Spending on social safety nets
Government has been spending increasingly greater funds for various social safety net programmes during the last five years. Government keeps on providing direct cash transfer to the poor, distributes food at nominal or zero costs, runs micro-credit activities to create means of livelihood and runs education, health and training programmes. And every year the size of such safety net programmes is seen to be higher than the year before. Thus, the government spent some 11,84,000 crore Taka on these programmes in the fiscal year 2013-14 whereas the spending was Taka 12,39,500 crore in 2014-15.
It emerged from a discussion meeting under the auspices of BRAC some time ago that the participants in it were in favour of not reducing the various official programmes for the poor. But they emphasised on running them transparently and efficiently, They stressed, more importantly, that the programmes must not create a sense of assured bail out always for the poor. They should be oriented to work their way out gradually to depend less and less on these programmes.
The suggestions from the meeting have obvious high value. For there is a danger that the poor or the very poor will likely develop a sort of dependence on the governments dole and lose as a result a feeling of urgency that they must overcome their problems, the sooner the better. If it keeps on like this, government is likely to find itself at a point of time with a huge overburden to pay for them at the expense of the taxpayers and promoting resource denial to other productive sectors in pressing need of funds for their development. Allegations have been made that the programmes in many cases are missing out the truly deserving ones; there are many political beneficiaries. These angles need to be seriously investigated. The main thrust of the programmes ought to be on micro credit and related activities to gradually self employ the poor so that at one point of time they have no need to be utterly dependent on dole.
