Urban poor left uncared for: analysts
Though the government has proposed increasing allocation for social safety net, there is a lack of specific plans for the urban poor who have suffered severe income losses due to the Covid-19 outbreak, said Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF).
The government will set aside Tk 95,574 crore for the social safety net programmes (SSNPs) in the upcoming fiscal year, the amount being 16.74 per cent higher than the outgoing fiscal year's revised allocation, and 3.01 per cent of the country's gross domestic product.
The proposed budget for the next fiscal year is different from any other years as the government emphasised life, livelihood, and healthcare instead of economic growth, he said.
But the allocation for healthcare and SSNP is not sufficient, Ahmad said while addressing a post-budget review on "Budget for FY2020-21 and social safety net programme".
Right to Food Bangladesh, a network that works on ensuring food and nutrition security, organised the virtual event yesterday.
"The economy was about to be paralysed due to the prolonged 66-day shutdown."
So the government should focus more on employment generation to help the economy recover from the stagnation, he said.
The government should spend every single penny with caution during the crisis period, said AK Enamul Haque, chairman of the economics department of United International University.
"The number of extreme poor doubled thanks to the pandemic, but measures to help the new poor are not visible in the budgetary allocation," he said.
The government should allocate more funds for the poor and it should at least make the Covid-19 test free of cost for them, he said.
The safety of the people will not be ensured only by providing allowance, he said. "Massive changes are needed to bring them back to economic activities."
However, he said the government has good intentions in this regard but the overall health management is quite weak.
Though an additional outlay of Tk 14,000 crore has been earmarked for SSNPs in the next fiscal year, the government included various other expenditures under these schemes such as pension for government employees, interest payment for savings certificates, incentive for remittance and so on, said Nazneen Ahmed, senior research fellow at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.
"For this reason, a question arises whether this allocation is really meant for social safety net programmes."
Sometimes people are not included in the SSNPs when their present locations do not match with the ones in their national identity cards, she said.
"This should not happen. Anybody with a valid NID should be eligible for safety net benefits."
Reasonable budgetary allocation is needed to mitigate the sufferings of the urban poor, said Sayema Haque Bidisha, a professor of economics at Dhaka University.
She stressed the need for digitalisation of the National Social Safety Net Programme as soon as possible to ensure proper utilisation of the fund.
Healthcare, food and nutrition are the most important issues at this moment, she said, adding: "The allocation of Tk 100 crore for the rural poor is very inadequate for creating employment."
Bidisha also suggested a cut in the unnecessary public expenditure and utilisation of the money for the welfare of the poor.
People who will be involved in irregularities during the distribution of funds under SSNP should be brought to book, said Mohsin Ali, general secretary of the Right to Food Bangladesh.
The government did not address the issues of the new poor although the poverty rate leapt to 40 per cent from 20.4 per cent due to the pandemic, he said while presenting the keynote.
He also urged the government to ensure proper implementation of the budgetary allocation for healthcare and SSNP.
Comments