Pension in Bangladesh

Pension in Bangladesh is very difficult way of work. Many people of Bangladesh is claimed to be a effective and paved the way for doing more by adopting an inclusive welfare policy in the future. This article provides a future vision and road map for designing an inclusive welfare system with the 'national pension system' in view. In Bangladesh only 2 million government employees are entitled to draw retirement pension. Recently poor people with virtually no means of support in old age (above 60 years) are also provided with a cash allowance of Tk. 400(equivalent to USD 5) per month and about 3 million people are enlisted under the Old Age Allowance scheme. The rest of the senior citizens, who even regularly pay income tax during their active life, are not entitled to any retirement pension. The article also attempts to explore ways and means to make the universal national pension system in Bangladesh a reality. The essay suggests creating a symbiotic relationship between taxes and pensioning as well as institutionalizing zakat for to support the safety net designed for the extreme poor.

The Government of Bangladesh and gives priority to the social and economic protection of the extreme poor of the society. The Social Protection Program, which started after the 1990s, has seen considerable progress in terms of bringing the extreme poor of the society under its wider coverage and gradual increase in the allocation of resources from the national budget. According to government calculations, the allocation is not less than 2.02% of the total GDP and constitutes 12% of the public expenditure. The latest government figures claim that the percentage of the poor and extreme poor people in the country has been reduced to 24.4% and 12.9% respectively (GOB-GED, 2015). It is not yet clear whether the Social Security Policy has been finalized based on the basis of a newly accepted NSSS Paper. As a result, there is still room left for affirmative maneuvering. It is obvious that finalization and implementation of the policy are time-consuming, but there is no reason to believe that they are far off. But the directions for financing the whole scheme and the implementation process of the policy are still unclear. It is expected that as a country that is progressing towards the 'middle-income' status and constitutionally promises to be a 'welfare state', [{GOB (1), 2011: Article,15 of the Constitution], the proper implementation of the National Social Security Policy will be deemed to be one of the essential conditions. Keeping that in mind, the aim of this essay is to present some recommendations on the formulation of a forward looking National Social Security Strategy or Social Security Policy conducive for a nascent welfare state aspiring to achieve a middle-income country's economic status.