The government's social safety net programme is not yielding expected results as the major portion of the allocated money goes to the pockets of the vested quarters, speakers said at a seminar Thursday.
They also alleged that due to the slowing down of poverty reduction endeavours over the last few years, the number of population living under poverty line was still increasing.
With support from Government of Bangladesh and USAID, the Shouhardo II programme of CARE Bangladesh organised the national seminar on 'Social Protection Interventions in Bangladesh: Key Challenges and Way Forward for Enhancing Food Security' at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city.
Economist, Professor Abul Barakat said the government's social safety net programme had failed to improve the life of poor people since about 60 per cent of total allocation goes to the non-poor people.
"The poor people get only 40 per cent of total safety net allocation," he said.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal addressed the seminar as the chief guest, while State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives M. Mashiur Rahman Ranga, and USAID Deputy Mission Director in Bangladesh Paul Sabatine were present as special guests. The programme was moderated by Professor Abul Barakat.
The Planning Minister recognised some key concerns over poverty reduction and said if the present development trend continued the country would become hunger-free by 2030. He also emphasised comprehensive development strategy to make the country poverty- free.
"Poverty indicators show that Bangladesh is catching up with the world. Our goal is to work together to make Bangladesh hunger-free, in a sustainable and consistent way," the minister said.
USAID Acting Mission Director agreed, recognising that there were many people and communities that were yet to be reached.
"We can work together to address key challenges and barriers to food security," he said.
Chairman of Unnayan Onneshan Professor Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, and Chief of Party of Shouhardo II Programme Marc Nosbach presented a keynote on CARE experiences in the field of Social Protection at the seminar, which started with the welcome speech by Monjur Rashid, Knowledge Management Coordinator, Shouhardo II Programme.
The keynote said the existing social protection programmes were mostly rural focused, with a limited coverage, backed by meagre allocation, and managed by fragmented bureaucratic set-up.
"Therefore, a new approach for social protection is needed to respond to emerging challenges. Bangladesh is on right track to take that challenge to move forward," it said.
In the working session of the seminar, former Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank Khondoker Ibrahim Khaled emphasised formation of a national strategy to coordinate all social programmes for ensuring grater benefit.
Media and development activist Muhammad Jahangir urged the government to introduce a separate division for the foreign missions for creating overseas employment.
Research Director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Dr Binayak Sen urged the government to introduce wealth tax and spend the earned money for the poor people.
"As there is a large inequality in society, such a kind of measure can help reduce poverty," he said.
World Food Programme representative Christa Rader, Senior Programme Adviser of UNDP Goran Jonsson also spoke at the working session, among others.
