Editorial
Lean season employment in a mess
Let the ultra-poor benefit according to plan
Arecent report highlights how a well-intentioned and much-needed government employment scheme has run into unforeseen difficulties. Intended to provide employment coverage to 50,000 among the ultra-poor for 40 days in monga-prone areas in northern Bangladesh, the programme remains a non-starter.
The date of expiry of the scheme being April 20, at least 15,000 among the targeted poor risk going jobless at their hour of extreme need. The plan was to offer Tk 120 per day in lieu of some infrastructure-related work. In other words, it is a double-edged loss -- one, in terms of cash in hand to feed; and two, some tangible work that would have been in place will be missed.
What is more disquieting is that the allocated funds might have to be returned if the 20th April deadline is overshot. We suggest an extension of the deadline in a context where subsistence support is always needed, so why not extend it anyhow. But then, if the scheme were timely implemented in the thick of monga how much more thankful would they have been.
The tragic lesson here is that there is nothing wrong with plans and programmes and money too has been placed; yet due to human follies these could not get started. In the present case, it is the second phase of the pro-poor scheme that is in jeopardy, instructively out of character with a 60-day employment generation programme conducted in November-December last year quite effectively barring a few hiccups.
What baffles one even more is that this time the selection committees comprised elements from all major political parties. But it appears that feuding in the unions got reflected in the committees which was compounded by factional feuds in the ruling Awami League. And, the upshot of all these has been that no agreed lists of beneficiaries could be drawn up.
We urge an early intercession at some level of the government to make sure that the programme is completed to the benefit of all those ultra-poor who are looking for whatever succour they can get. Besides, why deny them the opportunity of contributing their mite to the embellishment of the rural infrastructure?
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