Expand safety net coverage for urban poor

The government should expand its social safety net programmes in urban areas, where the coverage is extremely insufficient compared to that of rural areas, according to experts.

"Some 33 per cent of the marginalised in rural areas are covered by social safety net programmes while only 9 per cent of poor people in urban areas enjoy the same," said Dr Asif Shahan, an associate professor of development studies at the University of Dhaka.

Shahan was speaking at a seminar on "Price Hike, Access to Social Protection and Food Security", held yesterday at the Cirdap International Conference Centre in Dhaka.

Right to Food Bangladesh, a rights body that aims to ensure food security, organised the event in association with the Wave Foundation and Asia Foundation.

Shahan urged the authorities concerned to overhaul social safety net programmes in the country so that marginal people from both rural and urban areas get equal opportunities.

The associate professor then said the coronavirus pandemic widened the gap between urban and rural poor in regards to safety net coverage.

With this backdrop, he asked the government to design an effective social protection strategy for the urban poor to help offset the effects of Covid-19.

"Although there is some responsiveness to the needs of the poor in normal situations, the country still lags behind in responding to unforeseen shocks," Shahan said.

He went on to say that along with increasing allocations, the process of availing such programmes has to be simplified.

Besides, most of the urban poor are out of social security programmes as they do not have National Identification Cards, which are required to get the facilities.

"Digitisation of the beneficiary selection process should continue but it would require digital literacy on part of the poor," he said.

Dr Nazneen Ahmed, country economist of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangladesh, said infrastructural development in slum areas for rural poor is important, but in this case, there are multi-faceted challenges in taking such initiatives.

"In order to eliminate urban poverty, the government as well as non-government organisations and other concerned parties should provide extensive employment in rural areas," she added.

Ahmed then said the authorities concerned should pay special attention for increasing income as raising the people's purchasing capacity would help solve many problems.

The economist urged the government to go for an extensive drive to ensure high tax coverage and form a special fund for poor people.

"To ensure food security, unnecessary demand should be cut by changing food habits in our daily life," Ahmed said citing the 12th Sustainable Development Goal, namely "ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns".

Mohammad Khaled Hasan, joint secretary of the Cabinet Division, said that as per data of the Global Hunger Index, Bangladesh is actually at great risk of a food crisis at present.

"But our overall position is comparatively better than that of many other countries, which has been made possible because of our social security programmes," he added.

For example, the government provides assistance to farmers, proving that it is very much trying to deal with any kind of disaster.

"Also, the government provided Tk 2,500 each to 50 lakh people through mobile financial services during the coronavirus pandemic," Hasan said.

Mohammad Asaduzzaman Sarker, deputy secretary of the general economics division of the Planning Commission, and Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj, country representative of The Asia Foundation, also spoke at the event.

The seminar was conducted by Kaniz Fatema, coordinator of Right to Food Bangladesh.