Ineligible BISP beneficiaries

Misuse of public assistance programmes and welfare schemes is pretty widespread in our country


Editorial December 25, 2019

The PTI government should be commended for taking steps to keep the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) safe from any fraud and misuse, and maintain transparency in the criteria for doling out sums under what is described as the largest social safety programme that caters to about 5.1 million needy families across the country. In a recent step, the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division – under the supervision of Dr Sania Nishtar, the BISP Chairperson and PM’s Special Assistant – used the Proxy Means Test (PMT) methodology to ascertain the eligibility of BISP beneficiaries, and detected no less than 600,000 individuals with “improved socio-economic status”.

In line with the PMT methodology, the division carried out an analysis of the living standards of all BISP beneficiaries. The division then made its recommendations to the federal government, noting that the “demographic and socio-economic status, as well as the composition of households, change with time” and “some of these [BISP] beneficiary households have become relatively better-off” over time which necessitates that their names do not feature among those benefiting from the social safety programme. Thus, on the recommendations of the division, the federal government approved the removal of the mentioned number of individuals from the list of BISP beneficiaries.

Misuse of public assistance programmes and welfare schemes is pretty widespread in our country. It’s done without a shred of shame, and carried on without a tad of guilt. There are people who find it their right to do whatever good or bad they can to prove their eligibility to grab any doles. And there are people who believe cheating is an art and hardly hesitate in making use of this art to usurp the rights of those truly eligible. Unfortunately, the absence of watchful eyes among the authorities and the absence of a proper system to detect fraud encourage con artists and provide them ample opportunity to display their talent and skill. Dr Nishtar thus deserves to be applauded.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2019.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ