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The government is bringing more people under its social safety net programmes keeping the existing allowance per person for most of the schemes unchanged. Programmes such as open market sale, vulnerable group feeding, test relief and food for work have been continuing as usual, and the number of beneficiaries under these schemes has gone up.
The number of beneficiaries, who get allowances and food through the social safety net programmes, has gone up by about 1.0 million during this fiscal year to take the tally to 9.6 million. In the current fiscal year, the government allocated Tk 54.20 billion for the programmes, which account for 13.54 per cent of the total outlay.
The present government has raised the number of beneficiaries of social safety net programmes ahead of the general election. The largest increase in terms of beneficiaries has been made under the Old Age Allowance programme. The number of the recipients, who get Tk 500 each every month, has increased from 3.5 million to 4.0 million.
An additional 80,000 people are getting the "Allowance for the Financially Insolvent Disabled" as the number of recipients has increased from 0.82 million to 0.92 million. Besides, the number of beneficiaries under the Freedom Fighters category has increased from 0.15 million to 0.2 million.
Benevolent intentions of the government, notwithstanding, the ongoing safety-net programmes are reportedly marred by fragmentation, weak targeting and inefficiency, according to a recent World Bank (WB) report.
The report came amid allegations that well-off people linked with the ruling alliance have been awarded cards that should only go to the poor. It advised the government to merge its overlapping social safety-net programmes, introduce a unified target, improve administrative efficiency and enhance monitoring so that the benefits do reach those who need them the most.
Media reports suggest that the people attached to the ruling party alliance are selling rice, meant to be sold to the poor for Tk 10 per kilogramme (kg), to their well-off relatives or in the black market. At the local level, more than half of the safety net allocation cards are allegedly distributed through bribes.
People in rural areas allegedly sell their votes to the local leaders in Union Parishad (UP) elections and buy safety-net programme allocation cards from those who are elected. In such a way, the extreme poor -- targeted ones for these particular programmes -- are deprived, as the card buyers are not exactly the targeted ones. This is why the safety-net programmes are not reaching the target group.
Many of the country's safety-net programmes are directly handled by the local government. The UP chairmen and members handle major programmes such as Vulnerable Group Development (VGD), Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), Food For Work (FFW), Test Relief (TR), Gratuitous Relief (GR) etc.
The present government introduced social safety net programmes in 1996. At least 142 programmes are now in operation. The planning minister said the government has taken steps to address the faults and failures in the distribution of rice at subsidised rates. The government believes the country will be able to reach its target on cutting extreme poverty well before the United Nations (UN)-fixed deadline of 2030.
Implementation efficiency must improve as weak administrative capacity and systems introduce inefficiencies and increase the scope for fraud and corruption. The administrative systems should be strengthened phasing out food-based programmes. The monitoring and evaluating programme effectiveness need substantial improvement.
Studies have shown that the average benefit of social safety-net programmes in Bangladesh is falling in real terms in many cases. There has been considerable leakage of allocated funds and 27 per cent of the beneficiaries are non-poor.
However, there is a need for taking community-based adaptive social protection schemes in the country aiming at addressing poverty and cope with the aftermath of any disaster. It is time to rethink how the local adaptation can be climate resilient one ensuring the participation of local people.
Though Bangladesh has steadily been maintaining 7.0 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the last few years, the common people cannot reap the full benefits of the higher growth rate due to corruption, lack of good governance, wrong policies and inequalities.
A review of social safety-net programmes suggests that creating more, better and inclusive jobs is critical for Bangladesh to benefit from the ongoing favourable demographic transition and progress in human development.
In order to streamline the programmes, the first step should be to rationalise the delivery of scarce resources among the poor in order to consolidate the programmes with overlapping objectives and functions.
With the country's GDP growth being on a good track, many think the government now needs to focus on removing inequalities, strengthening the social safety-net programmes and establishing good governance for sustainable and inclusive development.