‘I come from Mirpur-10 camp of the Urdu speaking people in Bangladesh. Although the High Court of Bangladesh has acknowledged the ‘citizenship by birth’ of all the post-1971 Urdu speaking people in Bangladesh, still we are largely deprived of civic amenities. It is because of our accent that we get excluded in the job selection exams on a frequent basis,’ when Munna Hossain, a tall and fair-skinned young man in shirt and trouser but with a little surma in his eyes, was addressing a day long programme entitled ‘People’s Budget Assembly 2025’ in the Liberation War Museum on May 23rd afternoon, his particular ‘accent’ and looks could make him easily identifiable from the Bengali young men of his generation in the auditorium.
‘And condition for women in the camp is even worse. For example, 50 persons use one single toilet in our camp and just imagine the condition of pregnant women or young women during their monthly cycles- just think how hapless can be our old, sick or disable inmates of the camp while using such a toilet,’ added another Urdu speaking young woman from the same camp.
‘I am Tajia Mina. I am a trans-gender woman. Most of the people in my community get abandoned by their families as soon as they grow- mostly in poor and uneducated or low educated families. Thanks God that my family was solvent and educated and this is why I have not been abandoned. But still there’s very low employment opportunity for us and people generally accept us candidly,’ said a ‘third gender girl’ to the audience though she was not looking any less pretty or ‘feminine’ than other women in the auditorium.
But what amazed me most was that the comparatively ‘conservative’ Urdu speaking young men and women sat close to the ‘trans-gender women’ and listened to their demands with due attention and respect, a visually impaired person and an indigenous girl sat side by side and there was real ‘diversity’ in the jam-packed auditorium of the Liberation War Museum.
Everybody seemed to be concerned about the budget: will this budget truly reflect their aspirations? How much have been really allocated for the women, people in the climatically vulnerable areas, indigenous people, disable, youth or the trans-genders? Particularly in this post-July context? Are the things going to be better, will remain static or be even worse?
Democratic Budget Movement (DBM), a think-tank organization and some of its national partners like Safety and Rights Society, Access Bangladesh Foundation, Dhrubotara Youth Club and a number of youth rights’ organizations organized the event.
International organizations like European Union (EU), Action Aid Bangladesh (AAB), Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) and others sponsored the programme. The entire programme was divided in separate sessions for women, youth, people of climatically vulnerable areas and others. Economists and policy planners from World Bank, SANEM and different ministries of the Bangladesh government took part in the day long programme.
Why budget is too crucial for all in a state?
Budget originated in ancient Mesopotamia where the first written records of accounting and financial transactions have been found. The Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians used clay tablets, tokens, and seals to record and verify their economic activities, such as trade, taxation, and debt.
In ancient Egypt, the pharaohs and their officials used a complex system of administration and taxation to manage the resources of the state and the temples and the common Egyptians used hieroglyphs, papyri, and ostraca to document and audit their revenues and expenditures, such as grain, livestock, gold, and labor.
In ancient Greece, the city-states and their citizens used democracy and public accountability to regulate their finances and politics and the Greek citizens used coins, inscriptions, and laws to record and report their income and expenses, such as tribute, war, and public works. In ancient Rome, the Romans used ledgers, census, and taxation to measure and monitor their wealth and power, such as land, slaves, and military.
Again in ancient India, China, and Persia, where different kingdoms and dynasties used various forms of religion, philosophy, and culture to guide their financial decisions and actions, these civilizations mostly used scripts, books, and coins to track and manage their resources and values, such as trade, agriculture, and spirituality.
So, we understand that ‘budget’ is a pivotal issue for any state of the human civilization since time immemorial. The question is how we can make it most ‘inclusive’ and incorporate the social lens in it?
Budget 2025-26: How ‘inclusive’ it is going to be?
As already aforementioned that the day long ‘People’s Budget Assembly’, organized by ‘Democratic Budget Movement’ (DBM) was divided into several sessions for women, climatically engendered people, disables or youths in Bangladesh, pros and cons of the ‘Budget 2024-25’ for each of these categories of people were analyzed and later the representatives of the concerned sections raised their demands to the government for their share in the budget 2025-26.
Here some excerpts from those sessions are ascribed below:
National Budget 2024-25: Was it perfect from ‘climate lens?’
Bangladesh government had allotted a total amount of 42,206.89 crores of takas for the climate related activities in the 2024-25 fiscal year (FY) which is 10.09 percent of the national budget and only 0.75 percent of the total GDP of Bangladesh. However, around 67 percent of this amount is meant for development. Although it signals political will of the government for climate change issues but on the other hand, those costs will be incurred in infra-structural development activities.
However, the prioritized sectors in terms of ‘Climate Change Adaptation’ in last year’s budget adhered to the strategic themes of Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plans:
Food Security, Social Safety and Health (41.44%): Nutrition-smart agriculture, health service for mother and children and extension of social safety nets are dealt with by this theme.
Infra-structural development (30.16%): Installation of climate-smart embankments, polders, houses and water drainage system have been emphasized.
Low-carbon development (13.66%): Renewable energy, energy efficiency and improvised mass-transport system have been dealt with by this theme.
Comprehensive Disaster Management (6.35%): Investments made in strengthening pre-warning system, emergency response programme and community shelters.
Research and Knowledge Management (2.47%): Support provided to climate research based organizations, information storage and assisting the signal system.
Empowerment and Organizational capacity (5.91%): Establishing local institutions, training and policy support system were underscored.
Meanwhile, representatives from the coastal areas (Satkhira, Bagerhat), flood prone zones (Kurigram, Gaibandha), drought prone regions (Naogaon, Kushtia), urban centers (Dhaka, Chittagong), urban centers (Dhaka, Chittagong) and hilly regions (Banderbans) shared their grievances in the session. Coastal area representatives and particularly women complained of their reproductive health problems for too much water salinity. They demanded for strengthening the polders, salinity resilient agriculture, making provisions for safe drinking water and installation of cyclone shelters.
People of flood-prone areas complained of destruction of their crops and abodes for flood and river erosion. They demanded for flood desisting embankments, flood resilient seeds and disaster insurance. On the other hand, representatives from drought prone areas complained of a damaged food and agricultural security in their region and demanded for proper infra-structure of irrigation, solar pumps and drought-resilient agri-system.
People of urban centers or mega cities like Dhaka and Chittagong complained of intense heat and humidity, water logging, city traffic and too much wastes in the urban areas. They demanded for more plantation of trees (even at roof-tops), controlling air quality and forest conservation. On the other hand, people from the hilly areas (Banderbans) complained of forest destruction, earth- depletion and landslides. The indigenous representatives demanded for eco-friendly tourism development, maintaining the integrity of the hills and conservation of the forests.
Budget 2024-25: Has it been fine from ‘gender lens’?
The total amount of gender budget in the FY 2024-25 was 4,54, 211.3 crores of taka which was supposed to be implemented under the auspices of 44 Ministries and Departments of GoB. Sadly enough, only 5.6% of this entire allotment has been meant for health, safety, education or training of women.
Women representatives from Dhaka complained of lack of women’s participation in the budget process and inadequacy of security. They demanded for safe housing, legal aid and technological training. On the other hand, wmen representatives from Kurigram complained of lack of reproductive health services and lack of safe shelter during disaster. They sought for maternity allowance, safe work place and court system.
Women of Gaibandha complained of delay in getting allowance for pregnant mothers, lack of budget to resist child marriage. They demanded for establishment of counseling centers, IT-Agri training, Violence Against Women (VAW) Rehabilitation funds etc. Women from Naogaon, another township of North Bengal, complained of lack of budget in the projects for the widows and the pregnant women and limited legal aid. They claimed for micro-credit, health services and legal aid.
Women from Kushtia complained of women’s lack of presence in budget planning and trainings for Climate Change Adaptation (CCA). They sought for technical trainings, resisting child marriage, budget for monitoring system. Women from Bagerhat, a coastal township, complained of lack of reproductive health services and non-inclusion of women in the 35-55 age range. They demanded for health service, micro-credit and safety committees.
Female representatives from Satkhira complained of reproductive health for water salinity and lack of shelters in disaster. They sought for enhancing budget in women related programmes, maternity allowance and women friendly courts. Women representatives from Chittagong, on the other hand, complained of health and safety problems in the urban slums and looked for increasing security measures, establishing training centers and health service.
Women representatives from Banderbans pointed out lack of psychological health services and less participation of women in tourism industry. They demanded for establishing women’s hostels, alternative livelihood and awareness against violence.
Budget 2024-25: Was it okay from ‘youth lens?’
Near about 30 percent of the total population of Bangladesh are young (15-35 years old). In the 2024-25 FY, a total amount of 2,211.95 crores of taka was allotted for the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Of this amount, 1,234.08 crores of takas were estimated for development budget and only 977.87 crores of taka were meant to be in the operational budget.
There is no direct or straight ‘Youth Budget Framework’ except a handful of youth-centered programmes with some other ministries Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Technology, Ministry of Social Welfare or Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.
A study conducted by South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) reveals that only 14 percent projects of the ‘Annual Development Programme (ADP)’s are youth-centered while 60 percent of the projects are not directly linked with the youth.
However, most of the youth representatives in the programme, highlighted on necessity of psychological counseling (as they often suffer from frustration, anxieties and other doubts regarding unsettled livelihood), enhancing budget for them, planning for a participatory budget to include women, adolescent girls, untouchables, indigenous or disable youths, introducing ‘youth banks’ and increasing trainings on climate change adaptation, renewable energy, smart agriculture and IT skills.
Budget 2024-25: How was it for the ‘disable’ people?
According to the report of the ‘World Health Organization (WHO)’ of 2022, around 16 percent of the world population is disable (1300 millions in total). There is, however, no accurate statistics about total number of disable people in Bangladesh.
According to the ‘Population Census and Household Survey 2022,’ that the total number of disable people in Bangladesh is 23,61,604 (around 1.43 percent of the entire population). On the other hand, Department of Social Welfare survey (continued disability identifying programme) has enlisted around 36,18,826 people as ‘disable’ so far. ‘Household Survey 2022’ considers the total percentage of disable people to be 5.71 percent.
According to the ‘National Disability Survey’ of 2021, total number of disable people in Bangladesh is 2.8 percent of the entire population (46,24,441).
Owing to lack of proper data about the exact number of disable population in Bangladesh, proper development planning and budget allocation for this community is getting hindered.
Salient backdrops of ‘inclusion’ of the disability issue in our national budget, according to the programme participants, were lack of effective participation of the disable people in formulating a budget, lack of reflection of the UN Convention on the Rights of the People with Disability- CRPD (2006) and ‘National Disable Peoples’ Rights and Safety Act-2013’, Pneuro-Developmental Disable Peoples’ Safety Trust Act-2013 and ‘Disability Policies and Work Planning’ etc. There are allocations in only 08 out of 140 social safety net prorgammes of ‘Social Welfare Schemes’ for disable people of which 07 are under the Ministry of Social Welfare and 01 is under the Ministry of Education.
‘Work places should be disability-friendly so that a disable young man or young man needs not to give up his or her job for the lack of a mere elevator in the office which she has secured through contesting hard in an exam, ’ mentioned Ms. Dipti Das, a noted educationist cum youth specialist.
Representatives of the disable people also mentioned that generally the living costs for the disable people is much higher than common people and so their monthly allowance needs to be increased from 850 taka in context of the sky-rocketing price-hike. The severely disable people, in addition, need a constant caregiver and the caregiver cannot work or get engaged in any other income generating activities. Hence a caregiver too should get some allowance from the government.
‘Disable children need to be brought under hundred percent educational grant system and schools as well as technical/vocational institutions need to be accessible for them. Visually impaired children need to have access to brail books, accessible e-books and sign language too should be incorporated within the unified education system,’ said Albert Mollah, Executive Director of ‘Access Bangladesh.’
‘The government should import buses accessible (buses with ramps) for the disable people and VAT-TAX and other charges or tariffs need to be withdrawn from the FDR, DPS and other savings schemes for the disable people,’ he added.
Monwar Mostofa of ‘Democratic Budget Movement (DBM),’ said: ‘What we actually need is a new philosophy for the budget where people will be the center of state’s economic activities.’
Professor Dr. Tofail Ahmed, Director of Local Government Reformation Commission, Dr. Mohammad Abdul Majid, former Chairperson of National Revenue Board, Ms. Shaheen Anam, Executive Director of Manusher Jonno Foundation, Dr. Sazzad Jahir, Executive Director of Economic Research Group (ERG), Jesmin Ara, Assistant Director of Department of Women and Children Affairs, Ms. Mousumi Biswas of Action Aid, Kazi Mokhlesur Rahman, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Executive Director of SANEM Dr. Selim Raihan, Syed Rashed Al Jayed Yash, senior economist of World Bank, Trade Union leader Razekujjaman Ratan, Executive Director of ‘Safety and Rights Society’ Mr. Sekandar Ali Minah and other dignitaries graced the occasion.
*Author: Audity Falguni is an author and a freelance journalist- right now she is working in the ‘Media Fellowship Programme’ on ‘Just Energy Transition in the RMG Sector of Bangladesh’ with Safety & Rights, supported by Oxfam of Bangladesh. She can be reached at [email protected]. Views expressed in this article are the author's own.*
MSH
