Social safety-net programmes eradicate extreme poverty
The poorer section people are leading normal life by winning over extreme poverty following continuous improvement of their livelihoods and socioeconomic conditions during the past eight years.
Though the poor lived in miseries, especially during the seasonal lean period of ‘monga’ in ‘Aswin’ and ‘Kartik’ months even a decade ago, a successful implementation of massive social safety net programmes (SSNPs) has ended their sufferings.
‘The government has been implementing SSNPs as priority initiatives of Prime Minsiter Sheikh Hasina to ensure social security of poor, backward and underprivileged people,’ Deputy Commissioner Rahat Anwar told BSS.
According to district administration sources, the SSNPs include Test Relief (TR), Food for Work (FFW), Works for Taka (Kabita), Vulnerable Group Development (VGD), Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), old-age allowances, allowances for disabled people, widows and distressed women.
The SSNPs also include Asrayan Prokalpo, micro-credits, training, allowances for freedom fighters, divorcees, poor pregnant women, poor lactating mothers, open market sale of rice, rice sale at Taka 10 per kg, stipends, rehabilitation and other programmes.
Under the Asrayan Prokalpo, 4,250 river-eroded families improved livelihoods after their rehabilitation so far at 486 tin-shed barrack houses under 37 projects in the district, the sources said.
District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Faridul Haque said development works under TR, FFW and Kabita programmes were implemented spending 7,874 tonnes of food grains during last fiscal year alone.
‘Under the 40-day employment generation programmes, 48,085 poor people got Taka 38 crore 46 lakh while 8 lakh 22 thousand families received 12,392 tonnes of rice under VGF programme during the period,’ he added.
District Women Affairs Officer Kawser Parveen said that 14,114 tonnes of rice/wheat was distributed among 19,604 destitute women under VGD programme during the 2015-2016 cycles in the district.
‘We distributed allowances of Taka 26 crore 35 lakh among 4,392 poor pregnant women, Taka one crore 8 lakh among 1,800 poor lactating mothers and Taka 99 lakh as revolving loans among 885 trained women during the last fiscal year,’ Parveen added.
Department of Youth Development (DYD) provided training to 2,468 unemployed male and female youths on 11 vocational and other trades to make them self-reliant during the same period.
‘We have disbursed Taka 19 crore 15 lakh loans among 14,107 trained youths so far in the district,’ said deputy director of the DYD Dilgir Alam.
Deputy director of Department of Social Services Nazmun Nahar said that Taka 59 crore 63 lakh was distributed as allowances among 91,281 elderly citizens, disabled people, freedom fighters, physically challenged students and widows during the last fiscal year.
Deputy director of Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) Abdus Sabur said, ‘Some 93,433 poor people have so far improved livelihoods utilising BRDB assistance and micro-credits in the district.’
Vice-chancellor of Begum Rokeya University Professor Dr AKM Nurun Nabi, also a noted population scientist, said that massive SSNPs had played the most important role in improving livelihoods of the poor eradicating ‘monga’ from Rangpur.
‘The seasonal ‘monga’ has factually become a historical term now following massive government interventions, including SSNPs, to improve socioeconomic conditions of the poorer section people,’ said Divisional Commissioner Kazi Hasan Ahmed.
Source: BSS
