In the land of elderly rickshaw pullers

The image of 60-year-old rickshaw puller Abdul Halim resting on a footpath beside Dhaka's Gulistan Park, exhausted and drained under the heat of the scorching summer sun, has been haunting me since I saw the photo on the front page of this daily on June 7. The heart-wrenching image stayed with me the entire day, so much so that later that night, I was woken up by jarring dreams of the old man pulling the weight of a hundred passengers in flashy clothes – middle-aged men and women, young boys and girls, children cramped in the small rickshaw seat – through the messy streets of Dhaka, under the glaring sun. I saw Abdul Halim telling himself to keep pedalling, so that he would earn enough to take home some coarse rice and salt, and some medicines for his ailing wife.

But then his ageing back and legs started giving away, and as the impatient passengers started yelling at him to peddle faster, he suddenly stopped. He looked at me, his wearied eyes boring heavily into mine, and he gave a wail of anguish, the deafening sound reverberating into reality. And suddenly he was pulled into a black void by a long filthy hand. His passengers kept yelling, without even realising he was gone. That's when I woke up.

What kind of a country do we live in where 60-year-olds are forced to pull rickshaws to earn livelihood?

The government has earmarked Tk 126,272 crore for SSN programmes, which is 16.58 percent of the total budget and 2.52 percent of the GDP. At first glance, allocating Tk 126,272 crore to SSN in a budget of Tk 761,785 crore seems like a bold move, given the challenges the economy currently faces. But a closer look reveals that a whopping 60 percent of the funds are actually going towards the non-poor, in such things as pensions for 800,000 government employees, finance interest for national savings certificates, agriculture subsidy and interest subsidy for loans to small and medium enterprises. This means that only 1.01 percent of the GDP will actually be allocated towards those most in need.

Since the government is not able to adequately provide for the underserved communities, they should at least help them with some economic opportunities that are suitable for their age, abilities and social realities. The government cannot just think that by providing Tk 600 to selective elderly people, Tk 900 to students with disabilities, and Tk 550 to widows and "destitute" women, they would end poverty and enable them to live better lives.

The minimum age to be eligible for old age allowance is 65 years for men, and 62 for women. Based on what rationale has the government decided on this minimum age bar? In neighbouring India's Haryana state, the minimum age for the Old Age Samman Allowance Scheme is 60 years. According to the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), too, the minimum age is 60. Some might argue that the pension amount in India is not significant, but neither is their inflation, which was 4.7 percent in April 2023.

But even if Abdul Halim were eligible for the allowance offered by the Bangladesh government, it would not have been adequate for him. The old age allowance has been proposed to be increased by Tk 100 to Tk 600 in the budget.

But in a reality where inflation is spiralling to record levels – rising to 9.94 percent in May 2023 – out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure is increasing – standing at 74 percent in 2020, according to World Health Organization (WHO) – how is an elderly individual expected to survive on Tk 600 per month? How are they going to pay for food, medical care, utility bills, etc with this amount? Remember the struggles of 82-year-old Shamsul Huda, whose story was featured in this daily last year? There are so many of them out there, hoping their miseries would end – if not through state support, then in death.

Coming to the former question, not all those at the receiving end of these SSN schemes are legitimate beneficiaries. In 2020, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) conducted a study in Gaibandha, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Rangpur to understand the delivery efficiency of five SSN programmes: maternity allowance for poor mothers, primary school stipend programme (PESP), secondary school stipend programme (SESP), employment generation programme for the poorest (EGPP), and old age allowance.

The study unfortunately and unsurprisingly found that during Covid-19, almost two-thirds of the household receiving the SSN allowances were not eligible to receive them in the first place. The truth is, most of these SSN programme beneficiaries are politically connected, and as such are enlisted for these programmes, leaving out genuine beneficiaries who are in dire conditions and have limited opportunities for employment. While MFS services have done one good thing by enabling direct transaction of the allowances to the beneficiaries, unfortunately all these initiatives remain counterproductive due to nepotism in beneficiary selection.

Coming back to the point of insufficient allowance, since the government is not able to adequately provide for the underserved communities, they should at least help them with some economic opportunities that are suitable for their age, abilities and social realities. The government cannot just think that by providing Tk 600 to selective elderly people, Tk 900 to students with disabilities, and Tk 550 to widows and "destitute" women, they would end poverty and enable them to live better lives.

It is high time the government revisited its social safety net strategy and came up with realistic solutions to provide for the marginalised population, and demonstrate strong political will to root out corruption and nepotism from the system. As a nation, we should be able to better protect and provide for the disadvantaged and marginalised population.

Tasneem Tayeb is a columnist for The Daily Star. Her Twitter handle is @tasneem_tayeb