are basically
migrant populations from the landless and marginal landholding households in
rural areas.

33. Migration and Inequality: at the place of origin
Internal migration is often considered a source of intra-village inequality because……
 better-off villages and villagers learn first, and are able to avail new job opportunities
 whereas the extreme poor groups are generally excluded from such opportunities (Skeldon,
1997).
However, this negative picture should not be generalized.

34. Migration and Inequality: at the place of destination
 At the place of destination however, existing evidence suggests growing inequality
between the rich and the poor.
 A longitudinal study on migration in Dhaka city (Hossain et al, 1999) indicates
worsening of income distribution between slum and non-slum residents.
 Slum dwellers, who are predominantly migrants from rural areas, earned around
one-third of the income of non-slum households in 1991; this declined to one fifth in
1998.
 The bottom 40% saw their income drop from 17% of the income of non-slum
households to 11% while the top 10% increased from 27% to 42%.

35. Migration and Inequality: at the place of destination cont.
 The gini concentration ratio, a measure of income inequality, is estimated at 0.53, a
staggering increase from 0.39 in 1991.
 Urban inequality is not limited to income distribution but also leads to stunted
development of human capital of poorer communities.
 Although the enrolment rate of their age cohorts in slum and squatter settlements in
Dhaka city rose from 41% to 58% between 1991 and 1998, more than 40% of the
children remained out of school.
 Little wonder, then, that Hossain et al (1999) found that nearly one-third of children in
the 10–15 years age group from slums and squatters were in the labour force; the
incidence of child labour remained almost unchanged between 1991 and 1998.
 Thus, although the urban population have been ahead of the rural population on
both poverty and social development indicators generally, the urban poor in general
and migrants in particular find it difficult to sustain economic gains in the longer run,
due to intra-urban inequality in income and delivery of social services.

36. Strategy for Poverty alleviation and economic growth
 In Bangladesh poverty is considered as one of the key drivers of the rural-urban
migration.
 Government ,International agencies and donors focus on Poverty alleviation and
economic growth through they failed to provide any direct policies and programs
for internal migration .
Government Strategy
Pro-Poor economic
Growth
Women’s
Human Development Advancement
Diminishing Gender
gaps
Social safety
Participatory
Governance

37. International and National GOs /NGOs to develop the
capacity of small and medium town
International GOs /NGOs GOs/ NGOs in Bangladesh
1. World Bank : With the help of Local
Government and Engineering Department they
initiated project to build capacity and effective
financial management of Khulna and Rajshahi
City Corporations and 14 municipalities, or
Pourashava, since 1999.
2. UNDP :Promoting broader participation in
local decision making and building the
capacity of locally elected bodies to better
deliver services and to enable communities to
address their development needs.
3.UNICEF : Runs water, sanitation and
primary health care programs for urban street
children , they also use the mass media to
promote girls’ education, water sanitation and
public health issues including dengue
prevention and arsenic contamination
4. UNCHR : They is primarily work to
rehabilitate poor migrants and refugees.
Bastuhara Federation or federation of
landless, which is a political
organization involved predominantly
in advocacy for the rehabilitation of
squatters in major cities
Coalition for the Urban Poor (CUP),
working for poverty alleviation in
urban poor communities mainly in
Dhaka City, the bulk of whom are
migrants from rural areas.
Ain-O-Salish kendro works for the
human rights and legal aids of
migrants
Nari Udyog Kendro (NUK), addresses
governance and gender issues in the
development process and caters to the
housing needs of the city’s low-income
and migrant women workers

38.  Government fails to provide an effective regional development framework for
decentralizing the industrial process around the secondary towns and periurban areas
due to
1. Mismanagement.
2. Corruption .
Limitations of the strategy
 The National Rural Development Policy 2001 was formulated to enhance the capacity and
power of the rural poor to develop, protect and sustain their livelihoods but no such policy
has been formulated for urban areas.
 It also fails to outline any mechanism to cover the extreme poor and migrant groups, which
find themselves largely outside of existing social security schemes of government.
 It didn’t mention infrastructural development of periurban and small towns as a
precondition for business investment and creating new job opportunities .
 Without decentralizing power, finance and other services at the upazila/thana level, and
without an effective policy framework for regional development, it is difficult to implement
participatory governance.

39. Government’s poverty alleviation strategy (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper,
PRSP) must address the following issues :
1) Important role of
migration in reducing
rural poverty by
expanding rural land and
labor markets and making
more rural land available
for tenancy.
2) Migration has raised rural
productivity and created
scope for innovation by
increasing the use of
mechanism
3)The needs of the migrants,
particularly urban poor
migrants who often suffer
eviction, ill health and other
problems.
4)Vulnerable groups can be
picked up from the work
place, organized as
occupational groups and
provided with loans, food-for-
work and other facilities
on a daily basis
Key Policy Issues
Firstly
Secondly
Thirdly
1)Remittances from internal
migration generate both
direct and indirect benefits
with short-term, long-term
and multiplier effects on
poverty alleviation, regional
development and the overall
development of the country
2) internal remittances
Should be convert to
Deposit
Pension Scheme (DPS), so
that remittances can be
potential for development
work as well as generating
savings for land-poor
groups
1)Government strategy
for poverty alleviation
should add spatial and
regional dimensions for
development.
2) Migration is a dominant
force behind the coastal
region ‘s impressive progress
in poverty alleviation. So ,
3) Flood-prone regions and
those with favourable
ecosytems must be given
priority attention
in order to expand labour
productivity and provide
greater scope for
occupational mobility.

40. Gaps in the implication of the strategy
 There is profound disparity in income distribution and service delivery between
space, class and gender, which often hinders the pace of poverty reduction.
 Though government allocates around 20% of the development budget for local
government and rural development. there are some inconsistencies between the
PRSP objectives and budgetary allocations.
 The class and gender dimension of poverty and inequality are
considered, the spatial dimension of poverty and inequality get scanty
attention in the PRSP.
Basically without a regional development framework,
decentralisation efforts will remain ad hoc and the growing
inequality in income and services distribution cannot be
controlled effectively.

41. Recommendation
1) Telecommunications and other information technologies should be expanded as this
would not only create employment opportunities but also help to decentralize businesses
from large cities to potentially lower-cost smaller cities
2) Small and medium towns can be made more attractive by developing infrastructure and
communication, particularly efficient and safe transportation, and providing a good
standard of social services such as hospitals, schools and colleges.
3) With increasing urbanization, migrant women are likely to form a larger and larger
proportion of the work force so policies should be favorable to female labor .
 All labour legislation must be brought under a new labour code to ensure effective implementation
and monitoring and it will provide written employment contracts of working hours and wage
rates, overtime hours and rates, holidays, dismissal and retrenchment procedures to ensure labour
right
 Workers should be given proper skill training to equip with the changing nature of jobs through
the private sector and NGOs.
4) To ensure low-cost housing and hostel facilities for migrant factory workers, NGOs and
housing companies may be given khas land at a reduced price.

42. Thank you for your patience
Do you have any question?
Please
ASK……………….