The invisible side
HOW far has the women's cause been represented in the current fiscal year's budget? Or of the other marginalised groups like hardcore poor, people with disabilities and the indigenous people?
Let us deal with the issue of women's representation first. Although Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith, in his budget speech on June 11, said that the government would initiate positive steps to ensure gender equity across the economy, incorporation of gender and poverty disaggregated data in the budget still waits for the medium term budget framework period (The Daily Star, June 12).
The budget of the fiscal year 2009-10 proposes to give priority to providing credit to women entrepreneurs, increasing allowance for the lactating mothers from Tk.50 to Tk.350 (total allocation behind this particular category would amount to Tk.33.60 crore), allocating Tk.25 crore as allowance for lactating low-income working mothers in urban areas and Tk.70 crore for maternity health voucher scheme (The Daily Star, June 12).
The new budget has also proposed Tk.75.60 crore for employment generation in the char or shoal areas, where most of the workers under the scheme would be women. The promises really sound good; if only they can get implemented!
The finance minister underscored the necessity of reinstating the women development policy formulated by the Awami League government in 1997. Despite "political will" of the present government and pro-active initiatives on part of the women's organisations, implementation of the policy might face serious obstacles from the clerics and hardcore rightist forces of Bangladesh, whose influence in shaping the people's sentiment cannot be ignored.
When we glance at the budget allocation for the hardcore poor, the situation looks even worse. Among the total 28 million hard-core poor, each will receive only Tk.420 annually, while the government will be able to manage work only for five days a year for each of them under a project meant for them, experts commented in another report published in the Daily Star on June 17.
The report says that Prantik Manusher Sanghati, a platform of 11 organisations working with the hard-core poor, organised a seminar in the city on June 16 and presented a key-note paper. The paper has revealed that the current year's budget attempts to create employment for 49 lakh man-months, which means work for five man-days for each of them. The budget provides allocation of Tk.1,176 crore for 28 million hard-core poor, but each of them will receive only Tk.420.
The situation of people with disabilities is the worst. According to the statistics provided by certain rights based organisations on disability, around 98% of the people with disability are jobless while 96% of them do not have any opportunity to get an education. With these people outside the development program, the Vision 2021 goal of the present government seems to be a distant cry.
The disability rights-based organisations, in addition, implored the government to raise the monthly allowance of poor people with disabilities from Tk.300 to Tk.500, and to make provision for specific budgetary allocation for people with disabilities during natural disasters and particular allocation for the mothers of people with disabilities.
They also demanded 16 seats in the National Parliament for people with disabilities, and implementation of their 10% quota in government service, including 5% quota in the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) cadre.
Newspapers are yet to publish the categorically separated allocation for indigenous people in the budget. So far, we could only know that the highest allocation of Tk.5,877 crore has been proposed for the Food for Work Program, Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), Vulnerable Group Development (VGD), Test Relief (TR-Food), Gratuitous Relief (GR-Food) and also for food assistance in CHT.
But, where is the provision for food assistance for the indigenous people of North Bengal, Sylhet and broader Mymensingh region, and the disaster-prone coastal belt region? The recent attack on and forceful eviction of 56 landless Santal families in Naogaon, North Bengal, warns us to think more cautiously on this issue, and the government should also consider the safety and welfare of indigenous people through budgetary intervention.
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