Impact of Livelihoods on the Level of Poverty Among the Plain Lander Indigenous People in Bangladesh

Saontals are the largest indigenous community in the plain land of Bangladesh; however, they are mostly low living standards till now. To conduct this study, 151 samples collected through simple random sampling and surveyed at three upazilas (e.g., Dhamoirhat, Patnitala, and Sapahar) of Naogaon district. Using the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), the levels of poverty measured in the study areas where vulnerable to poor, poor, and non-poor is 44.37%, 18.54%, and 37.09%, respectively, among them. The logistic regression model suggests that age, household size, dependency on agro-based activities, and sources of water are more likely to increase the probability of being poor. On the other hand, the number of households with educated members and ownership of capital are less likely to increase the probability of being poor. The MPI indicators highlight the deprivation of living standards. The qualitative data states that only enrollment in school is visible; nevertheless, access to required education is unrealistic due to the expensive cost of education. They are facing scarcity of natural resources due to climate change and losing their land rights for the use of muscle power and political violence. Modernization of agriculture is reducing their working days, whereas livelihood diversification is rare among them.