Database to plug drain on safety-net funds

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) moves to create a database on the poor to check waste of social safety-net funds meant for the real down-and-outs who have none to help out.     
The government step aims to bring genuine deprived people under the programme by using accurate information, a top official said Saturday.
"We will collect data and information of the poor people to create a database on the poor in the country so that the misuse of the safety-net programmes can be reduced and we can bring under the programmes more beneficiaries who are deprived on the basis of accurate information. This will make it more effective," said Statistics and Information Division (SID) Secretary Nojibur Rahman.
He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of a five-day training course on basic statistics in the BBS conference room in the city. Joint secretary of SID Aminul Bar Chowdhury was present as the special guest. BBS deputy director Baitul Amin Bhuiyan chaired the function.
Mr Nojibur Rahman said there is an ongoing programme of creating a national population database and BBS will complete the database on the poor first as part of that programme.
He stressed enhancing the skill of the BBS officials to produce accurate national-level data-which are considered development indices.
He suggested them to become proactive and transformational officials in discharging their duties and not to act as reactive and transactional officials.
"The government has been closely monitoring the performance of the officials and BBS has been trying to be transformational over the last couple of years," the official told his audience.