KARACHI: Though there is little argument over the fact that the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has indeed delivered the goods for the marginalised, it is not without its share of allegations – fair or unfair, due or undue, but allegations all the same. Ironically, the contentions relate to its entire spectrum: from conception to future sustainability.

The programme has come a long way since it started off in 2008. Initially it was based on referrals from elected representatives, but has since moved on to a detailed national social and economic registry, which is the largest of its kind in the country with details down to the family and household levels. As stressed by a senior BISP official who requested anonymity, the programme has data-sharing and authentication protocols that have been put on the website in order to be “objective in our approach and for people to know that we have nothing to hide”.

Independent economist Faisal Bari, who, among other things, is part of the faculty at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), seems to agree. “To have the ability to identify the needy across the country with some degree of confidence and specificity is an essential part of any such undertaking, and the BISP has chosen to do that through poverty score cards. There may be debate about the mechanics, but it is certainly not too bad a way to do it through,” he says.

“It will have to keep an eye on what are called type A and B errors – inclusion of the non-poor and exclusion of the poor. Whatever data is available does suggest that there have been errors, which are bound to happen in such a large data set, but the data set itself is not that bad and, in fact, it is a great starting point for safety net programmes,” he adds, stressing that the programme’s focus on women participation is something that deserves a word of praise by all concerned.

Having distributed Rs114.4 billion in the last about four years – Rs39 billion in the fiscal ending June 30, 2012, alone – the BISP has now in place a Graduation Initiative that aims at helping the poor in graduating out of the poverty trap. The Waseela-e-Haq, Waseela-e-Rozgar, Waseela-e-Taleem and Waseela-e-Sehat together represent a four-pronged approach towards that end.

While Bari is appreciative of the initiative, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) is not quite in the same boat. It has its reservations – serious reservations. Deputy Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal straightway cites allegations of arm-twisting during elections in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit as well as a string of bye-elections. “The fact that the government’s own coalition partners have raised the issue more than once is in itself a proof of what we have been saying all along.”

The BISP official takes a moment in replying to the accusation. “We did receive some complaints, especially in the wake of elections in the AJK, but none of them could be substantiated. Even the World Bank had been approached by certain quarters in this regard, but it did not find much wrong either,” says the official who hastens to point out the appreciative comments in a recent World Bank report about the BISP.

He also listens patiently to the argument put forward by both Bari and Ahsan about the scenario after the 18th amendment, which has devolved Social Welfare as a subject to the provinces. Bari wants “a cooperative model between the BISP and the provinces”, while Ahsan wants the plan to be rolled back altogether “in line with the Constitution”.

The BISP official’s take on the issue is simple. “The federal Baitul Maal exists alongside its provincial counterparts … and, in any case, alleviating poverty is not something for which the State needs permission of the provinces. The Baitul Maal has an annual outlay of around Rs2 billion. Compare it with BISP’s Rs75 billion and see what we are talking about.”

For good measure, he also has an advice for the naysayer. “Political posturing apart, all parties should at least acknowledge the success of the programme that is the first in the history of the country to address poverty where it exists.” Going with the momentum of his own assertions, he has some claims to make as well. “The BISP has stood the test of time … the test of trust … it can only go forward from here.”

Ahsan Iqbal is clearly not interested, but Bari makes an attempt at rationalisation. “To associate a national programme with Benazir’s name is a problem for longevity of the programme. It shows that some people in the PPP wanted to, and may still want to, show this as a partisan thing and a vote-winner. But what happens if the PPP does not form the government next time? Will the BISP survive … with or without the name? It will be a shame if the programme does not survive, but the future surely is uncertain owing to the nomenclature.”

What Bari sees in the future is actually happening right now. “The whole thing was actually the brainchild of PML-N and the government had simply run away with the plan. It was Ishaq Dar who had planned both the sketch and its details when he was the finance minister as part of the ruling coalition in 2008. He had called it the Pakistan Income Support Programme. When we left the coalition over the party leadership’s principled stand, the PPP simply renamed the scheme and has since used it to earn political mileage,” says Ahsan Iqbal in a tone that is a trifle agitated, and, indeed, suggestive of what lies ahead.