Government to widen social safety coverage to protect poor from pandemic loss
Plans to allocate Tk372.35 billion in the next fiscal
REUTERS
UNB
Publish : 21 Jan 2022, 05:38 PMUpdate : 21 Jan 2022, 05:38 PM
The government is planning to widen the coverage of the social safety net for the marginalized and vulnerable people as the Covid-induced loss of income and livelihood might push more people into poverty.
To tackle the situation the government is planning to allocate Tk372.35 billion in FY 2023-24 in the social safety net and welfare sector and Tk344.07 billion in FY 2022-23
The allocation in this sector in the running FY 2021-22 is Tk343.19 billion, according to an official document.
The allocation was Tk295.58 billion in the revised budget of FY 2020-21 while Tk240.86 billion and Tk239.20 billion in 2019-20 fiscal and 2018-19 fiscal respectively.
Social welfare ministry, women and children affairs ministry, liberation war affairs ministry, food ministry and disaster management and relief ministry are responsible of implementing social safety-linked programs.
The document, however, said that the government has set a target to bring down the poverty rate to 12.3% and the extreme poverty rate to 4.5% by FY 2023-24.
One of the responsibilities of the social welfare ministry is to distribute various social transfers and social security services among people to eradicate poverty and extreme poverty, it said.
"This is considered as an effective tool to ensure inclusive growth, and to achieve that the government has taken the social safety net program as one of the priority activities," said the document.
Govt steps to reduce poverty
The government has achieved tremendous success in reducing poverty and extreme poverty over the years, according to the document.
It has reduced the poverty and extreme poverty rates to 20.5% and 10.5% respectively in 2018-19 fiscal from 40% and 25.1% respectively in fiscal 2005-06.
At present, as many as 25 million people are getting financial assistance under various social safety net programs.
The government has increased the allocation as well as coverage of social safety net benefits to tackle the adverse impact of the pandemic on the poor, said the document.
For example, the old-age allowances and the allowances for widows and women deserted by husbands were expanded under the stimulus packages in 2020-21 fiscal to cover all eligible persons in 112 poorest upazilas of the county.
In the medium term, the document said, these two programs will be further expanded to cover 150 more poorest upazilas, and the process has begun in the running 2021-22 fiscal.
The government has a plan to bring all beneficiaries under the G2P (Government to Person) system for ensuring accountability and transparency. The government has made a target to bring one crore beneficiaries under this G2P by this running 2021-22 fiscal.
The ministry of social welfare has set a priority for the continuation of the provision of social security benefits in the areas of old age allowance, widows and deserted women allowances, disability allowances, and stipend for disabled students, as per the official document.
It also provided allocations for bedeys (nomads) and other marginal groups; transgenders, tea-garden workers, and patients suffering from cancer, kidney disease, liver cirrhosis, paralysis due to stroke, and congenital heart disease.
It has made provisions for rehabilitation of people with autism, disability and suffering acid burns, created autism resource centres, and established 11 schools for children with autism.
To ensure children's welfare, the ministry has drafted the Child Day Care Act 2021 that has been submitted to Parliament for enactment. The government has established child daycare centres to assist working women.
The liberation war affairs ministry is working to improve the socioeconomic status of the freedom fighters and ensure their welfare by raising their honorarium to Tk 20,000 from Tk 12000 in the current fiscal.
The government is trying to alleviate poverty by providing training to farmers, facilitating agricultural loans and supplying irrigation and other modern agricultural machinery to them.
The official document said that interest-free micro-loans of Tk 5000 to Tk 30,000 per family are being distributed to the extreme poor of villages through Rural Social Service (RSS) activities, Rural Maternal Centre (RMC) activities, rehabilitation of burnt and disabled persons, and urban development programs.
The ministry of disaster management and relief focuses on reducing the risks to the poor and disadvantaged people due to natural, environmental and human-induced hazards. In the medium term, the ministry will continue its existing programs like EGPP, VGF, Kabita, TR, GR, etc.
Other priorities will include- building multipurpose cyclone shelters, disaster-resilient building and flood shelters, construction of houses for the ultra-poor, and construction of Mujib killas and bridges/ culverts to combat disasters.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the ministry has implemented a direct cash transfer program to target households of 35 lakh families with Tk 2500 for each family.
Considering the loss of income during the second wave of the pandemic last year, the second round of the direct cash transfer program to the same beneficiaries has already been rolled out.
It will be completed by the end of this fiscal 2021-22, the document said.
Government to widen social safety coverage to protect poor from pandemic loss
Plans to allocate Tk372.35 billion in the next fiscal
The government is planning to widen the coverage of the social safety net for the marginalized and vulnerable people as the Covid-induced loss of income and livelihood might push more people into poverty.
To tackle the situation the government is planning to allocate Tk372.35 billion in FY 2023-24 in the social safety net and welfare sector and Tk344.07 billion in FY 2022-23
The allocation in this sector in the running FY 2021-22 is Tk343.19 billion, according to an official document.
The allocation was Tk295.58 billion in the revised budget of FY 2020-21 while Tk240.86 billion and Tk239.20 billion in 2019-20 fiscal and 2018-19 fiscal respectively.
Social welfare ministry, women and children affairs ministry, liberation war affairs ministry, food ministry and disaster management and relief ministry are responsible of implementing social safety-linked programs.
The document, however, said that the government has set a target to bring down the poverty rate to 12.3% and the extreme poverty rate to 4.5% by FY 2023-24.
One of the responsibilities of the social welfare ministry is to distribute various social transfers and social security services among people to eradicate poverty and extreme poverty, it said.
"This is considered as an effective tool to ensure inclusive growth, and to achieve that the government has taken the social safety net program as one of the priority activities," said the document.
Govt steps to reduce poverty
The government has achieved tremendous success in reducing poverty and extreme poverty over the years, according to the document.
It has reduced the poverty and extreme poverty rates to 20.5% and 10.5% respectively in 2018-19 fiscal from 40% and 25.1% respectively in fiscal 2005-06.
At present, as many as 25 million people are getting financial assistance under various social safety net programs.
The government has increased the allocation as well as coverage of social safety net benefits to tackle the adverse impact of the pandemic on the poor, said the document.
For example, the old-age allowances and the allowances for widows and women deserted by husbands were expanded under the stimulus packages in 2020-21 fiscal to cover all eligible persons in 112 poorest upazilas of the county.
In the medium term, the document said, these two programs will be further expanded to cover 150 more poorest upazilas, and the process has begun in the running 2021-22 fiscal.
The government has a plan to bring all beneficiaries under the G2P (Government to Person) system for ensuring accountability and transparency. The government has made a target to bring one crore beneficiaries under this G2P by this running 2021-22 fiscal.
The ministry of social welfare has set a priority for the continuation of the provision of social security benefits in the areas of old age allowance, widows and deserted women allowances, disability allowances, and stipend for disabled students, as per the official document.
It also provided allocations for bedeys (nomads) and other marginal groups; transgenders, tea-garden workers, and patients suffering from cancer, kidney disease, liver cirrhosis, paralysis due to stroke, and congenital heart disease.
It has made provisions for rehabilitation of people with autism, disability and suffering acid burns, created autism resource centres, and established 11 schools for children with autism.
To ensure children's welfare, the ministry has drafted the Child Day Care Act 2021 that has been submitted to Parliament for enactment. The government has established child daycare centres to assist working women.
The liberation war affairs ministry is working to improve the socioeconomic status of the freedom fighters and ensure their welfare by raising their honorarium to Tk 20,000 from Tk 12000 in the current fiscal.
The government is trying to alleviate poverty by providing training to farmers, facilitating agricultural loans and supplying irrigation and other modern agricultural machinery to them.
The official document said that interest-free micro-loans of Tk 5000 to Tk 30,000 per family are being distributed to the extreme poor of villages through Rural Social Service (RSS) activities, Rural Maternal Centre (RMC) activities, rehabilitation of burnt and disabled persons, and urban development programs.
The ministry of disaster management and relief focuses on reducing the risks to the poor and disadvantaged people due to natural, environmental and human-induced hazards. In the medium term, the ministry will continue its existing programs like EGPP, VGF, Kabita, TR, GR, etc.
Other priorities will include- building multipurpose cyclone shelters, disaster-resilient building and flood shelters, construction of houses for the ultra-poor, and construction of Mujib killas and bridges/ culverts to combat disasters.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the ministry has implemented a direct cash transfer program to target households of 35 lakh families with Tk 2500 for each family.
Considering the loss of income during the second wave of the pandemic last year, the second round of the direct cash transfer program to the same beneficiaries has already been rolled out.
It will be completed by the end of this fiscal 2021-22, the document said.
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