Making social security net effective

Over the past 14 years, the government's allocation for social security benefits has increased progressively from Tk 138.45 billion in the fiscal year 2008-9 to Tk1,076.14 billion in FY 2021-22. The share of the allocation rose to 17.83 per cent of the annual budget and 3.11 per cent of the GDP in the FY 2021-22 from 14.17 per cent and 2.25 per cent in FY 2008-9. Then the social welfare programmes have also gone up from 77 to 130 during this period. Credit goes to the governments of the time under review for consistently raising the allocation and the number of programmes in order to bring more and more vulnerable people under the social security net. But this admirable venture, sadly, has not fulfilled the objectives as envisioned by the authorities because of irregularities, misuse, weakness and malpractices in selection of beneficiaries and even misappropriation of fund.
Corroborating this fact, a representative survey titled, 'How to improve coverage and effectiveness of the Social Safety Net Programmes?' Findings from a primary survey' and carried out by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) reveals that Tk15 billion from the fund for the elderly and widows are misused annually. This amount was enough to bring in another 2.5 million of these two categories of people under the social safety net. What is particularly galling is that of the total beneficiaries, 30 per cent under the heads of elderly people and 33 per cent of the widows or destitute women are completely undeserving beneficiaries. This could happen because without bribe money, it is almost impossible for the deserving candidates to get enlisted for the benefits. Endemic graft and corruption at the field level has rendered the government's remarkable social intervention programmes less effective and impactful than it should have been.
However the points where things have gone awry are not unknown. If the authorities concerned are serious, the wrongs can still be remedied. Now that the country is all set for its transition from the digitised to smart Bangladesh, selection of the deserving candidates for social welfare benefits can be made hundred per cent correct provided that the right step is taken. The right step here involves the preparation of a digital database for the nation. This will not only show who the deserving candidates for what and also help in numerous ways to provide social and other services for its citizens as well as identify the corrupt and criminals.
With the unrelenting price hikes, even the middle income people are failing to cope up. The less said about the low-income and marginalised people the better. In such a situation, the beneficiaries of a paltry amount of Tk 500 a month certainly deserve more. The CPD proposes a raise in the amount of benefit from Tk 500 to Tk 2,500 for elderly people and Tk2,000 for widows. This is quite reasonable but both amounts should be equal. Again, the CPD suggests that recovery of the tax missed by the exchequer can be enough for financing this extra expenditure on the vulnerable of society. No one can agree more. Channelling funds from wealth illegally earned by the privileged or exempted taxes due to the defaulters can be more than enough to take up ambitious social welfare programmes.