Ashrayan Project: ‘Sheikh Hasina Model’ in inclusive development

Beneficiaries received two decimals of land as well as a semi-furnished, two-room house with a free power connection along with ronmental: a kitchen, a bathroom, and a shower.

Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken far-reaching initiatives that are being gradually implemented to turn Bangladesh into a developed nation by 2041. The country is moving forward with an indomitable spirit. When Sheikh Hasina took over as Prime Minister in 2009, the poverty rate in Bangladesh was 41.5%.

Through tireless efforts in her three consecutive terms serving the people as Prime Minister, she has been able to lower this number to 20% over the course of the last 13 and a half years. However, the poverty rate has to be further decreased for Bangladesh to become a developed country. Disadvantaged, poor and marginalised populations of the country need to be integrated into the mainstream.

Through the Ashrayan Project, The Honourable Prime Minister is integrating underprivileged, landless, and homeless people into inclusive development. "Not a single person will be homeless in Bangladesh," she has already declared. The landless and homeless individuals in 64 districts around the country were listed to carry out this instruction from the prime minister. Under the supervision of the Upazila Task Force Committee, addition or deduction to the list is an ongoing process. 

A list of 2,39,611 families, who are entirely landless and homeless, have been enlisted in 'Category-A'.  In addition, another 5,92,261 families who own land but have no homes or their homes are in deplorable condition have been enlisted in 'Category-B'. On the occasion of Mujib Borsho (the Centenary birthday celebration of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman), 1,85,129 homes have been handed over to landless and homeless families. Since 1997, more than 3.5 million people have been rehabilitated under this project. 

On 20 February 1972, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman visited Char Poragacha village in Ramgati Upazila of Laxmipur district (then under Noakhali district) and rehabilitated the landless, homeless, and helpless families affected by river erosion. On 19 May 1997, a severe cyclone struck Cox's Bazar and other coastal districts. On 20 May, the Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina travelled to Saint Martin of Teknaf Upazila and directed the rehabilitation of the cyclone-affected impoverished households who became homeless. The Honourable Prime Minister introduced the' Ashrayan' project that year for the landless and homeless citizens.

Ashrayan refers to a greater and broader concept than merely residential accommodations. Beneficiaries received two decimals (shotok) of land as well as a semi-furnished, two-room house with a free power connection along with a kitchen, a bathroom, and a shower. The house and the land are jointly registered in the husband and wife's names. In the project area, plenty of trees are being planted. 

For every ten families, there is one tube well for drinking water. As a result, the recipients will be protected from water-borne diseases, including diarrhoea. For their medical needs, community clinics are being constructed. 

Primary schools have been built to ensure primary education for the children. The project area also includes a playground for kids' and teenagers' physical activities and recreation. All the necessary civic amenities of a self-sufficient modern village are present in the Ashrayan Project.

The beneficiaries receive ten days of training in a variety of professions to improve their capacity and effectiveness as a workforce. Beneficiaries residing in the barracks receive training in 32 trades, including fish farming, carpet weaving, nursery work, embroidery, welding, and rickshaw-cycle-van repair. They receive a daily payment of 750 Taka during these training sessions so that their income is not affected. 

After completing the training for creating cooperative societies, the beneficiaries can receive loans of up to 30 thousand Taka and start entrepreneurship or a profession to increase income. Families placed in the barracks will initially get three months of food assistance under the VGF initiative. They get priority for stipends under maternity, old age, widow, and other social security schemes. Therefore, a destitute person is being established as a self-confident human resource through various processes under this project.

Amartya Sen, an economist and Nobel laureate, says about poverty, "Hunger and poverty exist in the society due to the inability of the population to access or establish rights to food and other social benefits, i.e. failure of entitlement or failure of proprietorship."  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has created access for the poor beggars, widows, women abandoned by their husbands, landless, homeless, and dispossessed people to get land and other social benefits through the 'Ashrayan' project with the aim of equitable distribution of wealth. 

This initiative also includes people displaced by natural disasters, ethnic groups, third-gender people, Dalits, Harijans, and other socially underprivileged communities. This is the first and biggest project in the world to offer free homes for the state's underprivileged populations to integrate them into mainstream society.

To comply with Article 15 of Bangladesh's Constitution, access to basic amenities for all citizens is being carried out by implementing the Ashrayan Project. This also implements Article 3.13 of the Bangladesh Awami League's 2018 Election Manifesto, which includes eradicating poverty, minimising inequality, and guaranteeing everyone's right to a place to live. The promise made by the Honourable Prime Minister to resettle environmental and climate refugees is also being fulfilled. With the implementation of the Ashrayan Project, the following targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being successfully achieved:

1. No Poverty
2. Zero Hunger
3. Good Health and Well being
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment
6. Clean Water and Sanitation,
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth 
10. Reduced Inequalities and 
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Different approaches to reduce hunger and poverty have been introduced at various times. A poor individual had fallen into extreme poverty by getting exploited under the guise of foreign help, food aid, relief, and microcredit. Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University in the United States, Dani Rodrik, has demonstrated through his research that redistribution of land ownership is essential for achieving high growth in East Asia. 

By acquiring homes and land and participating in income-generating activities, the beneficiaries of the Asharyan Project can become self-sufficient. Now a chance has been created for them to contribute their skills and labour to the nation's socio-economic growth. The beneficial people and families are getting over social depression with a dream of decent life and work. Jononetri Sheikh Hasina has brought the marginalised population into an inclusive development through this project. 

The Ashrayan project contributes significantly to the fight against poverty in Bangladesh. This innovative approach to inclusive development and poverty eradication has already been labelled as the 'Sheikh Hasina Model'. The six basic characteristics of the Sheikh Hasina Model are: 

1. Economic self-reliance through increased earning potential and savings 
2. Restoration of a dignified way of life and social status
3. Empowerment of women by giving half of the homeownership
4. Human resource development through increased skills and capabilities by training 
5. Environmental improvement through extensive afforestation and tree planting and 
6. Ensuring city amenities in villages.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib's foremost political philosophy was to provide joy to the suffering people. The eldest daughter of the Father of the Nation is working nonstop to achieve that objective. She has taken every development strategy on the guiding principle, "No one will be left behind". 

Bangladesh has already earned the United Nation's final recommendation to become a developing country. We are progressively achieving Bangabandhu's lifelong dream of a poverty-hunger-free 'Golden Bangladesh'. We all hope that under the capable and visionary leadership of Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh will become a developed-prosperous country by 2041.

M M Emrul Kayas. Sketch: TBS

M M Emrul Kayas is the Assistant Press Secretary-1 to the Prime Minister

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.