Number of Ehsaas Kifalat programme beneficiaries increased to 7m

PM Imran says protection of citizens and growth of economic activities are key govt objectives

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Imran Khan granted approval on Saturday to increase the number of beneficiaries of the Ehsaas Kafaalat programme from 4.6 million to 7 million.

The prime minister’s approval came in a meeting regarding preparation of the Ehsas Kifalat programme. The meeting was attended by PM’s Finance Adviser Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar and senior officers.

The Ehsaas Kafaalat is a government programme through which it gives monthly cash stipends of Rs2,000 to the most deserving and poorest women across the country. The programme is parallel to the Ehsaas policy initiative through which women also get better access to smartphones.

Addressing the meeting, the prime minister said that the entire focus of the government is on economic recovery. In view of the pandemic, he added, both protection of the citizens and stabilisation and growth of the economic activities were the key objectives.

Imran said that the poor people were the ones mostly affected by the situation created by coronavirus and there was a need for expanding the scope of the Ehsaas programme as much as possible. He directed for finalising the Ehsaas Kafalat programme as soon as possible.

SAPM Dr Nishtar apprised the meeting that the corona pandemic had increased the hardships of the weaker sections of the society all over the world and countries around the world had provided economic packages for the public good in the face of the pandemic.

She said that Pakistan was one of those countries which successfully fought against the pandemic and added that the government allocated additional assistance for the public welfare and the initiatives were being appreciated by international organisations and the United Nations.