The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N)-led government will not abandon Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), however the party intends to depoliticise the programme by making it more targeted, so that its benefits could reach the vulnerable segments of the society, Ahsan Iqbal, the party's Deputy General Secretary told Business Recorder on Saturday.
The BISP was prepared, when Ishaq Dar of PML-N was Finance Minister as the coalition partner of the Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian-led (PPPP) coalition government, with the objective to provide financial assistance as well as social protection and safety net to economically distressed individuals and families, Ahsan said. However, he said that PPPP later politicised BISP to eke out political mileage. PML-N, he said, intended to depoliticise the programme, but it would not be abandoned. The party intends to propose changes for making the programme more focussed in the upcoming budget (2013-14), said Ahsan Iqbal, adding that the party would ensure an effective social protection programme to safeguard the interests of vulnerable segments of the society.
Qaiser Bengali, an economist and ex-co-ordinator of BISP, said that although PML-N had secured the mandate to form the government in the center, but it could not change the name of the programme until the party shows its majority in the Senate as well.
Talking to Business Recorder, Qaiser Bengali said that BISP was launched through an act of parliament and amendments in it could only by made through parliament. Another way to change the name of the programme or make amendments in it is through a Presidential order, and it can happen only when the PML-N backed President is in power, however such orders lapse after three months, said Bengali.
Lahore High Court (LHC) recently dismissed a petition seeking change in the name of BISP. The chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial observed that the BISP was a political affair and part of the government's policy, therefore, the court had no jurisdiction to interfere in such matters.
PML-N in the past had twice attempted to rename BISP, however it failed. In 2008, former finance minister Ishaq Dar had proposed naming BISP Pakistan Income Support Programme (PISP) but President Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP leadership rejected the proposal. When a former minister in-charge of the Cabinet Secretariat moved the bill to provide for the establishment of the Benazir Income Support Programme (The Benazir Income Support Programme Bill, 2009), PML-N legislator, Zahid Hamid moved an amendment in the bill saying the name National Income Support Programme should substitute the BISP. The amendment was rejected and PML-N was compelled to withdraw its proposal to rename BISP.
According to the data available on BISP website, for 2012-13 government had earmarked Rs 70 billion to provide cash assistance to 5.5 million families, which constitutes almost 18 percent of the entire population. The Programme aims at covering almost 40 percent of the population below the poverty line. The enrolled families are paid cash assistance of Rs 1000 per month on quarterly basis apart from benefits provided under graduation strategy such as: long-term interest-free returnable financial assistance, vocational and technical training, health and life insurance coverage.