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Budget 2021-22: Unprecedented Suffering; Yet a Usual Budget

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The country is facing an unprecedented situation due to coronavirus pandemic. Life and livelihood are under threat. Poverty has risen for the first time in two decades. The pace of growth is downward. On the one hand, people are dying of coronavirus not getting proper treatment. On the other hand, a large number of working people are struggling to manage livelihood after losing their jobs. 

There was an expectation that the new budget would bring something new to overcome this unprecedented crisis, but nothing has been put in the budget. Rather the usual budget proposal has been presented as before. There has been no discussion about the allocation for about 3.5 crore new poor people due to Corona. No effective measures and additional allocations have been made to address the weaknesses in the health, education and agriculture sectors even.

Concerned bodies say the budget does not reflect the reality of the uncertain situation and there is indifference to policy strategies and allocations to deal with the situation.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on June 3 presented an estimate of the state's potential revenue and expenditure for the next one year. The proposed 50th budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 is the largest in the history of the country in terms of expenditure.

Presenting the budget for the next one year in the National Assembly is a continuous process. This process has not been interrupted in any year since independence. The budget for the current financial year is also given in the face of acute transmission of coronavirus. The epidemic of coronavirus is now intensifying. Another new budget was given. Given the budget of the conventional process, the economic condition of the country is not normal. Apart from the employees employed in the Govt. sector, no one is satisfied with their income.

CPD Special Fellow Devapriya Bhattacharya said the 1.5 crore to 2 crore new poor created due to corona was not recognized in the budget for the next financial year. There is no initiative for them. There is no information in the budget about the increase in the number of new poor in Corona. There are no official statistics about this. So there is no policy for the new poor.

Many in the capital have returned to their village homes. Many expatriates are unable to return to the country. Savings have broken down to meet daily expenses, assets have been sold and forced to borrow from institutional-informal sources. In order to provide food for the family members, their fear is symbolically like Sukant Pal's poem-- "Ak muto panta vate, ak chimti nun/ r halka kore sorisher teler shahito bahu shader akta kaca lanka; / kingba ak tukro zazalo peyajer gondhe ora to besi khushi! / kibtu jakhon nun ante panta furai takhon oder chukeo deshi ashongka! "

Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Executive Director Fahmida Khatun said many people have fallen into poverty newly because of the health risk of corona pandemic. Many people's incomes have decreased. On the other hand, we see that government investment is not increasing. But if government investment does not increase, employment will not increase. The highest employment is in the SME sector, but the big industrial owners got the government's encouragement. In addition, incentives have been given mainly through banks; but many small entrepreneurs do not have bank accounts. That is why they should be given loans through NGOs. 

Many in the informal sector have already lost their jobs due to the massive cut in economic activity. Various initiatives have also been taken to reduce salaries and facilities in well-established non-governmental organizations. It is also unknown when the situation is going to be normal. Coronavirus has made poor people poorer. As well as the middle and lower-middle-class livelihood has been suffering.  

According to various research institutes, two and a half crore people have become poor due to virus infection. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) 2019, the poverty rate in the country is 20 percent. According to a survey by the Power and Participation Research Center (PPRC) and the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), 24.5 million people have become poor due to corona.

According to the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), 18 million people have become poor. According to Sanem 42 percent of the country's population is now poor. The number of poor people, old and new, is 5 crore to 6 crore. Teachers in private schools, colleges, kindergartens, tourism workers, hotel and restaurant workers, transport workers, super shops, and shopping mall workers are in critical condition. Most of them have left their workplaces and are living inhumane lives in the villages. Apart from this, many have lost their jobs in many private factories and institutions and are on unpaid leave. Again, many are working for less than before. There is not much for them in the budget.

Professor Selim Raihan, executive director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), said the proposed budget for the next 2021-22 fiscal year did not reflect the real picture of life and livelihood in the country. Although the title of the proposed budget speaks of life and livelihood, it has nothing to do with reality. The reality of current life and livelihood has not been properly assessed. If we can't solve the problem properly, how can we solve it? If the problem is not found properly, the solution will not be right. The government has already given an incentive of Tk 1.23 lakh crore to address the economic losses caused by the coronavirus infection. Established industrialists have received the lion's share of this money as low-interest loans. Although little money was disbursed at the farmer level, the institutional and informal sector workers who lost their jobs across the country did not get any help from the tiny and tiny entrepreneurs.

The new proposed budget has also announced to boost trade and commerce. No new tax has been imposed in any sector. On the contrary, tax rates have been reduced in many sectors. The aim of the government is to facilitate trade and commerce with duty-tax exemption facilities. This will provide employment. The budget allocates every year to social security programs to help the needy people of the society. This year also the allocation has been kept and it has been increased. This allotment is to the absolutely helpless class of society such as the elderly, widows. Apart from this, under the social security program, retired officers and employees of government institutions, heroic freedom fighters and scholarships are spent more in these sectors.

The total allocation for the current year was Tk 95,000 crore. Despite spending this money, 46 percent of this class is still out of social security programs. Even if the allocation is increased to Tk 1 lakh 7 thousand crore, 100% of them cannot be brought under the program. Then the new poor people have no chance to get money from this sector. But due to Corona, no allocation has been made in the budget for the poor people. No such initiative has been taken to deliver the money to them, to make a list of those who have lost their jobs and become unemployed.

Professor Rashed Al Mahmoud Titumir, chairman of Development Exploration, said the budget was given during the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic. The first push brought down an unprecedented catastrophe in the economy. Human life and livelihood are in great uncertainty. This is the first time since the 1990s that the poverty rate has risen again. The lack of access to social security programs has exacerbated the plight of low-income, poor, middle-class and women-children; but the budget did not allocate for them.

Traditionally allocated; but sadly, the new budget did not go beyond the norm. There is no mention in the budget of any policy to identify the damage of coronavirus and deal with the damage.


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