• Inaugurates “dynamic registration” of deserving women through Nadra
• Says Rs1,000 “could change fortune of a poor person”

KARACHI: PPP chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Saturday announced a 25 per cent immediate increase in the amount of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) stipends.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of “dynamic registration of deserving women” under BISP through the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), he announced that the provincial government would accelerate the provision of relief money to small flood-affected farmers.

“The politics of Pakistan Peoples Party is based on safeguarding the rights of the common man,” he said adding that the concept of the revolutionary BISP was given by Benazir Bhutto in her manifesto in view of poverty, inflation and economic crisis in the country.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari said that when the BISP was being launched, the country’s bureaucracy, opposition politicians and so-called intellectuals were against it. “Before the start of the BISP, our opponents used to say that the people were being made beggars,” he said adding that the additional amount of Rs1,000 might not mean much to many, “but the same 1,000 rupees received under the BISP could change the fortunes of a poor person, a child or a mother”.

The PPP chief said that former president Asif Ali Zardari, during his presidency, fought against the entire system to implement the BISP and by holding meetings every week in the President’s House, the poor women across the country were given assistance money within a year.

He said that the BISP had been made the most transparent institution in the country as international organisations including the United Nations appreciated the BISP and its transparency.

The foreign minister said that there were two types of political parties in the world. “The first type of party says that if the rich are made richer, they will provide employment to more people, while the second type of party believes that no matter how much the rich are made richer, their scope of providing employment is still the same and limited,” he said and added that he had noticed that the richer men were mostly miser men.

The PPP chairman said that the BISP not only ran a woman’s house but also small businesses ran along with it. “Even today there is inflation, unemployment and economic crisis in the country,” he said and added that under these circumstances, the amount of the BISP as well as the number of beneficiaries should be increased as it was a comprehensive tool to reduce poverty in the country.

He said that it was sad to point out that former premier Imran Khan used to say during his tenure that he did not come to the government to see the prices of tomatoes and onions. “But we have to see the prices of tomatoes and onions as well because we are in the government to give relief to the common man,” he added.

He said that Imran Khan had a doctrine behind him that if there was to be a cut from anywhere, it was done from the money of the Benazir Income Support Program.

He also appreciated the services of the German Ambassador regarding flood victims and BISP.

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Poverty Alleviation Minister and BISP chairperson Shazia Atta Marri also spoke. Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari was also present.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2023