Making old-age allowance a realistic or useful grant

This refers to the views expressed earlier in this column by one of the readers of The Financial Express for enhancement of the amount of money given as old-age allowance or pension (Boishka Bhata). We fully endorse the suggestion made through that letter, appealing to the authorities concerned for effecting a reasonable hike of the allowance and expanding its coverage. Boishka Bhata amounting to Tk. 100 (around US $ 2.00 at the then rate of exchange) per month was introduced in the early nineties. In 2002-03, the amount per older person per month was increased to Tk. 125 (US $ 2.15) with an increased coverage of up to half a million older people. During the financial year 2003-04, the amount was increased further to Tk. 150 (US $ 2.58) per month with a planned increase in coverage of up to 1.0 million older people (around 14% of all older people in the country). Lately, the Boishka Bhata has climbed up to Tk 200 per month which is still a pittance. Consider how a non-working or unable-to-work poor and elderly person can meet his or her basic subsistence needs with such a small amount of money. The government of Bangladesh (GoB) should spare more resources to increase the allowance to say, at least Taka 1,500 or Taka 1,000 a month. This would be somewhat realistic to provide some sustenance to these poor and old people, whose number, according to a rough reckoning, would now be around anywhere between 4.0 million and 5.0 million in the country. A K M Rabbani Mohammadpur, Dhaka