Elderly, disabled and widows to get safety net allowances through MFS
The federal government plans to disburse social safety net allowances among elderly, disabled and widows through mobile financial services -- a move that will help the country reach the targeted beneficiaries, ensure affordability and prevent misuse.
The Department of Social Services under the social welfare ministry, which runs the country's major social back-up programmes, has decided as part of its move to digitalise disbursement.
Under the move, it could initiate a pilot involving 13,845 beneficiaries. The other day, it wrote to four top mobile financial service carriers to perform the piloting in eight union parishads in eight divisions.
Of the total, Nagad, a financial arm of the postal department, will run the piloting by disbursing back-up allocations among 4,114 beneficiaries -- the best.
It'll run the piloting in two union parishads in Comilla and Lalmonirhat, according to a letter of the Department of Social Services.
bKash, the marketplace leader, will disburse funds among 3,695 beneficiaries in Gopalganj and Sylhet districts. SureCash will run the piloting among 3,331 beneficiaries in Bhola and Netrokona.
Rocket, a venture of Dutch-Bangla Bank, will disburse allowances among 2,705 beneficiaries in two union parishads in Natore and Khulna.
The funds will be disbursed through the government-to-person system in order to avoid third-party involvement, according to the letter.
The Department of Social Services provides the set of the beneficiaries to the operators.
Tanvir Ahmed Mishuk, managing director of Nagad, welcomed the move.
"We think this is a very timely initiative from the federal government side. I assume that due to this initiative, the distribution of the social safety net allowances will be transparent. Besides, the beneficiaries will be able to get their allowances very easily and safely promptly."
The step will accelerate the digitalisation of the Department of Social Services, Mishuk added.
There is no better way than MFS carriers to disburse social back-up funds among this group of people, said Shahadat Khan, ceo of SureCash.
"In the event that you digitalise this service, you will come to know the actual number of beneficiaries and if the targeted beneficiaries are receiving the support," he added.
The Department of Social Services disbursed Tk 2,640 crore among 44 lakh poor elderly within the last fiscal year with each getting Tk 500 monthly. It plans to disburse Tk 2,940 crore among 49 lakh elderly in the current fiscal year, according to its website.
The department disbursed Tk 1,020 crore among 17 lakh widows within the last fiscal year. This fiscal year, it's got a budget of Tk 1,230 crore to spend among 20.5 lakh beneficiaries.
It released Tk 1,390 crore among 15.5 lakh persons with disabilities in fiscal year 2019-20. The federal government has raised the budgetary allocation for the group to Tk 1,620 crore in today's fiscal year and the amount of beneficiaries to 18 lakh.
Recently, the government has taken a proceed to disburse different government allowances through MFS operators to lessen the hassles faced by beneficiaries and ensure transparency.
In April, the federal government allocated Tk 1,250 crore for the 50 lakh poor families whose breadwinners were rendered unemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic and almost all of them were disbursed through the four MFS carriers.
The federal government distributed cash support among 35 lakh beneficiaries rendered poor.
When the initiative was rolled out, Nagad, bKash, Rocket and SureCash were each given the duty to transfer the funds to 17 lakh, 15 lakh, 10 lakh and 8 lakh account holders.
Nagad distributed Tk 324.5 crore among 12.9 lakh beneficiaries, while bkash channelled about Tk 234 crore among 9.3 lakh beneficiaries. Rocket disbursed Tk 177.4 crore among 7.1 lakh recipients and SureCash Tk 120.8 crore among 4.8 lakh beneficiaries, according to a finance ministry report.
"The recent disbursement of the prime minister's special Covid-19 assistance fund through MFS operators has generated it the most transparent way of disbursing the government social safety net allowances right to the beneficiaries," said Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, head of corporate communications at bKash.
The national identification card-based verification has enabled the identification of the proper beneficiary and ensured direct disbursement avoiding any middleman interference.
"We applaud this timely decision of the federal government. bKash has been giving utmost importance to the government initiative to greatly help achieve the vision of Digital Bangladesh," Dalim added.
Currently, Bangladesh runs a lot more than 150 social protection programmes under a lot more than 20 ministries or divisions that induce inefficiency and mistargeting, according to Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute.
The federal government allocated Tk 95,574 crore in the social back-up programmes, which is 16.8 % of the complete budget and 3 % of the GDP. The allocation was Tk 81,865 crore in last year's revised budget.
