ALTHOUGH the social safety net programmes are meant to stop people from falling below the poverty level, as many as 65 per cent of allocations actually goes to the non-poor owing to wrong categorisation of beneficiaries, nepotism and corruption. A news report published in a national daily on Thursday said, 29.5 per cent of the Tk 107,614 crore social safety net budget for fiscal year 2021-22 is for providing pensions to 7.5 lakh government employees and honorarium to freedom fighters’ families — people who are not facing destitution.
Then comes the allocation for interest payment on national savings certificates and interest-subsidy for loans given to small and medium enterprises, which take up another 9 per cent of the social safety net budget. If the educational stipends and the agriculture subsidy are taken out, the safety net bowl becomes even smaller. Actually, a very small portion of the allocation goes to the truly poor and this accounts for not even one (0.97) per cent of the GDP. Though the proposed social safety net shows an increase of 12.5 per cent from the outgoing fiscal, country’s poor including the new poor would not be proportionately benefited, as the increased allocation is still inadequate.
Economists and experts have mentioned that the expenditure in old-age allowance scheme is one of the lowest in the world. So is the case of the allowance for widows and deserted women. The beneficiaries get monthly cash allowance of Tk 500. This amount for both the schemes, according to them, is insignificant considering inflation and the price hike of essentials. The latest survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics says that on average, a person needed Tk 1,862 every month in 2016 to maintain a minimum standard of living. Again, experts found delivering the support to intended beneficiaries is the main challenge as there were examples of irregularities like the inclusion of ineligible beneficiaries with political connections, leaving many genuine ones out. The database of the poor needs to be prepared in a transparent manner with the involvement of the local administration, local public representatives and non-governmental organisations. There must be a crosschecking system in place so that people really in need get the benefits.
