Women Wage Distribution

Q. Would you agree with the lower status of women than men in terms of wage distribution? Show the logic in favor of your arguments?

I agree with the lower status of women than men in terms of wage distribution. Because yet women are neglected in the wage section of the economy. Women are now contributing in the sectors like men; a figure can be showed for women involvement in rural life in the next page. From the figure it can be seen that there are no virtual difference but there is a difference in wage scale.

From various study it can be shown that women labors are having 80 to 130 BDT for daily basis but male labors are getting 120 to 150 BDT. But there are a different picture can be shown in some cases of urban employment sector or formal sector. But majority of rural poor women are having lower status of wage than men.

Women Involvement in Rural Development

Q. Give a general picture on women involvement in rural development activities of Bangladesh?

"Involvement" has to be ensured with two dimensions as economic and social dimensions. ‘Involvement’ is seen to relate to the user’s power. Rao and Kelleher (1995:70) define women’s Involvement as “the capacity of women to be economically self-sufficient and self- reliant with control over decisions affecting their life options and freedom from violence”. In the existing socio-cultural milieu of Bangladesh, embodied within the phrase of ‘Involvement’ is the concept of change. Women’s mobility and access to information are strengthened both by the requirement and, in many cases, because their economic activities require interactions in the public sphere. These are some of the ways in which "Involvement,” could strengthen demand and make women more successful in overcoming obstacles to management of family.

The general picture of women’s involvement in rural development activities of Bangladesh is given below-

• Economic involvement of rural women

  • Women in agricultural sector

  • Women in rural non farm activity

  • Women in rural industry

Women in Agriculture: Agriculture related activities like post harvest operations, seed preservation, nursery business, jute stripping, vegetable cultivation, homestead gardening, floriculture, production of horticultural seeds, establishment and management of cottage industries based on locally produced agricultural commodities, etc. are very suitable for women.

Women in rural non farm activity: For the development of rural non farm activity women participation is very essential. Women play a vital role for in rural non farm activity. Rural non farm activity means especially that kind of activity which is excluded from all agricultural activity. Tailoring, stitching, pottery, home stead gardening, bamboo product etc. are included in rural non farm activity.

Women in rural industry: Women can play a vital role in rural industrial sector. Women can work into the Husking mill, rice mill, small scale industry etc into the rural area.

Women’s Economic Empowerment also ensured by rural markets and transports.

• Women in social involvement:

Since the 1990’s women have been identified as key agents of sustainable development and women’s equality and empowerment are seen as central to a more holistic approach towards establishing new patterns and processes of development that are sustainable. Women are also involved in social development such as school teaching, nurse etc.

• Political involvement of women:

Women face handicaps to their involvement in politics, their participation in SHGs has altered them, and these women can be prospective leaders in the local political field. Nonetheless various constraints like discriminatory practices in labor, a low level of skills etc. operate to contract a woman’s potential for empowerment. Into the rural area union parishad can play a vital role for political empowerment of women. Women can be participated all decision making process of the rural political conflict and they can raise their own thinking about that matter.

• Legal status:

In Bangladesh women have inadequate access to the law due to illiteracy, lack of legal literacy, information and resources, insensitivity and gender bias. They also lack awareness of women’s human rights in general. The law-enforcement officers and the judiciary do not really know how to make law more gender sensitive. Women may also lack access to justice or human rights because of race, ethnicity, culture, and religion. In Bangladesh the most important events in a woman’s life, e.g. marriage, divorce, custody of children inheritance etc.

• Women in Decision Making:

Participation of women in the decision-making process of farm activities and investment in homestead and cultivated lands along with household activities cannot be looked at in isolation. The participation of men, women and children in a family is so interdependent that they support each other in everyday life in a large number of social, productive and economic activities (Hussain et al 1988). A woman is engaged with several responsibilities at the same time. Forty nine per cent of decisions concerned with homestead cultivation such as vegetables and other plant species were done by women. Forty per cent of house making, 48% of social festivals, 32% of selling vegetables, 25% of selling other crops, 17% of cattle sales, 21% of goat sales and 70% of selling and purchasing poultry and its byproducts were executed by women. Fifty percent or above 50% of decisions were taken by women.

These are the areas where women’s involvement exists and development of their activities in these areas can ensure rural development of Bangladesh.

Cause of Rural and Urban Unemployment

Q. Compare between the cause of rural and urban unemployment.

Causes of rural and urban unemployment are different. Service facilities and other issues make the differences here. A Comparison between the cause of rural and urban unemployment are given below:

Cause of rural unemployment:

Causes of rural unemployment can be described as:

• Lack of work

• Lack of education

• Land less poor farmer

• Lack of resource

Cause of urban unemployment

• High population, scope for work decrease

• High number of skilled & active manpower than job opportunity

• Because of political imbalance people could not get job legally

From these points of views differences between urban and rural areas unemployment issues can be defined.

Problem with Employment Growth Policies

8. (b) Is it possible to remove unemployment problem with the help of Employment Growth Policies?

Employment growth policies support different policies for income employment generation such as fiscal policies, monetary policies, soft budget and others. All the policies are efficient for the development of employment and reduce poverty. But these policies are not sufficient enough for removing unemployment issues. As:

• Implementation of these policies is not appropriate.

• Delineation of these does not address removal of the issues.

• Wage selection policy does not taken in an appropriate way.

• Soft budget constraints allowed public enterprises to hire more workers than necessary, resulting in losses and the perpetuation of low productivity. For the private sector, lax credit discipline was the analogue of the soft budget constraint, with similar results in terms of productivity. As the reforms progress, particularly as fiscal and credit disciplines are strengthened, it is no longer possible to sustain the surrogate social security system.

These are the general problems of employment growth policies in addressing unemployment issues. But if the policies were implemented in a judicious way, removal of unemployment issues through this would became possible.

Unemployment Issues of Bangladesh

Q. Give a general picture on unemployment issues of Bangladesh.

Unemployment issue is a major cause of poverty. A person of age 10 years and over is considered as unemployed if he/she did not work at all during the preceding week of survey and was actively looking for work or was available for work but did not work due to temporary illness or because of there was no work available. A person is employed if he or she spent most of the previous week working at a paid job. Thus a person is unemployed if he or she is on temporary layoff, is looking for a job or is waiting for the start date of the new job.

Unemployment issues of Bangladesh

The natural scenario unemployment issues of Bangladesh are-

• Rural to urban migration- Rural to urban migration create high unemployment issues.

• Fringe area to urban migration.

The major unemployment issues of Bangladesh are--

• Over population;

• High number of active population;

• Landless poor (manually poor);

• Gradually landlessness-come to urban area for job;

• Landless because of river erosion;

• Push labor force-if any center push labor force then the city will full of unemployment;

• Seasonal farmer;

• Growth of the labor force- The rate of growth of the labor force was high, increasing trend of female entering the labor force and an extended working age; The rate of job creation did not keep pace with the growth in labor force as reflected in the declining employment to population ratio;

• Illiteracy.

• Government policy for wage selection-wage selected by the government, does agree the garments industry labor, thus the industry could not expand and increase jobseekers and unemployment.

These are the common unemployment issues of Bangladesh.

Reducing Urban to Rural Migration

Q. Provide some guidelines on urban to rural migration in context of Bangladesh?

Guidelines both for rural and urban areas can be provided for urban to rural migration. Such are as follows:

• Creating an appropriate rural urban economic balance.

• Expansion of small scale, labor-intensive industries.

• Eliminating factor price distortions.

• Choosing appropriate labor intensive technologies of production.

• Modifying the linkage between education and employment.

• Reducing population growth.

• Decentralizing authority to cities and neighborhoods.

• Rural areas service facilities should be developed.

• Education and other institutional supports should be provided for rural areas.

• In some extent entry for urban area should be controlled with some rules and regulations.

In general for rural areas:

Service facilities and other issues related to income and employment should be closer to urban areas, thus people urge no need for migration.

In general for urban areas:

Some restrictions should be provided for decrease urban entry.

These are the guidelines for this concern. As in a sense if we can develop rural areas with more service facilities and income employment growths like towns, then rural urban migration ultimately stops.

Implications of Rural to Urban Migration

Q. What are the implications of this migration?

Implications of migration are the things implied by migration. Migration means a change or shift in or casual or residance from one location to another involving movemnt of an administrative border, that border may be that of village, district, state or a nation. Migration like any other process shapes many fields of life, having both advantages and disadvantages. Implications of migrations are:

• Changes in population distribution

• Demographic consequences: since migration is selective of particular age groups, migrants are mostly young and in productive age. It can cause a demographic crisis – population ageing, what in turn can be followed by economic problems (shrinking group of economically active population has to finance extending group of inactive population). Economically active people are increasing in urban areas.

• Economic results, which are of the greatest importance for the development of the countries.

• Sometimes migration of rural labor in urban area provide a burden on urban living.

• Living standard of urban labor became more worse as of more people than service facilities accommodation.

• Judicious wage of urban labor sometimes hamperred for more labor than requirement.

• Stress on urban fringe without maintaining any dvelopment standard.

These are the implications of rural to urban migration.

Causes of Rural to Urban Migration

Q. What are the causes of rural to urban migration?

Migrations are response of individual decision-makers. Some causes of migration are constant, and some are not. In general we can divide factors causing migrations into two groups of factors: Push and pull factors. In general:

• Push Factors are economic, political, cultural, and environmentally based.

• Pull Factors are economic, political, cultural, and environmentally based.

• Some certain factors are both push and pull like education, industry etc.

On the macro level, the causes of migration can be distilled into two main categories: security dimension of migration (natural disasters, conflicts, threats to individual safety, poor political prospects) and economic dimension of migration (poor economic situation, poor situation of national market). Push and pull factors are those factors which either forcefully push people into migration or attract them. A push factor is forceful, and a factor which relates to the country from which a person migrates. It is generally some problem which results in people wanting to migrate. Different types of push factors can be seen further below. A pull factor is something concerning the country to which a person migrates. It is generally a benefit that attracts people to a certain place. Push and pull factors are usually considered as north and south poles on a magnet.

Push Factors

• 
  

• Not enough jobs

• Few opportunities

• "Primitive" conditions

• Political fear

• Poor medical care

• Not being able to practice religion

• Loss of wealth

• Natural Disasters

• Death threats

• Slavery

• Poor housing

• Landlords

• Bullying

• Poor chances of finding courtship

It is the negative factors for migration and the main factors are:

• High unemployment and little opportunity.

• Great poverty.

• High crime.

• Repression or a recent disaster (e.g., drought or earthquake).

Pull Factors

• Job opportunities

• Better living conditions

• Political and/or religious freedom

• Enjoyment

• Education

• Better medical care

• Security

• Family links

• Better chances of finding courtship

These are the positive factors of migration and the gross reasons are:

• High job availability and higher wages.

• More exciting lifestyle.

• Political freedom, greater safety and security, etc.

Rice Husking Mill in Rural Areas

Q. In a case study, rice husking mill in rural areas of Bangladesh helps rural people for economic development. Would you like to continue this typical idea in rural development of Bangladesh? Why or why not?

Bangladesh is mainly agricultural base country. And rice is one of the most important agricultural goods here. Rice production follow some sequential process and milling is the most important part of production of rice from paddy. At past “Dheki” was the only method of rice processing but from some recent decay the technology of Bangladesh has developed and many new technical methods of milling has emerging. Rice husking milling is a crucial step in post-production of rice. The basic objective of a rice milling system is to remove the husk and the bran layers, and produce an edible, white rice kernel that is sufficiently milled and free of impurities. It helps to increase the rice production of rural area of Bangladesh because the mills have high operating efficiency which helps the rural economics by increasing the production of rice and it generated many job facilities for the rural people. Mostly for the rural women. In every husking there involve women for the every part of the production of rice which can make the rural women self- sufficient. In Bangladesh the 86.7% of the total production are done by rice husking mills and there have 380 Chinise automatic mill and 405 mini auto rice mills in Bangladesh for the production of rice from the paddy. The benefits of rice husking mills can be described as:

• From case studies, cost benefit analysis shows that there are greater potential of husking mills in rural income and employment generation.

• Developing husking mills also support other supporting agricultural activities as poultry, livestock, fish feed, oil production etc.

• Husking mill coincides the issue of economic generation as a big percentage of rural labor is depending on those husking mill, as well as husking mill will also help the worker development as more the 50% worker of the husking mill is female.

• Husking mill is an issue which has to address for the development of agro production as husking mill is a key component of rice production.

Employment, Migration and Urbanization Procedure

Q. It is known that employment issues are related with migration of population. Why those issues encircle urbanization procedure?

Employment issues are related with rural to urban migration of population which encircles the total urbanization procedure and the rural to urban migration affecting both the pull and push factor of migration:

• Migrants are pulled toward urban area:

• Prospect of jobs and higher incomes.

• Most early urbanization was the result of pull considerations.

• Pushed out of rural areas:

• “Push” factors predominate as the motivation to move.

• Poverty, lack of land, declining agricultural work, war, and famine.

• Play more importance today than push considerations.

Urbanization is the agglomeration of population in urban area due to rural-urban migration which increases the proportion of the population living in the cities. Now, urban growth gives stress on the urban land, so urban areas are also increasing. So, Expansion of urban infrastructures and land use would be required for the migrated population. And economic process as creation of secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors for the surplus labour for their employment opportunity arises in the urban areas. And then a society creates, where values and lifestyles are with urban characteristics. Thus it can be said, that employment issues related with migration of population encircle urbanization procedure.

Rural Development Constraints

Q. Why those efforts could not bring substantial upliftment of rural poor?

V-AID (Village Agriculture and Industrial Development) launched in 1953, the primary objective of this program- the creation of a spirit of self-help among villagers and rising their output and real income by linking them with government services.

The program helped rural infrastructure project adopt modern techniques for farming, livestock, cooperatives sanitation and health and cottage industries.

But the programs and those efforts could not bring substantial upliftment of rural poor because-

• Lack of political and administrative commitment.

• Bureaucratic leadership from outside the village

• Poor coordination between V-AID workers and the nation building department.

• Creation of a government- dependency.

• Foreign aided development pattern.

Only success of VAID is it provide some information and identify problems of employment in rural areas of Bangladesh.

Steps to Increase Rural Employment

Q. Discuss the steps were considered to increase rural employment during the year 1960 to 1970.

During the year 1960 to 1970 mainly two stages were placed in taking steps to increase employment in rural area of Bangladesh.

In the first stage, VAID and in the second stage Commilla model developed by BARD arises. VAID takes place till 1961 and Commilla model till the independence of Bangladesh. Now these are describing here:

• In 1953- 1961 the V-AID (Village Agriculture and Industrial Development) were emerged and it was the initial inspiration for Bangladesh.

• Since 1959, the Bangladesh Academy for Rural development (BARD) had played a vital role in integrating rural development in Bangladesh.

• The Commilla model which was developed by BARD in 1960 introduces various innovative approaches in the field of rural development. It was a coordinated effort.

• The others programs were-

• Rural Work program (RWP)

• Food for Work Program (FFWP)

• Special Public Work Program (SPWP)

• Intensive Rural Work Program (IRWP)

• Early Implementation Program (EIP)

In the mid-seventies, several area based program are:

• Sirajgang Integrated Rural Development program (SIRDP)

• Rural Development (RD-1)

• Noakhali Integrated Rural Development Program (NIRDP)

• South-West Rural Development Program (SWRDP)

These are the steps taken in 1960 to 1970 for increasing rural employment in Bangladesh.

Rural Employment Sector of Bangladesh

Q. Give a general view about rural employment sector of Bangladesh?

In rural Bangladesh there are both farming and non-farming sectors and both the sectors contribute in the country’s GDP. The farming sectors include- agriculture, livestock, fisheries and forestry. The rural non-farm economy is a very important part of rural Bangladesh. It accounts for a large proportion of the total rural employment and the total rural income. This will continue to increase over time. From the point of view of rural development, rural non-farm enterprises provide important sources of employment and income to women as well as to the poor small and landless farmers. So, rural employment generated from these two sectors - agricultural and non-agricultural. Agricultural employment is mainly rural/land based crop and livestock farming, including fish culture, forestry and rural employment generated thereof in marketing and processing. Non-agricultural employment on the other hand is defined as the mainly urban based largely encompassing service sub-sector employment, formal and informal manufacturing and large-scale enterprises. There is often a close linkage between the two broad categories especially in developing countries where non-agricultural activities play a major role in complementing the activities of agricultural marketing and processing enterprises. Employment generated by agricultural marketing and processing incorporates those labour-using activities that procure process and market farm produce.

Strategies for Technological Transfer in Agriculture

Q. What strategies may be followed in respect of technological transfer in agriculture sector of Bangladesh?

From previous question it is showed that without removing basic problems exists in agricultural sector of Bangladesh, rapid technology transfer would not be possible. There may be followed some strategies in respect of technological transfer in agriculture sector of Bangladesh. A few of them are given below:

• There should be some training programs for helping farmers to identify and overcome production, farm management and marketing problems at farm level through the exchange of information among farmers, extension staff, input suppliers, credit agencies and marketing agents, use of existing technology, for example, through more efficient use of feed, fertilizer or irrigation etc.
• Provides information to agricultural research institutions on farmer’s production constraints so that appropriate basic, applied or adaptive research can be carried out to address them;
• Improve education level or technology adaptation power of the rural poor.
• Technology transfer through intensive training or development of human resources. For this purpose, Bari, Irri, Bina, Cerdi and other agricultural colleges and universities may take concerted efforts under the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture.
• The rate of interest for bank loan for investment in agriculture should be reduced, and the spread should not be more than 3% without service charges.
• The Equity and Entrepreneurship Fund of Bangladesh Bank should create more opportunities for investment in agriculture.
• Set up more modern research outfits with tissue culture faculties in addition to the facilities now available at Bari, or strengthening the existing facilities.
• The subsidy for fertilizer and seed should be increased reasonably.
• Duty rebate and cash incentive facilities for the export of agriculture and horticulture products should more pragmatic.
• Investment for diversification and growth of high-value crop will be rewarding. There is enough scope for production of mushroom, broccoli, baby corn, French bean, capsicum, orchid and other ornamental plants.
• Establishment of the EPZ for agro-processing industries. The EPZ for agriculture products established at Ishwardi should be made functional with all available facilities.
• There exists ample scope to derive edible oil from rice bran at Natore, Chapai Nawabgonj and Dinajpur. A large number of medium-size rice bran oil processing mills could be established at Rajshahi division. Besides, there is enough opportunity to export fine and aromatic rice like Kataribhog, Kalizira Chinigura etc. the production of which could increase with incentives.
• The Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) may also be reorganized for providing training on the operation and maintenance of agricultural and non-farm machinery particularly for the high school drop-outs.
• BADC may also establish storage and processing facilities for perishable products, and invest in developing a fleet of modern transport with refrigeration facilities, the services of which may be rented-out to rural traders and entrepreneurs.

Thus by considering the above strategies, it may be possible to remove the problems arising with technology adaptation as a means of rapid technology transfer in agriculture sector of Bangladesh.

Rapid technological transfer is not possible in agriculture sector of Bangladesh

Q. “Rapid technological transfer is not possible in agriculture sector of Bangladesh” – would you agree? Why or Why not?

The economy of Bangladesh mainly depends on agriculture; the population of Bangladesh relies on this sector for income and employment. Increased productivity of agriculture requires continued support of modern agricultural technology, its usefulness, timeliness and relevance. By using modern technology we can be increase the production of our agricultural products. For the developing countries as well as the countries of the third world, efforts to develop indigenous technology capacity are often obstructed due to problems emanating from 1) the existing conditions of different components of technology; 2) the national climate in which the technology is to grow and operate; and 3) the dependence on external assistance. And also another main reason is to the technology adaptation power of the people employed in agricultural sector. Thus rapid technology transfer is not possible in agriculture sector of Bangladesh. The reasons are given below-

• Lack of education and skills.
• Lack of knowledge about technologies and operating machineries and adoption power of technology.
• Socio-economic status of farmers (low income level, lack of farming land, lack of capital).
• The biophysical constraints like –climate, soil quality, water quality and quantity, pest pressure, weeds which all are natural constraints.
• The development of production uneven spatially. Lack of adjustments in the policies and institutional mechanism pertaining to irrigation, water control structures and seed-fertilizer technology, mechanized cultivation, especially power tillers which needs for better productions.
• Lack of rural infrastructure, inadequate rural infrastructure, particularly, roads, bridges, electricity and necessary water bodies, poor communications facilities are the major constraints reduce technology adaptation power in agriculture sector.
• Limitation in the rural credit market (scarcity of loan able funds, monopoly of moneylenders, high transaction costs for small loans, high default risk etc) constitutes an important barrier.
• Knowledge gap of farmers with new-technology: Weak linkage between agricultural research and extension continues to hamper the rapid diffusion of modern technologies.
• Lack of uninterrupted power supply by DESA/REB resulting in inappropriate processing at the milling level and also the irrigation level.
• Lack of adequate storage facilities resulting in large scale productions by the farmers’ and traders’ during the harvesting season at a lower cost.
• Collaboration problems with public (Government) and private (NGOs) sector help to regenerate agricultural research.

All these are the reasons for which rapid technology transfer would not be possible in Agriculture sector of Bangladesh. If any initiative taken for rapid technology transfer in Bangladesh, without removing these problems the investment for technology transfer would be missing apart from development.

“Technological Depreciation Cost is Minimum in Third World Countries Rather Than Developed World”

Q. “Technological Depreciation cost is minimum in Third World countries rather than Developed World” – discuss in context of agro-technology?

Technological depreciation cost is minimum in the third world countries and the substitution cost of technology is higher. And also third world countries use particular technology for a long time rather then substitute it. On the other hand in the developed world a technology is replaced by a new one as soon as a new technology developed. And as the replacement of old technology is slow in third world countries, the technological depreciation cost is minimum rather than developed world. A sustained expansion of scientific and technological activities applied to the process of development is not a serious problem for the developed countries where required technological competence, infrastructure as well as the climate conducive to the growth and expansion of technology exists. But for the developing countries as well as the countries of the third world, efforts to develop indigenous technology capacity are often impeded due to problems emanating from

• The existing conditions of different components of technology;
• The national climate in which the technology is to grow and operate; and
• The dependence on external assistance

The policy planners and decision makers must have a clear understanding of all these constrains and problems so that intervention can be made judiciously at the right spot in the efforts to build the national technology capability.

• And another problem which is responsible for this can be described as:

On the three approaches to raise the country’s overall level of technological sophistication, 1) buy the entire gamut of available technologies; 2) produce all technologies by self; and 3) buy some and produce some, developed countries generally uses two of the three processes such as 1) produce all technologies by self; and 3) buy some and produce some. But the third world countries generally buy all the technologies for their countries. Technologies only sold to those who can pay for it and it is very expensive. So the Substitution cost is higher in third world countries.

Besides these the technological diffusion are tough in agricultural sector. As the poor people are generally involved in agricultural production and they can’t afford technologies in production and the reason behind it is the economical barrier, lack of information, low adaptive power as the farmers don’t have the expertise of a new technology etc. so substitution rate is very low in agricultural sector, and technological Depreciation cost is minimum in Third World countries rather than Developed World in agricultural sector.