Govt's Cash Aid to Help 17.20 Lakh Poor Families

The government's move to disburse financial assistance worth Tk 432.55 crore to 17.20 lakh day-workers, petty traders, transport and river transport workers hit by the coronavirus pandemic has finally taken off, according to officials concerned in the finance ministry.

Each of the enlisted marginalised people has received Tk 2,500 [$29] as a once-only gift from the government through three Mobile Financial Service providers--- Nagad, bKash, and Rocket.

Officials said, the entire budget for the third cash aid is Tk 775.76 crore, which will be distributed to 30.40 lakh families across the country.

The new financial assistance is part of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's July 13 offer of Tk 3,200 crore to ease citizens' hardship caused by the Covid-19 epidemic and repeated lockdowns, as per Finance Ministry officials.

Dr. AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a former financial adviser to the caretaker government, told media Bangladesh that once the Covid-19 effects have subsided, a comprehensive survey should be conducted to determine how many individuals have fallen below the poverty line.

It will be meaningless if the grants do not alleviate the economic shock that the people are experiencing, he added.

Mirza Azizul thinks that the government should set aside 2% of Bangladesh's GDP, or Tk 60,000 crore, for those living on the margins.

In a recent document, the government will shortly provide 432.55 crore as the first payment of the endowment to 1,720,214 impoverished individuals under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's third financial assistance package, which she announced on July 13.

Of total beneficiaries, 14.37 lakh are day-workers, 23.64 lakh transport workers, 50,444 small traders and 1,948 Noujan Sramik, respectively.

Ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the government had sent their cash-aid presents to 30.40 lakh low-income families to help them survive the coronavirus pandemic.

During the epidemic, the number of impoverished people increased from about 3.5 crore to well over 6.5 crore, as shown in a poll done by local think tanks.

They said their economic classes deteriorated from middle to lower middle class, lower middle class to poverty, and poor to extreme-poor.

For over half of the country's 16.3 crore inhabitants, it was a quiet but steady descent down the hill.

In the last 18 months, Bangladesh has registered 10,71,774 infection cases and 17,278 fatalities.