ISLAMABAD Oct 06 (APP): President Mamnoon Hussain has appreciated Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for playing a key role for the socio-economic welfare of the poorest of the poor and vulnerable segment of society particularly the overall mission of empowering women.
The President was talking to Minister of State/Chairperson BISP, Marvi Memon, who called on him at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, Islamabad on Thursday. On the occasion, Chairperson BISP presented Annual Report of her organization to the President.
The President noted with satisfaction that in the last three years, the government has placed special emphasis on the expansion of BISP and improvement in its delivery mechanism. The President appreciated that the incumbent government, keeping in view the importance of acquiring education, has invested in the complementary Waseela-e-Taleem (Wet) programme of BISP to financially support the primary education of children of BISP beneficiary families to increase the ratio of school enrolment and retention.
The President expressed satisfaction that BISP, under the leadership of its Chairperson, is working day and night to ensure transparency in its affairs and to enhance the utility of the programme in coordination with all stakeholders. The President appreciated that BISP has not only become the biggest social welfare programme in South Asia but is also one of the largest and effective programmes in the world which is bringing change in the lives of millions of people across the country.
The President expressed his good wishes for the administration, workers and leadership of BISP and hoped that through their efforts the programme will be made further effective for the betterment of the poorest of the poor.
Chairperson BISP informed that BISP provides quarterly stipends to over 5.3 million families and it has successfully achieved all Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) under World Bank, DFID and ADB projects. She further apprised that the present government has increased the stipend from Rs 3000/- to Rs 4834/- per quarter and budgetary allocations to Rs. 115 billion in FY 2016-17. BISP has initiated Biometric Verification System (BVS) for payments that will be extended to the whole country. Marvi Memon also stated that resurvey for National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) update has been initiated since June 2016 which will be concluded by March 2017 in two phases.
APP/ Hamza/VNS Islamabad
