Comprehensive database on safety-net schemes on cards
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
S M Jahangir
The government has initiated a move to create a comprehensive database on social safety-net programmes to streamline the distribution of its resources allocated for the purposes, official sources said.
"We have started the process of establishing a comprehensive database on the government's entire social safety-net schemes," a senior food and disaster ministry official said.
The authorities have taken up the initiative with technical support from World Food Programme (WFP), said the official.
The official further said the UN's WFP has already provided some important equipment, including the software for preparing the database.
The countrywide database will bring all the state-run social safety-net schemes under one umbrella, aiming to run those programmes in a coordinated manner, the official said.
According to plans, the authorities will prepare the database for helping run the government's social safety-net schemes for short, medium and long-term.
The district-wise statistics regarding the number of people living below the poverty line and their access to the government's safety-net programmes will be put in place in the database, officials said.
Besides, the countrywide database will also have the number of people affected by poverty, river erosions, 'monga' and other natural disasters like floods and cyclones etc.
"The proposed database will not only ensure the maximum utilisation of government resources, but also help the authorities properly manage the social safety-net programmes," said an official.
He also mentioned that the broadening of the government's social safety-net programmes have necessitated the authorities to create such a database.
All the successive governments have been widening the state-run social safety-net programmers over the years in order to reduce poverty by giving protection to the poor from all sorts of social, economic and natural shocks.
Keeping this end in view, the present government has taken up measures to bring down the poverty rate by 15 percent within 2021.
In the fiscal year, the government has allocated almost 15.2 per cent of the total non-development and development expenditures, which is almost 2.5 per cent of GDP, for the social safety net and social empowerment programmes.
The government's is implementing its safety-net programmers under a 'Social Safety Net Framework', which is divided into four categories.
They are: Providing special allowances to different underprivileged section of the people, employment generation through micro-credit and different fund management programmes, food security based activities for managing the consequences of disaster and providing education, health, training and technical assistance to make the new generation capable and self-reliant.
The government has initiated a move to create a comprehensive database on social safety-net programmes to streamline the distribution of its resources allocated for the purposes, official sources said.
"We have started the process of establishing a comprehensive database on the government's entire social safety-net schemes," a senior food and disaster ministry official said.
The authorities have taken up the initiative with technical support from World Food Programme (WFP), said the official.
The official further said the UN's WFP has already provided some important equipment, including the software for preparing the database.
The countrywide database will bring all the state-run social safety-net schemes under one umbrella, aiming to run those programmes in a coordinated manner, the official said.
According to plans, the authorities will prepare the database for helping run the government's social safety-net schemes for short, medium and long-term.
The district-wise statistics regarding the number of people living below the poverty line and their access to the government's safety-net programmes will be put in place in the database, officials said.
Besides, the countrywide database will also have the number of people affected by poverty, river erosions, 'monga' and other natural disasters like floods and cyclones etc.
"The proposed database will not only ensure the maximum utilisation of government resources, but also help the authorities properly manage the social safety-net programmes," said an official.
He also mentioned that the broadening of the government's social safety-net programmes have necessitated the authorities to create such a database.
All the successive governments have been widening the state-run social safety-net programmers over the years in order to reduce poverty by giving protection to the poor from all sorts of social, economic and natural shocks.
Keeping this end in view, the present government has taken up measures to bring down the poverty rate by 15 percent within 2021.
In the fiscal year, the government has allocated almost 15.2 per cent of the total non-development and development expenditures, which is almost 2.5 per cent of GDP, for the social safety net and social empowerment programmes.
The government's is implementing its safety-net programmers under a 'Social Safety Net Framework', which is divided into four categories.
They are: Providing special allowances to different underprivileged section of the people, employment generation through micro-credit and different fund management programmes, food security based activities for managing the consequences of disaster and providing education, health, training and technical assistance to make the new generation capable and self-reliant.