BISP (Benazir Income Support Program) was launched in October 2008 to provide social security cover to families living under absolute poverty with an initial allocation of Rs34 billion by the government which increased to Rs70 billion during
2011-12 to cover almost 5.5 million families across the country. The program was just another miserable attempt of PPP to make billions in corruption, however, not for Swiss accounts only this time, since the funds were distributed to lower class PPP supporters (and potential supporters).Pakistani Tax payers' over Rs139 billion were poured down the drain in a project without any ROI (Return on Investment) and positive impact on poverty alleviation. The main focus of the program was to retain voters in several areas of Sindh and South Punjab. In one cabinet meeting, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh was reported to have said that the economy would not improve when it was not going in the right direction, and when the government was offering billions of rupees in cash to the people. The loans were best suited for income-generating projects, not for direct or indirect subsidies, he had said.
PML-N, its manifesto says, will introduce the concept of social entrepreneurship to ensure that the additional cash grants given to vulnerable communities for supporting their limited income do not end up being counterproductive.
It will encourage public-private partnerships to take full advantage of the capacity already built by numerous community organisations to respond to emergencies and national calamities. It plans to legislate the ‘Right to Food’ as a fundamental right to make sure that the poor have access to affordable food grains in all parts of the country. The procurement programmes will be strengthened so that all farmers receive the guaranteed support price for grains.
PTI, however, does not talk about any cash transfers or loans to the poor. Research has shown, its manifesto says, that economic growth does not always benefit the poor. Nor is there evidence that micro-finance has led to reduction in poverty. Instead, it is the ownership or access to assets (land and/or cattle) which is the single most powerful variable in the rural areas that reduces the chances of being poor by 55 per cent. In urban areas, employment reduces the chances of being poor by 45 per cent. Rural poverty incidence among families owning some land, even as low as one acre, is 17 per cent and among families that own no land, it is 32 per cent.
The focus of PTI’s poverty reduction strategy is on rural land reforms under which the maximum number of rural households should own a minimum-specified area of land. Similarly, the state and military controlled land in urban areas needs to be allocated for development of housing estates, with on average three marla/80 square yards plots. Pakistan People’s Party plans to raise the amount of monthly cash payments to the very poor from Rs1000 to Rs2000 which it can do in Sindh only where it is forming its government.
Source: New governments to fine-tune BISP
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