Contents Executive summary Chapter-1: Introductory Issues
Exaggerating poorness which needs to be developed
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seminar paper ( খাসিয়া )
| 3.2 Exaggerating poorness which needs to be developed: poverty is not something which can be defined as the lacking of material plenty rather it can be defined as a feeling of emptiness. Poorness always thrive mind and level of consciousness, not originated from the material. Such insistence can be frequently uttered for describing the scenario of the people living around Bibyana Gas Field. Most of the people are somehow have been represented by their patron or so-called well wishers. It seems that people are unable to describe their standard of living rather than they are rich or established people who possess the authority to define people's condition of. This study found that frequently the so called established or rich people define their area and people living around them as poor and very often they remark their area as a poverty afflicted area. But the most striking fact regarding poverty is its diversified meaning. The meaning and reaction against poverty varies from culture to culture or even from person to person. One’s poverty may seem richness to others and vice versa. So, any generalized approach cannot be directed to define and treat poverty. Indeed, poverty is a myth, a construct and the invention of a particular civilization (Rahnema in development dictionary 2010). The term poverty has been conceptualized and proliferated to the people living around Bibiyana Gas Field from a specific point of view with a specific goal. The most fundamental principle for explaining poverty is the standard of financial condition. An abstract concept like poverty has been visualized through measuring one's expenditure and income. Very few criteria except the economic condition have been considered for measuring poorness. The people living around Bibiyana Gas Field are categorized into different strata, like, poor, ultra poor and riches based on their material plenty. This study has concentrated on the understanding of the politics of representation of the people by which poor and rich has been constructed. Here are different types of factors associated with this politics of representation. The most relevant factor can be understood through analyzing the actual context of the events. When natural gas was found in the area, clever and well established person got the hints that there is something going to happen. They started to describe the living conditions of the poor. Here, the actual authorized person for describing the situation is the people from lower strata because they are the people who are suffering or enjoying the experience. But present study has found that the articulation of the life of the landless share-cropper is being defined by the local elites. The people who living at the so called lower strata, are almost satisfied with their ways of life. They don’t hanker after money or material plenty rather they are enjoying their collectiveness. They don’t think that they are poor. But, they were being represented as poor by the blind supporters of development paradigm. They knew it very well that without representing the people as poor nothing can be initiated from Govt. Or NGO’s for the development. There is a parallel relation between the development initiatives and probability to receiving incentives or opportunities by the established people. Always they are waiting for projects and programs that aimed to develop the area because these programs mostly directed and follows the trickle-down effect. So, the people who somehow managed to play a significant role regarding the village’s matter are eager to do anything for introducing development projects in their area. This exaggeration of poverty has done one thing very successfully; it has raised a feeling of deficiency among the people. Once those people who used to define them as self reliant, with the passage of time, these people is defining them as a poor. This proliferation of poorness has influenced the mind not the material or body. An identical condition of living is being defined by two contradictory terms with the change of time and mindset. The materialization of the standard of living has helped to induce the hyperbole of poverty. This exaggeration of poverty has created a sense of inferiority within the mind, a sense of submission to the established people, a sense of negligence toward the present living standard and a thrive to escape from the present living condition.
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