For a country that has a significant poverty problem, with an additional 4 million people slipping below poverty line due to the recent and on-going hike in the prices of essentials, there remains far too much ineffectiveness and inefficiency in the government's approach to the issue.
There is no more crucial issue for the country than to ensure food security and that the very poorest of the poor, those who are in danger of serious malnourishment (or even of starvation) and all the attendant miseries of such an abject miserable existence, be taken care of and provided for.
We acknowledge, as a nation, that we have a responsibility to the most wretched among us, that it is government's duty to reach out to them and provide some kind of a safety net, and that it is in everyone's interest that each Bangladeshi receives at least the minimum sustenance.
Thus it is inexplicable why the funds that are allocated for this grave purpose are not more effectively and efficiently distributed. In the first place, there is a regional mismatch between where the funds are most needed and where they end up. In other words, such a solemn and sacred duty such as distribution of food relief is, for want of a better word, politicised.
Even worse is the corruption that accompanies the process, which means that many of those in need never see the funds, which often end up in the pockets of locally influential people and their cronies. Local government representatives such as UP chairmen and members are involved in drawing up lists of recipients for purpose of distribution of subsidies and food through VGF and VGD cards. Usually their loyalists and favourites monopolise the safety net allotments. We suggest that independent influential elements from the local community be involved in the exercise.
When the finance ministry meets today it can undertake no more important a task than to simply make sure that safety net funds and materials go where they need to go. The allocations need to be made on the basis of regional assessments of needs, and the process will have to be monitored and streamlined to ensure that the succour end up in the hands of the needy.
If the government is able to put in place a lasting improvement in the way safety net funds and materials are allocated and to ensure their more effective delivery, then it will be able to claim that it has achieved something of lasting good for those most in need.