Over 50 per cent of enlisted people in Pirojpur district were deprived of cash assistance provided by the government as part of its response to the Covid-19 pandemic this fiscal year, according to a latest study.
The study conducted by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) also showed that input incentives for the farmers, distributed by the government to cope with the losses caused by super cyclone Amphan, met around 60 per cent of the demand of affected farmers.
The findings of the study were disclosed on Sunday at a virtual dialogue on "Relief Supports and Agricultural Incentives in Response to Covid-19 and Amphan: The Effectiveness of Public Service Delivery" organised jointly by CPD, Oxfam in Bangladesh and European Union in association with DakDiye Jai and Citizen Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh.
CPD Distinguished Fellow Prof Mustafizur Rahman moderated the programme while its senior research fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan and senior research associate Mostafa Amir Sabbih presented the keynote papers.
The keynote papers pointed out that the government's responses to the coronavirus pandemic, cyclone Amphan and floods could be considered as part of SDG indicators 2.1 and 10.4 which includes ending hunger and ensuring access to all people as well as adopting policies, especially fiscal, wage and social protection policies and progressively achieving greater equality by 2030.
The papers said to the response of joblessness of people during this pandemic, the government took measure to give Tk 2,500 assistance to eligible people.
It also revealed that the local administration did a good job by maintaining transparency but lack of necessary allocation and timely data deprived many affected people of government help.
Above 50 per cent enlisted people were deprived of cash assistance in Pirojpur district as per the data provided by community-based organizations, said the CPD paper.
The paper said the list of beneficiaries for Tk 2,500 assistance programme was checked, selected and reviewed more than once.
Most of them were reported to have problems because of providing wrong mobile numbers or lack of mobile numbers in early stages.
It said the local administration was told to make a list of suitable persons within only seven or eight days but it took about a month to complete the list through sorting out the verification and the target for 75,000 people in the district could not be achieved effectively.
The agricultural ministry also provided farm input incentives by giving farmers seeds of wheat, mustard, lentil, khesari, tomato, green chilli, groundnut, sunflower and other inputs in the district as a response to Amphan.
The CPD paper said the government's seed and other input allocation met only 60 per cent of the demand of affected farmers.
The paper pointed out that the amount and volume of the government's assistance should be based on the real rate of poverty and the number of affected population in a disaster-hit area rather than considering just overall population of a region.
While speaking as the chief guest, fisheries and livestock minister SM Rezaul Karimput emphasis on joint efforts of various non-governmental organizations in implementing government initiatives to deal with natural disasters.
CPD Distinguished Fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said poverty and risk-based relief supports are far more effective than population-based relief efforts.
Mr Bhattacharya, also convener of Citizen's Platform for SDGs, said more data and administrative coordination are needed to ensure effectiveness of relief efforts.
He also stressed the need for creating mass awareness to reach out to the people in need.
CPD Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun, Oxfam Country Director Dr Dipankar Dutta and DakDiye Jai Executive Director Md. Shahjahan Gazi delivered welcome remarks while Pirojpur deputy commissioner Abu Ali Md Shazzad Hossain, Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Indurkani in Pirojpur Mohammad Al-Muzahid also spoke at the programme.
The dialogue was a part of the project titled 'Enhancing the participation of community-based organisations and civil society organisations in democratic governance in Bangladesh' which is being implemented in 13 districts by CPD and Oxfam in Bangladesh with support from the European Union in Bangladesh.
The project aims to contribute to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the government of Bangladesh in a number of areas.
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