4 lakh more to get social safety, no rise in monthly amount in FY25

Nearly 1.14 crore elderly people, widowed or abandoned women and people with disabilities currently receive government allowances ranging from Tk550 to Tk850 per month

The government will increase the number of social safety-net beneficiaries by 4 lakh in the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25), but there will be no increase in monthly allowances despite the soaring inflation, officials familiar with the matter have told TBS.

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Nearly 1.14 crore elderly people, widowed or abandoned women and people with disabilities currently receive government allowances ranging from Tk550 to Tk850 per month.

Inflation remained close to 10% for more than a year and prices of everything, from coarse rice, potato, egg to medicine, have soared. But old and distressed people under the social safety scheme will continue to get the same amount, though the new budget will have a higher allocation for the scheme in FY25 for a wider coverage.

Experts say if the government does not raise the amounts of monthly allowances, the lives of the beneficiaries will be very difficult as they are already struggling amid surging inflation.

The current fiscal year's allocation for the social safety net is over Tk1.26 lakh crore. Finance Division officials said the amount could rise to around Tk1.3 lakh crore in the next fiscal year.

The government will increase allocation for elderly allowance by Tk220 crore to Tk4,425.35 crore in FY25 as it estimates that the number elderly allowance recipients will increase by two lakh from 58.01 lakh in FY24, an official of the Finance Division told TBS.

Department of Social Services Additional Director (elderly allowance) Farid Ahmed Mollah told TBS, "Approximately 2 lakh elderly citizens aged 90 or above are currently under the old-age allowance scheme. There has been no decision to increase their allowance. However, two lakh new beneficiaries may be added to the old-age allowance scheme."

In the current fiscal year, Tk1,711.40 crore was allocated for allowances for women who are widowed or abandoned by their husbands, covering 25.75 lakh beneficiaries. They are currently receiving an allowance of Tk550 per month. For the next fiscal year, an allocation of Tk1,930.77 crore will be made to add one lakh more women to the list, officials said.

Currently, 29.87 lakh underprivileged individuals with disabilities are receiving an allowance of Tk850 per month. An allocation of Tk2,978.71 crore was made for the purpose in the current fiscal year. In the next fiscal year, another one lakh individuals with disabilities will be brought under the allowance scheme, said officials.

With the addition of new beneficiaries, the allocation for the sector is likely to increase to Tk3,198.08 crore, they said.

"In this time of high inflation, the amount of various allowances under the social security sector needs to be increased," Mahbub Ahmed, a former senior secretary to the Finance Division, told TBS.

The additional funds required can be collected by paying more attention to revenue collection, he suggested.

"The five sectors that should be given the highest priority in the upcoming budget are education, health, agriculture, skills development, and social security," Mahbub said.

The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs has recently proposed increasing the monthly honorarium for valiant freedom fighters to Tk30,000 from the current amount of Tk20,000. Besides, the Cabinet Division and the Planning Commission placed their recommendations to the Ministry of Finance to increase the allowance amount for those aged 90 and above from the next fiscal year, an official of the Finance Division told TBS.

But the allowances will not be increased in the upcoming fiscal year, Finance Division officials said.

As the number of beneficiaries increases, the allocation for various institutions under the social safety net.

Bringing all above 60 years into social scheme

Men aged over 65 and women aged over 62 who earn less than Tk10,000 a month are eligible for the old-age allowance. They are currently receiving an allowance of Tk600 per month.

Currently, all eligible senior citizens in 262 upazilas of the country are receiving the benefit, said Finance Division officials. If all eligible people are brought under the old-age allowance in the remaining 233 upazilas, the number of beneficiaries will have to be increased by another eight lakh, officials said.

However, when the elderly start receiving monthly pensions under the universal pension scheme, the number of beneficiaries under the old-age allowance will gradually decrease again, they added.

The "Social Security Sector Action Plan" report prepared by the Socio-Economic Infrastructure Division of the Planning Commission, has recommended bringing all citizens over the age of 60 under the old-age allowance scheme.

In addition, the report recommended verifying the list of beneficiaries of the social safety net to ensure that only the truly poor receive benefits, and increasing the allocation rate for the sector to 3% of GDP. The current allocation for social security in the current fiscal year is 2.52% of GDP.

"The government provides benefits to citizens through various institutions under the social safety net. In the next fiscal year, the allocation in favour of various such institutions is increasing. As a result, the government's expenditure on social security will increase overall in the next fiscal year," said a Finance Division official.

The budget allocation for various institutions under the Ministry of Social Welfare is set to increase in the upcoming fiscal year, said the officials. Among these are the Physical Disability Welfare Trust, the Neuro-Developmental Disability Protection Trust, 74 schools for the intellectually disabled, 13 Sheikh Russell Children's Training and Rehabilitation centres, and 103 Disability Service and Support centres, they said.

Besides, the budget allocation for Choto Moni Nibash, integrated education institutions for the visually impaired, government schools for the disabled, government child family offices, and safe housing centres for women and adolescent girls under protective custody will also be increased in the new fiscal year, the officials said.