ISLAMABAD: The federal government has, so far, approved a total of over Rs 173 billion cash assistance among 16.16 million beneficiaries of five categories under Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme after the latest approval of Rs 29.72 billion by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet earlier on Friday, while Rs 149.87 million has already been distributed among 12.378 million beneficiaries.
Official sources told Business Recorder that the ECC meeting was informed that around Rs 30 billion would be released to provide cash assistance of Rs 12,000 each among 3.725 million beneficiaries under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme from allocated budget of Rs 200 billion for this fiscal year 2020-21 and any additional requirement for regular operations of BISP (Benazir Income Support Programme) would be also met from this budget during 2020-21.
The decision came after the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASS) told the ECC that 3.151 million applicants who had applied for assistance through the Short Messaging Service (SMS), were found eligible under the approved criteria but these applicants could not be provided assistance on account of provincial/district quotas, Business Recorder has learnt. The Punjab government had already agreed to provide assistance to 700,000 applicants identified through SMS, leaving 2.451 million eligible applicants who could be provided one-time cash assistance of Rs 12,000 (Rs 3000 for four months) at a total cost of Rs 29.72 billion, sources said. Previously, the federal government had earmarked Rs 144 billion under Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme to provide one-time financial cash assistance of Rs 12,000 each to 12 million beneficiaries whose livelihoods were adversely affected as a result of restrictive measures taken to stem the spread of coronavirus in Pakistan. These 12 million beneficiaries were divided into three categories. However, with the inclusion of categories III-A and IV, the number of funds and beneficiaries have been revised with almost Rs 194 billion (Rs 193.96 billion exactly) to be distributed among 16.16 million beneficiaries under Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme.
As of July 3, Rs 149,879.90 million was distributed among 12,384,243 beneficiaries including Rs 56,240.41 million distributed among 4,580,952 beneficiaries under category-I, Rs 42,031.10 million among 3,502,592 beneficiaries under category-II, Rs 34,745.53 million among 2,895,461 beneficiaries under category-III, Rs 4,348.25 million among 362,354 beneficiaries under category-III A and Rs 12,514.61 million have been distributed among 1,042,884 beneficiaries under category-IV, according to official data issued by PASS.
The eligible persons for Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme have been identified from the most vulnerable groups in Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) through a combination of the existing socioeconomic registry maintained by Ehsaas, SMS registration and web-based registration with stringent verification processes. The federal government says, the focus of this programme has been on the fastest possible delivery by leveraging existing digital capabilities particularly data analytics, biometrically enabled precision payments and data driven accountability.
Additionally, the federal government has also opened a range of assistance initiatives through Ehsaas Rashan Portal, Ehsaas Langar and Panagahs to empower welfare organizations to play a well-coordinated role with the government in responding to the COVID-19.
"Striking a balance between safety and social protection, Ehsaas Interest Free loans amounting to Rs. 24. 08 billion have been disbursed, so far, to 712, 852 borrowers," an official told Business Recorder.
It merits mentioning here that 16.16 million beneficiaries of Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme include 4.27 million beneficiaries of BISP (Kifaalat Programme). Till December 2019, the total number of BISP beneficiaries was 5.9 million out of which 820,165 beneficiaries were declared ineligible and removed from BISP's list which included 142,556 government employees including 2,543 gazetted officers (Grade 17 to 21). The remaining number of BISP beneficiaries after removal of 820,165 beneficiaries was 4.27 million. With the launch of Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme that saw the addition of 7.73 million new beneficiaries as well as 4.27 million BISP beneficiaries, the total number of beneficiaries was recorded at 12 million. With addition of more 4.16 beneficiaries, the total number of beneficiaries, till date, is 16.16 million.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020