Widespread flaws in beneficiary selection of “Amar Bari, Amar Khamar” project unearthed

Widespread flaws in the beneficiary selection under the “Amar Bari, Amar Khamar” (My house, My farm) project has been unearthed as ineligible households have been included in the much-hyped scheme. Non-deserving members, especially the influential or their close ones joined the village development organisations and received assets distributed initially by concerned functionaries of the government, frustrating the greater aims and objectives of the programme, a new BIDS study says.
The research fellows of the autonomous think tank — Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies — have conducted the research on the Tk 7,885 crore projects. They demonstrated the comprehensive findings of the study at the Annual BIDS Conference on Development 2022, which took place in the capital recently.
It has been explored that the inclusion of ineligible households has totally frustrated the very purpose of this project drawn in the interest of the country’s economy, The BIDS has categorically focused on this important issue which has jeopardised the very mission, vision and ambition of the relevant government functionaries. The loopholes show how the said beneficiary selection has unsettled the methodology of this robust and vigorous development project based on greater objective criteria. Even the research found that no quantitative data was collected beforehand about the potential members.
Mentionable, the study — Micro Savings, Poverty Reduction and Economic Empowerment: Evidence from “Amar Bari, Amar Khamar” project — was conducted among 4,800 households with 2,880 beneficiaries and 1,920 non-beneficiary households from across the country. The project, taken in 2009, was aimed at alleviating poverty based on a new concept of micro-savings and matching grants. The prevalent corruption, nepotism has seriously marred the very objective of the project.
This was not the first time the project faced questions. Many times it faced queries as the target group was poor, unprivileged and marginal people who were constantly facing a food crisis, it was categorically said.
Earlier, the government also set up Palli Sanchay Bank to provide an institutional structure for the activities carried out under the project in 2014. Although the targeting was not perfect, a majority of poor households were included in that project. “Despite several challenges, the project contributed considerably to the wellbeing of the beneficiary households,” said the researchers.
In view of that the relevant government authorities must have to be efficient and honest before launching such nationwide development projects, because greater mission and vision is necessitated to halt all such loopholes in the best interest of the people. Otherwise, any project taken will not yield any positive result.