This was the observation of lawmakers of different political parties including the ruling BNP and main opposition Awami League (AL) and civil society members at a national dialogue in the capital yesterday.

The poor are deprived of economic development despite better growth rate and enrolment for primary education because of disparity in resource distribution and education system, and inefficiency in project implementation, they noted.

The dialogue on 'Election manifesto and MDGs: commitment and its implementation by the politicians and parliamentarians' was organised by All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on MDGs, PRSP, WTO and Bangladesh Development Forum and held at LGED auditorium.

People's Empowerment Trust (PET) and United Nations Millennium Campaign cooperated in the programme and The Daily Star, ntv, Channel i and the daily Somokal were media partners.

The keynote presentation at the dialogue said the rate of poverty decreased to 49.6 per cent in 2000 from 58.8 per cent in 1991 but the total number of poor people increased to 938 million from 910 million.

The pace of achieving the MDGs is not enough while the election manifestos failed to reflect any specific timeframe to meet those, said the presentation prepared by a group that included BNP lawmaker Abu Yousuf Mohammad Khalilur Rahman and AL legislator Faruk Khan.

Taking part in the discussion AL legislator Suranjit Sengupta said confrontational politics is dividing the nation while parliament does not hold discussions on crucial national issues.

"If we do not debate issues concerning MDGs in parliament, how can we realise these goals?" he asked. Despite good economic growth, poverty has not decreased significantly because of improper distribution of resources.

BNP lawmaker Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said qualitative foreign aid, fair trade policies and good governance are vital for achieving the MDGs.

All political parties must present their implementation strategies in their manifestos, he said, adding that the BNP has elaborately put MDGs in its manifesto.

Anti-Corruption Commission Member Prof Moniruzzaman Mia said Bangladesh made very good progress in many of the social and economic aspects of MDGs. But he regretted that corruption has the worst manifestations here.

"Politicians have to take the lead in eradicating corruption. Unless corruption is rooted out and good governance established, development in true sense is not possible," he said.

Assuring that his party AL will have MDGs monitoring mechanism, Faruk Khan said failure to utilise allocated funds for various projects greatly retards poverty eradication.

The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam said parliament, which is the highest institution of the country, has not discussed crucial national issues like poverty alleviation, population growth, arsenic contamination, terrorism and price hike of essentials.

He regretted that lawmakers are more grateful to their parties, rather than to the people who elect them. They must take pride in being people's representatives and uphold their dignity through wisdom and manners.

Other speakers included AL lawmakers Dr Abdur Razzak, Promod Mankin, Shahjahan Khan and Prof MS Akbar, BNP legislators Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anny and Ferdaus Akter Wahida, Jatiya Party lawmaker Golam Habib Dulal, former VC of Dhaka University AK Azad Chowdhury, DFID Head David Wood, Convenor of People's Forum on MDGs Rasheda K Chowdhury, PET Executive Director Shishir Shil and Moin Uddin Ashraf.

Renowned economist Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud moderated the dialogue.