A national database on household status is being built at a cost of Tk 3.28 billion to stop misuse of funds from social safety-net programmes that constitute around 14 per cent of the annual budget.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is developing the country's largest database aimed at differentiating poor and non-poor segments of population-a donor-driven mechanism to plug leak of resources from the schemes meant for helping out the poor.
Also, the social safety-net programmes (SSNPs) account for as much as around 2.5 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
But most studies conducted by both local and international organisations show that a sizeable number of non-poor households continue to suck away benefits from the poverty recipe.
They noted that a national poverty database could resolve the misdirection of the SSNP funds.
A study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) finds that relatively higher-income groups have emerged as the significant beneficiaries of SSNPs.
The study noted that targeting errors of exclusion and inclusion are large in most of the 99 SSNPs.
However, the World Bank (WB), which has a mega-project worth $500 million on the SSNPs, is providing the major portion of the support while the government has a meagre share in the aid-to-the-poor recipe.
Dr. M Emdadul Hoque, programme director of the database project at the BBS, told the FE that country's all households will come under the coverage for identifying the genuine poor to allocate food or cash under the SSNP.
He said although named poverty database, it will store data of both poor and non-poor.
"You will get data of the richest and the poorest both," Dr Hoque said.
He said the main counting of the programme will begin sometime in March next. "We're now doing field tests and other relevant works."
Dr. Hoque said the pilot survey and the main counting will begin from Rangpur division, believed largest poor belt of the country.
He said the WB is also assisting in technical affairs for better identification of the poor under the programme.
The WB will use proxy means tests that generate a score ranging from 0 to 100 for applicant households to help establish a better targeting system for social safety net.
The national statistical organisation has been entrusted by the cabinet division with the task of developing the database of poor households under the guidance of the Statistics and Informatics Division (SID) of the Ministry of Planning.
Dr Zahid Hussain, the lead economist at the Dhaka office of the WB, hopes the database will help attain better targeting in terms of social safety-net programme.
He said there are many allegations that the poor do not get the benefit of the tax money.
However, sources at the BBS said this will actually cover all households of the country and later it will turn into a national population register--a register of usual residents of a country.
They said the project will be implemented in phases. The first phase will begin from the Rangpur division.
The WB-sponsored project is likely to end in December 2017.
After development of the database, all sections of people concerned will have access to the repository of information.
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