As the ruling Awami League is committed to eliminating poverty and bringing change to the lifestyle of the poor section of people, it has further widened the social safety net. Besides, the government is aiming to bring more of the marginalised and vulnerable population under protection. Social safety net programmes in the country have been contributing to the reduction of poverty and vulnerability by addressing a range of population groups through different forms of assistance.
These include the provision of income security for the elderly, widows and persons-with-disabilities, generating temporary employment for working age men and women, and supporting the healthy development of young mothers and children.
The Additional Secretary (Admin), Ministry of Social Welfare, Dr Md Nasir Uddin told Bangladesh on Thursday that the government has taken all-out move to widen the social safety net program aiming to stand by the deserving people.
"This year the government has given allocation of additional Tk 1200 crore in this year's budget considering the needs in deed. We are bringing the disabled people under universal coverage of social safety net, also all other targeted segment of people will be provided support under the program," Nasir added.
He said that the government always intend to support the helpless, destitute and underprivileged segment of people, and the allocation is increased every year. As part of the move to ameliorate the condition of the poor, the government increases allocation for the social safety net sector every year which, by now, has covered nearly a quarter of the families in the country under the social safety net programmes.
The government has approved the 'Action Plan 2016-2011' for the implementation of the National Social Security Strategy Paper 2015 which was formulated mainly in view to reducing poverty and discrimination. As per the Election Manifesto, 2018, budget allocation in this sector will be doubled in the next five years and the government has allocated Tk 74,367 crore in the sector, which is 14.21 percent of total budget and 2.58 percent of GDP in FY 2019-20.
The government is also implementing various programmes for the marginal communities besides helping people with disabilities. An account of the Finance Ministry said, allocation under this head always goes to more than 2 percent of the GDP. In 2014-15 the allocation under this head was Tk 30,640 crore, which increased to Tk 64,656 in 2018-19, and is 13.92 percent of total budget and 2.55 percent of GDP.
Analysts opine that the ever-increasing allocation for the social safety net programme has contributed significantly to removing 'Monga' which was 48.9 percent in 2000 and has come down to 21.8 percent in 2018. Analysts also say that once there were a lot of people in the rural parts of the country who passed days half-fed or unfed due to lack of work, but today it is hard to find people to work as day laborers.
The state honorarium for the valiant freedom fighters has been increased from Tk. 10,000 to Tk. 12,000, in this year's budget while the number of recipients of adult allowances has been increased from 40 lakh to 44 lakh. The number of recipients of allowances for widows and victims of domestic violence is now Tk 17 lakh, increasing by 3 lakhs while the number of beneficiaries of allowances for all insolvent persons with disabilities has been increased from 10 lakh to 15.45 lakh.
Similarly, recipients of stipends for disabled students has been increased from 90 thousand to one lakh; and the rate of stipends increased from Tk. 700 to Tk. 750 for primary students, from Tk. 750 to Tk. 800 for secondary students, and from Tk. 850 to Tk. 900 for higher secondary students. To bring all third gender people under the net, the number of beneficiaries of Third Gender Livelihood Development programmes is to be increased to 6 thousand, Additional 20 thousand beneficiaries from the gypsies and disadvantaged communities to be included in the current list of 64 thousand persons.
The number of beneficiaries of the financial assistance programme for patients suffering from cancer, kidney, liver cirrhosis, paralyzed due to stroke and congenital heart diseases to be increased from 15 thousand to 30 thousand, number of beneficiaries of livelihood development programmes for tea-garden workers to be increased from 40 thousand to 50 thousand. The number of beneficiaries of maternity allowances for poor mothers to be increased from 7 lakh to 7 lakh 70 thousand; the number of beneficiaries under lactating mothers’ assistance programmes to be increased from 2 lakh 50 thousand to 2 lakh 75 thousand.
In view to ensure expected transparency and accountability in disbursing all the allowances, the government has moved to establish MIS for all programmes and database for all beneficiaries. Already, the payments are being made directly from the government to the beneficiaries through the G2P system. The heads of safety net programme mainly include adult allowance, allowances for widows and wives dumped by husbands, education stipends for disabled students, financial assistances for the critically ill insolvent patients etc.
The Prime Minister has taken the social safety net programme as one of her 10 priority programmes. Currently, the main beneficiaries are considered from among the population, victims of adverse impact of climate change and natural calamities. Currently, a total of 145 programs are being implemented under social safety net programme, which means that 145 types of people are being benefited from it.
As per the account, in the FY 2014-15, a total of 8 crore 10 lakh people were benefited somehow through the 145 programmes. There were 9 main heads of the programme which are distributing pension among the retired government employees, selling food grains in the open market, food/taka for work, test relief, education stipend, adult allowance, VGD, and GR. At least 70 percent of total allocation is utilized under these heads.
Ministry of Disaster and Relief has created work opportunity through EGPP programme under which 78 lakh unemployed rural workers got the opportunity to work. Another source of work for them is 'Kajer Binimoy Khaddo' or 'Kajer Binimoy Taka'. Under this programme, the employment opportunity has been created for at least 1 crore 62 lakh people in the last 10 years. It is observed that the security and diversification of food of the people has been increased because of the opportunity to work. Ensuring availability of food has significantly inspired the illiterate segment of the population to go for education.
The literacy rate of 56.7 in the year 2009 increased remarkably to 72.3 percent in the year 2018, while the per capita income ratio came up to $ 1751 in 2018-19, from its level of $543 in 2005-06. A large segment of the government's social safety net programme is handled by the Ministry of Social Welfare. This ministry allocated Tk 4264 crore in 2018-19. Allocation of Tk 75 crore has been kept for extending cooperation to the 15 lakh of incurable poor patients.