PM may unveil poverty alleviation programme this week

Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to announce a flagship poverty alleviation programme this week and a Poverty Alleviation Coordination Council (PACC) would be established for its implementation with cooperation of the provincial governments.
Official source told Business Recorder on Monday that the federal government has decided to bring all welfare projects and departments in the provinces including Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) under the ambit of the coordination council to enable the government to coordinate all programmes with the objective of alleviating poverty.
He said the government has dropped the idea of merging all welfare projects into Poverty Alleviation Authority due to legal hitches and not getting a positive response from the provincial governments to bring all public social welfare organisations under one umbrella.
He said the PACC which is expected to be officially notified this week would be mandated to chalk out a poverty alleviation strategy across the country and coordinate with relevant provincial government departments to initiate result-oriented efforts for poverty reduction.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had pledged to unveil poverty alleviation package during the first 100-days of his government. The government intended to create a poverty alleviation unit by bringing together around 16 government and semi-government organisations under one platform, but the provincial governments, under whose authority Zakat and Ushr Departments operated, were not on board.
"For the merger of all these departments, the government has to do it through an act of Parliament after approval of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) but this is not doable in the current political circumstances," he said, adding that public social welfare organisations have been currently working in the center and provinces under different set of laws and acts.
The official said that the coordination council would not interfere in working of the provincial welfare departments but would facilitate them, set specific targets in specific areas to be achieved with the help of the federal government.
The government was earlier planning to set up the authority through an act of parliament or through an official notification, but Ministry of Law and Justice had advised against it as it may have created legal issues between provinces and the Centre, he added.
The coordination council will be mandated to improve technical skills of youth through education, increase employment opportunities, enhance access to financial assistance for promotion of small-sized businesses and provide inexpensive accommodation, social protection and Sehat Insaf Card.
Among all these public welfare organisations, including Bait-ul-Maal and Zakat and Ushr Department, Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) remains the largest in terms of allocation of funds and number of beneficiaries.
The PTI government allocated Rs124.7 billion for BISP for fiscal year 2018-19 to provide monthly cash stipend to around 5.7 million beneficiaries, out of 7.7 million eligible families for the programme as identified through a Poverty Scorecard survey in 2010.