KARACHI: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government has embarked upon an ambitious nationwide scheme from the platform of the Benazir Income Support Programme for social mobilisation and financial literacy of deserving women across the country, a state minister and chairperson of the programme has said.

Speaking at a meeting attended by social mobilisers and BISP officials from Thatta, Malir and Sujawal districts on Sunday, MNA Marvi Memon said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was committed to strengthening the BISP to empower poverty-stricken women of the country.

“For the very purpose a pragmatic approach has been adopted to ensure that an optimum number of deserving women on the BISP database genuinely get benefit,” she said.

She added that it was not only that the support money had been raised for deserving women from Rs1,000 to Rs1,200 and then to Rs1,500 by the PML-N government, but attention was also being paid to ensure that no genuinely deserving women were missed out.

“It is with this goal that BISP officials of all districts of Pakistan along with social mobilisers from every union council are being engaged in each province, each district, each UC for social mobilisation of those women already on the BISP approved lists as per survey conducted. The goal is to ensure that millions of women on the BISP database who do not have access to the Computerised National Identity Card are first given CNICs and then BISP cards so that their yearly 2014-15 stipend does not lapse. The next few months are critical for ensuring that the maximum number of women approved for cards are not left out simply because of not being traceable,” she added.

She said that the government was cognizant of the fact that these marginalised women were also vulnerable to exploitation and thus the government was making efforts to create financial literacy among them to help them protect themselves against unscrupulous elements.

She asked the BISP officials and social mobilisers from all the districts to realise their responsibilities and develop close coordination to safeguard BISP recipients from being hoodwinked by middleman, brokers or any unscrupulous element.

“You must sensitise them to the fact that there is absolutely no role of middleman or any person seeking share or commission,” she said.

And they could approach officials through toll-free number 0800-26477 paving the way for the registration of an FIR against such unscrupulous elements, she added.

Director general of BISP-Sindh Zafarullah Soomro, focal person for BISP-Sindh, and BISP director for Karachi Naveeda Erum assured the meeting participants that service level in the BISP would improve.

They were informed that all relevant stakeholders, including National Database and Registration Authority officials and authorities concerned were also on board while mapping was under way to ensure that automated teller machines were available in accordance to the number of recipients in each taluka and district.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2015

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