Impact of Old Age Allowance on Elderly Welfare in Rural Bangladesh: A Study of Godagari Upazilla in Rajshahi District

Abstract

Old age is the terminating stage of human life cycle. It is a natural phenomenon and none can avoid it if there occurs no premature death. Old age is normally characterized by some degenerative symptoms and downhill conditions of life. In Bangladesh, aged people are facing various unexpected sufferings, which are mainly due to poverty and health related complications. Considering the pitiful financial conditions of aged, the government of Bangladesh launched a new social security program named 'bayaska bhata' (allowance for the aged) from 1997, under which 10 of the poorest and most vulnerable old persons (five men and five women) of each Ward (unit of a union council) are given a monthly allowance of Tk. 100 each to help the aged persons settle on a smooth social and economic life track. The present study aims at assessing the impact of old age allowance on elderly welfare in rural Bangladesh. This research is evaluative in nature. Data were collected from 344 (22% of total receivers) beneficiaries using simple random sampling from Godagari Upazilla of Rajshahi district, Bangladesh to assess the conditions of rural old age allowance receivers. Face-to-face interview was administered with a structured questionnaire to rural old age allowance receivers to draw empirical data. Descriptive analyses of data using various statistical tools were made to trace out the impact of old age allowance. Social Survey was conducted to collect primary data and case study method was used to go deep into the problem and two focus group discussions were made to evaluate the impact of old age allowance (OAA). The results show that the mean age of the respondents is 71.42 years with a range of a minimum of 50 years and a maximum of 120 years. The results also portray that about 2.33% of the study respondents are receiving OAA, breaking the rules of the minimum age of eligibility of receiving OAA. More than sixty percent of the aged are illiterate. A little more than half of the respondents are living jointly with other family members. Most of the male respondents are engaged as day laborer and females are housewives. About 90% of the respondent’s arc suffering from some kind of health related complications. The study brings to light that OAA helps them to meet their basic needs such as food, clothing and medicine etc. on their own. In Bangladesh society, normally, aged persons are treated as a burden to family and society if they do not have sufficient income. Although OAA gives a very scanty amount, it exerted a positive impact on the social life of the aged persons especially in resorting and improving familial relation with son, daughter other relatives and neighbors. It helped aged persons to be grounded on a better position and in becoming a respected person in the society. The small amount of old age allowance exerts little economic impact on the aged people. But the social impact of this allowance is very significant. The aged people have accepted this program positively. The study shows that the amount of the allowance is not sufficient and the beneficiaries are very unhappy with the small amount. The beneficiaries suggest for scaling up the amount so that they can invest it in income generating activities. In getting OAA, about 60% of the respondents faced multidimensional problems. More than 30% of the respondents reported that they had to pay some money in getting the allowance. About 20% of them reported that they did not get the allowance timely. Though the old age allowance is not significant economically, socially it bears great significance. If the policy of OAA program is implemented effectively, the amount of money received as allowance is increased and if aged persons invest it in familial income generating activities then the OAA program can be significant from both of the social and economic point of view. The government should take necessary steps to make the OAA program effective and fruitful through various initiatives.