Bangladesh News

Amid price spiral of essentials, the government is going to introduce guaranteed employment programme in the next fiscal for the rural people during lean season.

“The main aim of the programme is to provide work to any person who wants,” Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam told reporters at his office yesterday after a meeting of budget monitoring and resources committee.

The adviser said if the government fails to provide work, it would try to compensate the persons during lean season with cash. The programme may offer cash incentive if there is no scopes for works, he added.

“We are widening the safety net programmes following our experiences in the current year. Some new programmes targeting the poor will be introduced,” Mirza Aziz noted.

Asked, Dr Uttam Kumar Deb, head of research division of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said the scheme may seek to provide guaranteed employment to one member of every household below a threshold income level for at least 100 days a year, especially in the lean (monga) season. He suggested a minimum wage of Tk 150 per day.

The government this month has already begun a Tk 100-crore project in the rural areas under which work will be provided to the unemployed people for daily Tk 150 each.

Some economists termed the programme inadequate in the wake of price hike of essentials.

Leading economists like former finance adviser Dr Akbar Ali Khan have recently suggested introducing guaranteed employment scheme in rural areas amid price spiral of essentials including food items.

The finance adviser said the government would also expand the safety net programmes in the next budget to give some relief to the poor who are hard-hit by the price spiral.

On the guaranteed employment scheme, he said its details have yet to be finalised.

The ministry is now working on it, while issues like budgetary allocation for it will depend on duration of lean period, working days in a month and rates of daily payment, Mirza Azizul Islam added.

He referred to a similar programme in India titled National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and said: “The new programme will be inline with the Indian NREGS.”

The NREGS provides guaranteed employment to one member of every needy rural household for at least 100 days a year, especially in the lean season. The Indian scheme of guaranteed jobs involves programmes of irrigation, public work and development of rural infrastructure, among others.

Dr Uttam said initially, in view of regional disparity, the scheme may be introduced in three Divisions — Rajshahi, Khulna and Barisal.

“Technical experts can draw plans for individual villages in consultation with local leaders, elected representatives and community leaders,” he said. Local government bodies along with NGOs may be involved in implementation of the programme, he added.

A 2007 publication of CPD says the Indian government had allocated Rs 14,300 crore in the FY 2006-07 for NREGS.

The Indian scheme says all adult persons residing in villages and ‘C’ class municipal council areas come under the programme. However, a person who is more than 15 years old but less than 18 can also be given employment under the scheme if there is no earning member in the family.

REVISED BUDGET
The budgetary allocation and resources committee meeting yesterday discussed the revised budget of the current fiscal.

The size of the revised budget would be around Tk 85,000 crore for the current fiscal, the finance adviser told the reporters. The original budget for the FY 08 is Tk 79,614 crore.

The adviser said subsides in different sectors like food and related expenditures have increased the budget size. “We are giving subsidies in different sectors almost double as allocated in the original budget.”

Despite this, it is not possible to meet the increased demand of different ministries for subsidies, he observed.