Question rose over the integrity of BBS’s data on the current poverty rate decline

The government-subsidised Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in a recent handout informed the nation that the poverty rate declined in the country significantly. It reads the current upper poverty rate in the country has fallen to 18.7 per cent in 2022 from 24.3 per cent in 2016. Experts have long doubts about the accuracy of BBS data and the integrity of the data collection process. However, the nation, unfortunately, has no alternative big data provider. The poverty scale based on daily consumption was first introduced in the first of last century and later many scales like the multidimensional poverty index were introduced, however we are still stuck with the old school theory.
If the daily intakes are counted, we witness growing concern about food inflation, nutrition deficiency, and climate vulnerability pushing many people under the lower poverty line each year against the growing inequality. Corruption, unaccountability, impunity, and intolerance of rights and freedom move back many to the bottom line of poverty. While average GDP growth is not the answer to the economic advancement of all, the growing number of wealthy people is not an example of poverty eradication. Due to many internal and external factors, inequality has widened in the last two decades that burn the low-income community.
BBS said the current upper poverty rate in the country has fallen to 18.7 per cent in 2022 from 24.3 per cent in 2016. The Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2022 brought the data in limelight, though the planning minister expressed his dissatisfaction with the data accuracy and coverage of data collection. Many local and global data scientists usually bin the BBS data.
The long queue before OMS trucks, street beggars, and public reaction about the recent food hikes and utility rate increases, starvation and malnutrition global data raise a big question on the data accuracy. Manufacturing data will not lower the poverty rate until we take a comprehensive mechanism of bringing people out of the curse of poverty.