Four lakh more to get welfare benefits
An additional four lakh poor people may come under the social safety net in the coming fiscal year as the government looks to expand its welfare programmes.
The government will require an additional Tk 200 crore due to the decision taken yesterday at a meeting chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith on the budget for social safety net programmes.
At present, 50 lakh people receive benefits under social safety net programmes.
The meeting also decided that the amount of other allowances would not be increased in the next budget; the number of beneficiaries will be raised by 10 percent.
The government is set to double the allowance for freedom fighters above the age of 65 in the upcoming budget to Tk 10,000 a month. However, freedom fighters below 65 years of age will continue to get Tk 5,000 per month.
In the current fiscal year, the allocation for freedom fighters' honorarium has been kept at Tk 1,200 crore, which was Tk 720 crore in the revised budget.
In the original budget for fiscal 2013-14, the allocation was Tk 360 crore.
The number of beneficiaries to be increased are in the categories of old age allowance, allowance for the widows, deserted and destitute women, allowance for the financially insolvent disabled, maternity allowance for poor lactating mothers and allowance for urban low-income lactating mothers.
Of the new four lakh beneficiaries, 2.5 lakh will be old-age beneficiaries, according to an official of the social welfare ministry.
Some 27 lakh people now get the elderly allowance, 11 lakh widowed and deserted women receive allowance and six lakh the insolvent disabled allowance. Besides, around six lakh lactating mothers also get benefits.
The beneficiaries received between Tk 300 and Tk 400 a month last fiscal year, with the amount increased to Tk 400-500 this year, said a social welfare ministry official.
Since the allocation was increased this fiscal year, it will not be raised further in the coming fiscal year, he added.
The official, however, said an additional Tk 200 crore will be required in the next fiscal year's budget as the number of programmes has increased.
In the current fiscal year, Tk 2,223 crore has been allocated for these programmes, and in the revised budget of last fiscal year, the allocation was Tk 1,566 crore.
Also at yesterday's meeting, it was decided that hermaphrodites and oppressed (dalit) communities will receive allowances in 29 districts.
At present, around 10,000 hermaphrodites and 64 lakh dalits receive educational allowances between Tk 300 and Tk 1,000.
Those who are above the age of 50 receive Tk 400 in monthly allowances.
Next year, all the districts will be brought under the coverage.
In the budget, the government has shown that it spends more than 2 percent of GDP for the social safety net programme, which includes 160 categories of programmes, projects and schemes.
In the current fiscal year, the allocation for the social safety net programme has been shown to be Tk 30,751 crore, which was 2.3 percent of the GDP and 12.28 percent of the budget.
In the revised budget for the last fiscal year, it was Tk 26,654 crore, which was 2.26 percent of GDP and 12.33 percent of the budget.
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