Kurigram, April 30 -- Kurigram, a northern border district of Bangladesh, continues to struggle with extreme poverty, widespread landlessness and relentless river erosion, trapping millions of people in harsh living conditions despite its large geographic size.

Spanning around 2,255 square kilometres and home to over 23 lakh people, the district's development has remained slow due to geographic isolation, weak infrastructure and decades of neglect.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Kurigram's poverty rate stands at 70.8 percent against 19 percent at the national level. The extreme poverty rate in the district is 53.2 percent.

In Char Rajibpur upazila alone, the poverty rate rises to 79.8 percent, highlighting the ...