Strategies to Alleviate Poverty and the Implications of Population Growth

FINAL EXAM
Name:
Institution:
Date:
Strategies to Alleviate Poverty Especially Among Women, Religious and Ethnic Minorities, Children and Young People In Chittagong.
Introduction
Poverty levels drag the economic development of a country and alleviating poverty levels is of paramount importance to any government. If the citizens are relatively wealthier, GDP will improve, they would be able to afford the education cost of their children and help the country become globally competitive in labor. Lower poverty levels also mean higher standards of living for low-income earners and help reduce crime. Poverty pushes some people to resort to crime and therefore fighting poverty indirectly reduces crime significantly. Lower poverty rates also guarantee the attainment of the country’s strategic goal since most of the goals such as lower infant mortality, higher numbers of medically insured people in the population, better food security, etc. are almost unattainable if poverty levels increase or persist. Thus, fighting poverty is a priority to the government, and it will go a long way into actualizing or supporting other developmental plans of the government. Since poverty tends to majorly affect the minority religious and ethnic groups because of historical and structural issues, an effective poverty-fighting program ought to consider these groups. Chittagong has also feminized poverty and women have been sidelined in development which is partly the reason economic growth has been slow because nearly half of the nation’s human capital is underutilized. Poverty alleviation program must also be accommodative of the youth as they are the future of the government and they ought to be supported to establish long-term poverty eradication measures. This article will focus primarily on the best strategies the government can adopt to alleviate poverty generally and specifically to the major interest groups; women, youth and minority religious and ethnic communities.
Raise minimum wage
It is necessary that everyone in the country earns a sustainable income. Most corporations and businesses tend to underpay their employees to maximize their profits, but this exploitative practice promotes poverty. This is because minimum wages are earned by the low-income earners and if it is hardly enough to cover their expenses, it cannot be saved and or invested in other ventures to generate income for them CITATION MIk14 \l 1033 (Konczal, 2014). The country ought to legislate a law that sets minimum wages for all companies across all industries to ensure it is sustainable for the employees. The minimum wage law must be structured such that it the wage is annually adjusted for inflation to allow the low-income earners can sustainably save more for reinvestment and have a chance to escape poverty.
The main advantage of this strategy is that it helps improve the standards of living for the e employees and an edge over the economic strife. Employees will be able to cover their bills for decent basic life, and it will also go a long way in boosting morale and productivity of the employees. The minimum wage will also help in reducing income inequality since the disparity between high-income earners and low-income earners is reduced if ...