K-P tops list of ousted BISP beneficiaries

Over 0.27m people removed from programme in province

ISLAMABAD: The majority of the people recently removed from the list of Benazir Income Support Programme beneficiaries for being undeserving belong to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) -- 277,266 (33.81%) of the total of 820,165 who have been stopped from availing the facility.

The government has defended the move saying that the standard of living of the beneficiaries excluded from the programme was above the criteria set for poor people.

Punjab comes second after K-P where the number of beneficiaries removed from the BISP list stands at 243,380 (29.67%). In Sindh, 183,342 (22.32%) beneficiaries were axed, followed by 42,280 (5.52%) in Balochistan, 43,445 (5%) in erstwhile Fata, 17,361 (2.12%) in Azad Kashmir, 8,297 (1.01%) in Gilgit-Baltistan and 2,094 (0.26%) in Islamabad Capital Territory.

A poverty-targeted cash transfer, the BISP provides a regular stipend to over five million families. Almost 90% of BISP initiatives are funded by the government and the remaining 10% comes from donor organisations including the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and the UK’s Department for International Development.

Each deserving household receives a quarterly grant of Rs 5,500 while a stipend of Rs1,000 is provided for each school-going child based on their attendance.

In an interview with APP, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar said other projects including Waseela-i-Rozgar, Waseela-i-Haq and Waseela-e-Sehat launched under the BISP in 2008 had also been shut down because of mismanagement and corruption.

The government’s move has drawn the opposition’s ire, particularly the PPP, which had launched the initiative.

PTI govt approves removing over 0.6m people from BISP

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has described the PTI government’s move as “an attack on the economic empowerment of poor women in the country”.

Responding to the criticism, Dr Nishtar said politics should be avoided in some areas.

“National interest should come first while giving statements,” she added. “Our own interest lies in the progress of national institutions and strengthening them is indispensable for improving the lives of poor citizens.”

PTI leaders have repeatedly claimed that most of the BISP beneficiaries had been recommended by PPP and PML-N to consolidate their position in their strongholds of Sindh and Punjab, respectively.  However, K-P, where the PTI is in power since 2013, has the highest number of “undeserving” BISP beneficiaries.

(With additional input from APP)