Change in two social safety net recipes soon

The government has moved to bring about major changes in its two key social safety-net (SSN) recipes.
The aim is to make the help more purposeful and target-oriented, officials said.
Under the move, agriculture ministry recently submitted a proposal to the finance ministry about reform of the existing Test Relief (TR) and Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) and introducing some fresh programmes, they added.
"The finance ministry has prepared a summary from the proposal," an official of the finance division said.
The finance minister's opinion on the issue will be sent to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR) to prepare a position paper through discussion with the ministries of agriculture and food, he added.
The agriculture ministry proposed to pay cash instead of foodgrains for implementation of rural-infrastructure schemes under the TR programme.
Besides, the fixed grains for the TR might be distributed at fair price under a new programme across the country, the agriculture ministry's proposal says.
In the light of the proposal, the government is considering running its VGF programme only during any disaster time by bringing down its annual allocation to one-third of the existing amount, with other aspects of the programme remaining unchanged.
Besides, a proposal for introducing a new recipe named 'food assistance programme at fair price' has been given in the package proposal. "About Tk 3.35 billion in additional funds will be needed and some Tk 390 million will be surplus if the proposed new programmes are introduced in the country," a high official of the MoDMR said.
Besides, target groups do not get fair price of the given foodgrains. The group will be more benefited if they get cash instead of payment in kind under the programmes, he added.
About 0.4 million tonnes, 0.4 million tonnes and 0.4 million tonnes of food-grains have been allocated for the TR, VGF and Food for Work (FFW) respectively for the current fiscal year, according to the data of MoDMR.
The government spent some Tk 196.87 billion in fiscal years 2009-10 to 2013-14 as Employment Generation Programme for the Poorest (EGPP), FFW, Test Relief (TR), Gratuitous Relief (GR) and Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF). It was Tk 50.31 billion for the fiscal year 2014-15, according to the agriculture ministry data.
Large numbers of poor and vulnerable people still remain out of the reach of SSN, sources said.
Overall, the government's safety-net programmes do provide some relief to the hardcore rural poor but not up to the desired level because of irregularities indulged in by a section of officials, "so-called" people's representatives at the grassroots and ruling-party men, they said.
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