Marginalised people have not benefitted equally from the economic growth due to deepening inequality, weakening public institutions and a culture of fear, said the Citizen's Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh yesterday.
"There is a quicksand below development. There is discernible progress in terms of schools, hospitals and road infrastructure development. But the left behind people continue to remain marginalised," Debapriya Bhattacharya, convener of the platform, told a press briefing at the Brac Centre Inn in the capital.
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The quicksand can be avoided by taking proper policies.
"During this period of development, the government institutions have become weaker, leaving the marginalised people unguarded," he said at the briefing organised by the Citizen's Platform for SDGs to share the findings of a paper titled "Does Local Realities Reflect the National Development Narrative? Perspectives from Sub-national Consultations".
Around 500 people joined the consultations from June to October this year.
The platform finds "a disjuncture between national development narrative and local realities."
The gap was driven by an uneven distribution of the development gains due to discriminatory design, weak delivery and limited access to resources and public services, Debapriya said.
A dearth of decent employment opportunities, particularly for the youth, has intensified for inadequate economic opportunities and corruption (nepotism and bribery).
"On top of that, the recent price hike of essentials makes the lives of the marginalised people more difficult. Living standards of limited-income and middle-class people are declining."
Debapriya also mentioned that political connections and bribery affect the possibilities of securing government jobs.
Citing the findings of the consultations, Debapriya said the rise in salaries of government employees did not lower the frequency and amount of bribes demanded for government jobs.
Despite the increasing participation of women in economic activities, violation of gender rights is becoming more pervasive, he added. "There is a serious lack of rule of law here in ensuring the rights of women."
Adverse climate impact is no longer a localised issue; it is now being felt across the country in different forms, the economist said.
The consultations find the quality of public service delivery does not match the amount of public expenditure, and access to public service is more constrained for disadvantaged people.
The consultations also find the trend of weakening inclusive and pluralistic social and cultural values, vanishing the cultural heritage of minority groups and deepening social divisions.
"In the consultations, people complained of degrading the mutual respect, and ethnic and religious minorities are facing various problems and they are not able to protect their cultural traditions," Debapriya said.
He said the voices of people, civil society organisations and NGOs are being suppressed by creating a "culture of fear".
Although there is success in raising student enrolment and literacy rate, the quality of education and access to vocational training for marginalised groups have not been ensured.
Apart from the price hike of essentials and shortages of job opportunities, the matter that upsets everyone is falling education quality, he added.
Despite getting stipends and free books from the government, many students are dropping out from the secondary level due to poverty, the noted economist said.
"Many have no school bags or ability to bear the cost of the midday meals at schools. The majority of the schools do not have free midday meal facility."
Despite visible progress in the transport sector, road safety and traffic management remain an area of concern, Debapriya said.
The impact of ongoing inflationary pressure affects marginalised groups and people with low income disproportionately. Besides, people are unaware of various government support programmes, he added.
Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, was present.