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Sure jobs for poor

Safety net sees 48pc increase in allocation

Staff Correspondent
The caretaker government has increased the allocation for social safety net by 48 percent, introducing the first ever employment guarantee scheme worth Tk 2,000 crore, in the proposed new budget.
The total outlay for social safety net in the new proposed budget has been set at
Tk 16,932 crore or 2.8 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) while the allocation stands at Tk 11,467 croreor2.1 percent of GDP in the revised budget of the current fiscal.
Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam disclosed the new social safety net allocation yesterday during his televised budget speech.
The new budget has also included a larger number of people as beneficiaries of the social safety net, in a bid to address the woes of the poor and the lower-middle income group people, following the impact of global food shortage and price hikes of essentials, Mirza Aziz said.
"The government is fully conscious about the need to provide social security to this section of the community so that their living standards don't deteriorate further," the finance adviser said.
"We've planned to widen and deepen our social safety net programmes by increasing the total number of beneficiaries and the rates of
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subventions involving Ik 16, 932crore, "headded
I he new employment gen eration scheme titled 100 Days Employment Generation' is aimed at ensuring employment lor the rural unemployed poor across the country, for at least 100 days a year, particularly during the periods of midOctober to mid-January and mid-March to mid-May.
I he programme will create some 20 crore working days of employment with daily remuneration of Tk 100 per person, for some 20 lakh unemployed poor.
Allocation for the Food for Work Programme has been set at Ik 1,578 crore.
Government allocation for Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation, NGO Foundation, Social Development Foundation and for other such organisations dispensing micro-credits has been set at Ik 526 crore.
The finance adviser also proposed Ik 270 crore allocation for benefiting women and children. In the next fiscal, 9 lakh women will get allowances under the Programme for Widowed. Deserted and Destitute Women while the existing number of beneficiaries stands at 8.25 lakh. I he allowances will also rise toTk 250 per person from Tk 220. The proposed outlay for benefiting women has been increased by Tk 86 crore compared to the revised allocation in the current budget.
The allocation for allowances
to poor lactating mothers in rural areas lias been raised by 27 percent to I k 21.60 crore. The number of beneficiaries will also rise by 15,000, standing at 60,000 in the next fiscal. AnotherTk 20 crore has been allocated for a similar programme supporting the poor and low-income workers, particularly working mothers in the garment manufacturingsector.
The Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) Programme, with the provision for distributing 30 kilogram rice or wheat per person among 7.5 lakh women will continue, while the programme will be extended providing monthly allowances of Tk 400 per person to an additional 40,000 underprivileged women of eight northern districts.
A new programme titled 'Rural Employment and Road Maintenance Programme (RERMP)' funded by the government at a cost of I k 943 crore will be launched in the next fiscal, generating 50,000 jobs annually in 4,926 unions. Under the programme, Tk 190 crore will be spent in the next fiscal.
The per capita capitation grant for private orphanages has been increased to Tk 700 from Tk 600 in the proposed new budget. Earlier in January this year the allowance for children of orphanages including Shishu Shadan, Shishu Poribar, Chhotomoni Nibash, Safe Home and similar other organisations was increased to Tk 1,500 per person from Tk 1,200.
Allowances and coverage for the elderly have also been increased. Per person proposed allocation has been increased to
Ik 250 from Ik 220, while the number of beneficiaries has also been increased to 20 lakh from the earlier number ol 17 lakh. Ilie programme will cost Tk 600 crore in tiie next fiscal while in the current fiscal the allocation is Ik 448.80 crore.
Monthly allowances for wounded freedom fighters will increase 20 percent at all levels. Allowance for insolvent freedom fighters has been increased to Ik 720 a month per person from the earlier allowance of Tk 600 a month. The increase will cost the government about Tk 120 crore in the next fiscal.
Per person allowance for insolvent persons with physical disabilities, who are not freedom fighters, has been set at Tk 250 a month which was Tk 220 earlier. The total allocation for 2 lakh beneficiaries will rise to Tk 60 crore in the next fiscal.
I he proposed new budget has also allocated Tk 150 crore for Jatiyo Protibondhi Unnayan Foundation. Allocation for disabled students has also been increased to Tk 6 crore from Tk 5 crore.
Among other social safety net programmes, the government set up a national committee for mitigating the sufferings of the people of monga stricken areas. Living standards of 10 lakh people residing in the char (shoal) areas comprising 150
unions under 28 upazilas of 5 districts along the flood plains of the Brahmaputra delta will also be raised under the proposed new government initiative for expanding the social safety net. Besides, dispensation of low interest loans to the victims of land erosion by rivers, and distribution of khas lands (government lands) among the landless will continue in the next fiscal.
A total ofTk 716 crore spending in the next fiscal has been proposed for constructing 6,500 new barrack houses, and for providing job training and micro-credits to 40,000 members of landless families.