Economics and Finance

A majority of the rural poor must find their subsistence in the labour market. Understanding the dynamics of the labour market and what interventions are best made in terms of rural employment policies is of vital concern to students and practitioners of development alike. Professor Krishna Bharadwaj, internationally noted economist from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, brings rare abilities of scholarship and insights to bear on the issue in a set of lectures she delivered at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies within its Daniel Thorner Memorial Lecture Programme.

IRBD reports represent a pioneering research initiative undertaken by the Centre for Policy Dialogue and gives an independent analysis of Bangladesh's development efforts. CPD's first volume on Experiences with Economic Reform: A Review of Bangladesh's Development 1995 was very well received and has been extensively used by politicians, experts, and policy makers to the point where it has by now become an essential reference point as well as a source of influence on public opinion.

The Independent Review of Bangladesh's Development (IRBD) 2000 is the fifth of the series which was launched in 1995 when the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) pioneered an annual review of the state of Bangladesh's development. The IRBD exercise has by now established itself as one of the principal sources of reliable data and quality analysis pertaining to critical developmental issues in Bangladesh.

During the last two decades some parts of West Bengal and Bangladesh have had an unprecedented growth in agriculture due to the expansion of irrigation facilities and an extensive use of high yielding variety seeds, fertilisers and pesticides. These areas are known as the ‘green revolution’ belts of Bengal. The introduction of new technology and enterprising skills of farmers have helped agricultural growth in Bengal but the fruits of this development have not reached the poor in Bangladesh as they have in West Bengal.