KARACHI, Aug 31 (APP): President Dr Arif Alvi on Saturday appreciated Sindh government for initiating public friendly laws and invited it to actively take part in the Ehsaas Programme in the larger interest of people, particularly the marginalzed segments of the society.
Addressing a session organized at the Governor House here, to apprise Sindh based stakeholders about the initiative, The President said it was time for all public representatives to rise above their political affiliation and work together for a cause aimed at upliftment of the people.
The parliamentarians from Sindh and members of the provincial cabinet as well as academics, social rights activists and representatives of the NGOs from across the province were on the occasion given a detailed presentation by Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation.
Citing himself as a representative of all provinces at the federal level, the President said he felt it his responsibility to help bring all provincial governments and political parties to join hands in addressing the tremendous challenges country is facing, in particular context of health, education and poverty.
Terming these to be inter-linked, President Alvi reiterated that this was nothing to do with politics or political scoring but to pay back to the country and its people who have placed their confidence on their representatives.
Reiterating that education, health and poverty alleviation were closely linked, he said there was need to capture the culture of elitism manifested in form of corruption.
President Alvi said the need that Sindh government may ensure active participation in the programme, in addition to what it is already doing for public welfare, particularly suggested its active engagement in Health Card Program.
How we can ignore the fact that ailment leads towards poverty and it is time that people in needed are assisted under this head, he said.
Earlier, Dr. Sania Nishtar in her detailed presentation said Ehsaas Programme launched in March this year only envisages to turn Pakistan into a social welfare state in accordance to the vision of Prime Minister M Imran Khan.
Emphasizing that it must not be politicized in any manner, Dr. Sania Nishtar said that Ehsaas Program was an umbrella of different initiatives of the government to address poverty and inequality.
It was said to be the biggest program of its kind in the country based on four pillars and under which 134 different schemes were being undertaken by 34 different ministries.
Dr.Nishtar strongly dispelled that Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) was being shelved and clarified that it was being improved.
Later the participants raised their queries that were duly responded by the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation.
She also had a session with the media representatives during which she assured that measures would also be taken to ensure minimum wage limit for the media workers, as already introduced for other workers, with due provision that they were not denied of their rights.
To another query, she said under the Ehsaas Program portal of human resource development provision to enhance capacity building of journalists can also be incorporated to help those keen to switch to digital media in accordance to modern day needs.
Source : VNS Karachi
