It’s time to do some research on the rich: Anu Muhammad

Anu Muhammad, a well-known economist said, that research should be conducted on the rich people of Bangladesh, instead of doing research on the poor people of the country.

He came up with this opinion on Wednesday at a seminar under the banner Poverty, Discrimination and Government Policy: Bangladesh Perspective, organised by the Department of Economics of Bangladesh University in the city on Wednesday. 

"Much research has been conducted on the poor; now we should be doing some research on the rich, which is not an easy task; because, people in Bangladesh tend to become rich overnight, probably by the grace of Aladdin's lamp," Said Anu Muhammad.

He also mentioned that the rich people of Bangladesh tend to lead a life that closely resembles that of the rich people in the USA. 

Prof Dr Anwarul Haque Sharif, vice-chancellor at the Bangladesh University, attended the seminar as the chief guest, while Dr Md Tajul Islam, chairman at the economics department of the university, preside over.    

Dr Binayak Sen, director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, presented the keynote paper at the seminar. He said, "Free trade has not been developed in Bangladesh. However, the positive thing is: the poverty rate in Bangladesh has decreased."

The poverty rate in the country came down to 15 percent in 2016 from 44 percent in 1991; however, those who came out of poverty still do not earn enough to belong to the middle-income group, he said.

"As a result, their financial situation might change for the worse any time during a sudden disaster of any kind," Dr Binayak Sen added.

Other speakers said that the only way to get rid of poverty and income inequality is to launch a social safety net programme, while adding only three percent of income of the poor comes from the social safety net programme.

They also said: if the social safety net programme had reached the target group, poverty would decline at an astounding rate.

Sheikh Alauddin, chairman of the Department of English, Md Al Amin, chairman of the Department of Law, Moushumi Ahmed, chairman of the Department of Architecture and teachers from other departments also took part in the discussion.