Social safety net coverage for urban poor insufficient: expert

Business Desk :
The government should raise the coverage of social safety net in the urban areas as it is extremely insufficient in comparison with the rural areas, said an expert on Thursday.
Some 33 per cent of the marginal people get benefits in rural areas under social safety net programmes while only 9 per cent get in urban areas, said Dr Asif Shahan, an associate professor of Development Studies at Dhaka University.
Shahan was speaking at a seminar on “Price Hike, Access to Social Protection and Food Security” at CIRDAP International Conference Centre in Dhaka. Right to Food Bangladesh, a right body on food security, organised the event, in association with Wave Foundation and Asia Foundation.
He also urged the authorities concerned to overhaul the social safety net programme so that marginal people from both rural and urban areas get equal opportunities.
He further said Covid-19 has eventually made the matter worse.
He also urged the government to design an effective social protection strategy for the urban poor allowing them to be resilient to the onslaughts of the pandemic.