Old-age allowance scheme

Yes, this is a pittance and a huge number of senior citizens, who are the most marginalised among the poorest of poor remain outside its orbit. Even so, it is about the only social safety net we have in the country with an enormous potential for expansion.

Given such a huge prospect for taking the scheme forward, the method of distributing the allowance acquires critical importance. What it means is that the beneficiaries will have to be carefully selected -- on purely need-oriented lines. The government seems set to assign the newly formed Gram Sarkar, the lowest tier of local government, with the task of making a list of senior citizens within this fiscal year. The Gram Sarkar, as it functions now, has been hurriedly formed with its representative character being under some question mark. To entrust it with the selection job carries the possibility of a political slant in the decision-making. The cabinet committee has, however, decided that the Gram Sarkar's list will be vetted by a committee headed by the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) before being forwarded to the Ministry of Social Welfare for allocation. In other words, a bureaucrat's say will be final .

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We would like this good scheme to be kept above politics. The distribution of the meagre, yet useful, facility should be need-based, not only in terms of selecting the beneficiaries but extending it to backward areas as well.