According to the preliminary report titled "Household Income and Expenditure Survey" released in 2006, Sylhet division having second lowest poverty rate received the highest SSNP benefits whereas Barisal with the highest number of poor people got the third largest SSNP funds.

The BBS report revealed that Sylhet received 22.42 percent of the SSNP funds for its 33.8 percent inhabitants who live under the poverty line. Meanwhile, Barisal got 13.34 percent fund where the poverty rate is 52 percent.

Dhaka division having the lowest poverty rate with 32 percent bagged 14.27 percent of the SSNP funds, the second highest allocation.

Khulna received the lowest with only 9.58 percent of SSNP funds where the poverty rate is 45.7 percent.

Rajshahi has the second highest poverty rate with 51.2 percent of its population living under the poverty line and the division received 12.07 percent fund.

In the proposed budget for FY08, the government has increased allocation for SSNP by 36 percent to compensate low-income groups for the rising price of essentials.

The amount of SSNP fund was Tk 1,669 crore in the revised budget for FY07 and the finance adviser has proposed for Tk 2,273 crore funds for FY08.

When contacted, Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam told The Daily Star on Monday, "It's our policy to make more allocations for poverty-prone areas. So we will consider this while distributing the funds."

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, the former finance adviser Akbar Ali Khan said, "The government can make additional allocations and distribute to upazilas where the poverty rate is high."

"Earlier, the SSNP fund allocations were not determined on the basis of the poverty rates," Akbar said adding the government now can identify upazilas with the highest poverty rates and distribute the funds.

He said the SSNP beneficiaries have never been politicised as most SSNPs were initiated during the Awami League government and largely left untouched by the past BNP-led government.

The former adviser viewed that the government should take initiatives to check leakages in fund distribution to ensure that beneficiaries get full payment.

A World Bank report titled 'Social Safety Nets in Bangladesh: An Assessment' found 27 percent of VGD beneficiaries are not poor, and 47 percent of Primary Education Stipend Program (PESP) beneficiaries are non-poor and 11 percent do not meet any of the criteria.

It also found that three percent of the total poor were missed out from the SSNP due to wrong selection and beneficiaries getting multiple programmes.

A planning ministry report corroborates these findings stating that close to half of the people receiving PESP benefits are non-poor and are not eligible.

Akbar said although enrolment has increased as a result of increasing PESP, the number of teachers and school equipment have not increased in tandem with the rise in student numbers. "The government should focus on this aspect," he added.

The World Bank report recommended specifying programme objective and target beneficiaries more clearly and tighten administrative procedures.

The SSNPs include old-age allowance, allowances for widowed, deserted and destitute women, honorarium for insolvent freedom fighters, programme for the assistance of the fully retarded, mitigating natural disaster risks, rehabilitation of acid victims and physically handicapped, fund for seasonal unemployment reduction, primary education stipend programmes, funds for vulnerable group development (VGD) and vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programmes, test relief and gratuitous relief, among others.