Budgetary constraints: Fiscal tightening leaves two million families high and dry

ISLAMABAD:

Stipends to 1.79 million beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Programme have been stopped by the government, due to budget constraints.

Under the new rules, families scoring 16.17 or less, out of a total 100 points in a poverty survey, will be entitled to Rs1,000 monthly cash handouts, the prime minister stated in his written reply submitted to the Senate. Earlier, those with a score of 17 or less were eligible for the welfare stipends.

The belt-tightening means around 2 million families will not receive any more handouts, majority of them in the Punjab.

According to details, around 1 million families in Punjab, over 0.42 million in Sindh, 0.3 million in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 0.12 million in Balochistan, 40,000 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 24,000 families in Gilgit-Baltistan will no longer receive their BISP stipends.

The budget cut leaves around 6 million families that will continue to receive income support from the state.

Awami National Party Senator Haji Adeel questioned the procedures laid down for formulating the new eligibility criteria.

“Families having a higher score might also be poor but cannot be accommodated due to budgetary constraints at this stage,” responded a BISP official.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2012.