Bilawal reports an increase in the BISP payment of 25%.
FM promises to quicken the process of giving flood-affected farmers relief funds.
KARACHI: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the foreign minister, has announced an immediate increase of 25% in the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) stipend amount. He also promised that the Sindh government will speed up the process of giving aid to the flood-affected small farmers.
According to him, the PPP’s politics are centred on delivering justice to the average person.
The concept for this revolutionary programme was presented by Benazir Bhutto in her manifesto, which took into account the poverty, inflation, and economic crisis in the nation, the foreign minister said while speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the registration of deserving women under the BISP through the National Database and Registration Authority on Saturday.
According to him, BISP was created to transform the lives of the nation’s weakest women.
According to Bilawal, the government’s bureaucracy, opposition politicians, and so-called intellectuals opposed the initiative when it was first introduced.
Before the BISP was implemented, critics used to claim that the populace was being reduced to begging. “The same money obtained through the BISP can transform the fortunes of a poor person, a child, or a woman. The amount of Rs. 1,000 may not mean much to many people.”
The FM claimed that President Asif Ali Zardari battled the system as a whole to implement the BISP during his administration, and that by convening meetings once a week at the President House, the impoverished women in the country were given a voice.
He said, “We have made the BISP the most transparent institution. International organisations, including the United Nations, appreciate the BISP and its transparency.”
The PPP chairman said that there were two types of political parties in the world. “The first type says that if the rich are made richer, they will provide employment to more people, while the second type believes that no matter how much the rich are made richer, their scope for providing employment is still the same and limited.”
He added that he had noticed that the richer men were mostly miser men.
Bilawal said that the BISP not only ran a woman’s house, but also small businesses were run along with it. “Even today, there is inflation, unemployment and economic crisis in the country,” he said. “Under these circumstances, in the light of the PPP philosophy, the amount of BISP as well as the number of beneficiaries should be increased as it is a comprehensive tool to reduce poverty in the country.”
The PPP chairman said that it was sad to point out that Imran Khan used to say during his tenure that he did not come to government to see the prices of tomatoes and onions. “But we have to see the prices of tomatoes and onions as well because we are in the government to give relief to the common man.”
He said that if there was to be a cut from anywhere, it was done from the money of the BISP.
Bilawal said that it was the result of the prayers of deserving women of the BISP that the conspirators against this programme failed and this revolutionary programme continued.
Bilawal also appreciated the services of the German ambassador regarding flood victims and the BISP.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and BISP Chairperson Shazia Atta Marri as well as others also spoke on the occasion.
