The government is planning to widen the social safety net coverage for the marginalised and vulnerable people as the Covid-induced loss of income and livelihood might push more people into poverty, reports UNB
To tackle the situation, the government is also planning to allocate Tk 372.35 billion for the social safety net and welfare sector in the fiscal year 2023-24 and Tk 344.07 billion in FY 2022-23.
The allocation for this sector in the current FY2021-22 is Tk 343.19 billion, according to an official document.
The allocation was Tk 295.58 billion in the revised budget for FY 2020-21 while Tk 240.86 billion and Tk 239.20 billion in FY 2019-20 and FY 2018-19 respectively.
Social welfare, women and children affairs, liberation war affairs, disaster management and relief and food ministries are responsible for implementing social safety-linked programmes.
The document, however, said the government has set a target of bringing down the poverty rate to 12.3 per cent and the extreme poverty rate to 4.5 per cent by FY 2023-24.
One of the responsibilities of the social welfare ministry is to distribute various social transfers and provide social security services to people aiming 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 programme as one of the priority activities."
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 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively in FY 2018-19 from 40 per cent and 25.1 per cent respectively in FY 2005-06.
At present, as much as 25 million people are getting financial assistance under various social safety net programmes.
The government has increased the allocation as well as coverage of social safety net benefits to tackle the adverse impacts of the pandemic on the poor, said the document.
Old age allowances and allowances for widows and women deserted by husbands were expanded under the stimulus packages in FY 2020-21 to cover all eligible persons in 112 poorest upazilas of the county.
In the medium term, the document said, these two programmes will be further expanded to cover 150 more poorest-upazilas and the process has begun in the current 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 10 million beneficiaries under this G2P by the current 2021-22 fiscal.
The ministry of social welfare has set a priority for 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, trans-genders, tea-garden workers, and patients suffering from cancer, kidney diseases, liver cirrhosis, paralysis due to stroke, and congenital heart diseases.
It has made provisions for rehabilitation of people with autism, disability and suffering from 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 day care 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 12,000 in the current fiscal.
The government is trying to alleviate poverty by providing training to farmers, facilitating agricultural loan and supplying irrigation and other modern agricultural machinery to them.
The official document said interest-free micro loans of Tk 5,000 to Tk 30,000 per family are being distributed to the extreme poor in villages through Rural Social Service (RSS) activities, Rural Maternal Centre (RMC) activities, rehabilitation of burnt and disabled persons, and urban development programmes.
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 programmes 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 programme to targeted households of 3.5 million families with Tk 2,500 for each family.
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