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Social protection programmes in Bangladesh aimed at reducing the vulnerability of the poor has become exceptionally challenging because of high exposure to weak institutional governance, and frequent natural disasters. As a matter of fact, both the coverage and the types of social protection programmes have been expanded to support the extremely poor households in Bangladesh over the last decade. However, the boundaries between 'protection approach' associated with risk reduction and 'promotion approach' regarded as the pathways to raise incomes and employment opportunities of the poor have remained understated in policy discourse. This paper addresses how an Interpretivist methodology can be used in exploring the current complexities of social protection programmes in extremely poor households with reference to disaster-affected areas in southwest coastal Bangladesh, giving a particular attention to the interpretation of the beneficiaries as well as service providers. This paper employs an interpretative framework for collecting qualitative data because of its ability to make sense of the complex situations of social protection programmes by generating multi-contextual information provided by the beneficiaries of social protection programmes. During the initial fieldwork of the research, the research participants pointed out that there exist strong prevalence and dominance of local politics considered as 'underlying issues' in the delivering process of social protection programmes, which is further associated with power-relation between the rich and poor class of the society. However, the current policy discourses of social protection programmes have overlooked those highly pertinent phenomena both in local and national context. This paper argues that the aspects of availability, accessibility and utilisation of social protection programmes is not straightforward as each aspect is further associated with social relations and complex social understanding. An interpretive methodology along with illustrative data collection and analysis techniques can become effective to explore those complex societal understanding related with social protection programmes. Finally, within the adopted interpretive framework, the integrated view related with availability, accessibility and utilisation aspects of social protection programmes need to be addressed while creating a sense of meaning and understanding of overall situation of social protection programmes.

PurposeBangladesh is one of the most flood-prone countries in the world. A number of research works have identified that the flood scenario will be aggravated with climate change context in Bangladesh. In 2014, Bangladesh had prepared municipal level master plan for 222 municipalities with a view to planned urban development. But climate change-induced flood has not been considered in master plan, which poses a question toward the sustainability of the plan. Ullapara Municipality of Sirajganj district has been selected to conduct the research. This study aims to evaluate how infrastructure in proposed master plan will be exposed to climate change-induced flood.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology of this study follows geographic information system (GIS)-based flood exposure analysis of selected infrastructure. These infrastructures include transport infrastructure, educational infrastructure, health infrastructure and other urban facilities. Climate change-induced flood for the year 2040 has been used for flood exposure analysis.FindingsIt is evident from the flood exposure analysis that about 33.99% roads will be exposed to 1.5 m–2 m inundation level; seven primary school, six secondary school and four colleges would be highly exposed to 2.0 m–2.50 m inundation level; four health facilities would be exposed to 1.0 m–2.0 m inundation level because of future climate change. This inundation scenario for long duration will lead to dysfunction of concerned infrastructure and, in turn, undermine the stability of a socioeconomic system of Ullapara Municipality.Originality/valueAs the master plan is not fully implemented till now, there is scope for intervention for considering climate change-induced flood to make the plan sustainable.

Otherness sees the world as divided into mutually excluding opposites. It is built through subjective perceptions and cultural practices in society on which, human beings are remade and separated from each other always based on their own experiences. This was a cross-sectional study, applied a qualitative approach to explore how cultural otherness was produced and practiced within the Harijan community. The studied population live in a separate geographical location due to their traditional occupation. Their accommodation and occupation made them others in the society. They have limited access to public places, shops and restaurants, barbershops, playgrounds, movie theatres, burial grounds, social gatherings, temples, music concerts and cultural events. This subordinated social position has also made them others within their sociocultural context. The identity of the Harijan as 'others' has been categorised and identified through the existing sociocultural context they live in. This identity is being perpetuated from one generation to another.