Dr. Sania Nishtar (Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection) said on Friday that the government has granted Rs 260 billion for the ‘Ehsaas Program’ in Budget 2021-22 to ease poverty and to provide relief to low-income people in society.
The government wants to run the Ehasaas Program with true spirit in 14 different categories for low-income people, including widows, orphans, poor, unemployed, needy students, and special citizens in society.
She said that through the Ehsaas Kafalat Program, we were providing this financial mechanism in 124 districts to low-income people in different regions of the country.
She said that during COVID-19, the government granted relief of Rs 179 billion to 15 million people from different regions of the country. Moreover, She announced that in January 2022 in the next Budget, the government decided to increase the stipend for the ‘Ehsaas Program’ from Rs 12,000 to 13,000.
Dr. Sania Nishtar said that women’s empowerment was the top priority for the government in the upcoming Budget 2021-22 and allocated 50% of total resources to women to provide them with health and education.
SAPM said we evolve the dynamic digital social protection ecosystem for the future to ensure transparency and accountability in our program.
She said that comprehensive research was completed using big data analytics, tracking real-time information about the changing status of the beneficiary, to make social protection adaptable.
Moreover, Dr. Sania Nishtar said that after developing the modern digital data system, nearly 800,000 beneficiaries of the “Ehaas Program” registered under the previous government were disqualified from the program.
During the forum presentation, she also praised the tax relief provided by the government in the budget and said the government waived the tax on industrial raw materials to minimize the cost of doing business in the country.
