Income supplement cash grant: Rs 55 billion allocation in next budget required

The government will require making a huge allocation of at least Rs 55 billion in the next budget in order to effectively implement its plan of income supplement cash grant as most of the concerned ministries support direct cash subsidy to the poor.
Sources told Business Recorder on Monday that the allocation for direct subsidy would be additional to the subsidies being considered for other sectors, including agriculture. The government is considering giving Rs 1,000 per month to each family from the proposed 4.5 million families.
The finance ministry has been asked to give this cash grant to approximately two million beneficiaries of Bait-ul-Maal. The National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) has also identified 2.5 million for initial consideration.
According to sources, most of the stakeholders opposed the Bachat Cards scheme of the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) under which the essential commodities are being provided to the needy families at subsidised rates.
The direct cash payment would allow flexibility to the concerned families to purchase food items of their own choice, the sources said. In this regard, the ministry of finance will brief the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet in detail, they added.
Sources said that Nadra has identified more than 2.5 million NIC holders in categories like senior citizens, low-paid employees, widows, disabled and some others. In a recent meeting, it was observed that the people receiving Zakat and Ushr for the time being, might not be included in the targeted people, but there was difference of opinion in this regard.
They said there are different proposals with the government to give this much needed relief to the poorest of the poor as the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities have crippled them.
One proposal under the consideration is establishment of a fund for this purpose and the rich people should be encouraged to contribute to this fund in a big way as the government, according to sources, is not able to handle the situation.
The government is devising the mechanism to properly target the poor, with the support of the rich families of the country, they said. In the past, the subsidies given by the government could not reach the real target and the middlemen actually took all the benefits.
The government provided a huge subsidy on fertilisers, but the farmers could not get the benefit expected by the government. The Bachat Cards Scheme through Utility Stores has also succeeded partially, because USC network is not well spread in the rural areas especially in Balochistan.
The sources said that post offices and bank branches of the National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited, United Bank Limited and MCB Bank have expanded network of their branches and the government could take benefit of their network. The government, according to the sources, is likely to pay the subsidy on quarterly basis.