Bilawal announces 25% increase in BISP stipends

FM says PPP’s policies aim at provision of justice to common man

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday said there would be an immediate increase of 25% in the amount of Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) stipends and provision of relief money by the government of Sindh to the flood-affected small farmers would also be accelerated.

He said that the politics of the PPP was based on provision of justice to the common man.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of dynamic registration of deserving women under BISP through NADRA, the Foreign Minister said that the concept of this revolutionary program was given by Benazir Bhutto in her manifesto looking at the poverty, inflation and economic crisis in the country. He said that the purpose of Benazir Income Support Program was to revolutionize the lives of the weakest women in the country.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that when that program was being launched, the country’s bureaucracy, opposition politicians and so-called intellectuals were against it. Before the start of the BISP, our opponents used to say that the people were being made beggars. Rs 1000 may not mean much to many people, but the same 1000 rupees received under the Benazir Income Support Program can change the fortunes of a poor person, a child or a mother.

The foreign minister said that during the PP tenure, President Asif Ali Zardari fought against the entire system to implement the Benazir Income Support Program and by holding meetings every week in the President’s House, the poor women across the country were given assistance money within a year. He said that we have made the BISP the most transparent institution. International organizations including the United Nations appreciate the BISP and its transparency.

The PPP chairman said there are two types of political parties in the world. The first type of parties , he said that if the rich were made richer, they would provide employment to more people, while the second type of parties believed that no matter how much the rich were made richer, their scope for providing employment was still the same and limited. He added that he had noticed that the richer men were mostly miser men.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the BISP not only runs a woman’s house, but also small businesses run along with it.” Even today there is inflation, unemployment and economic crisis in the country” he added and said that under those circumstances, in the light of the PPP philosophy, the amount of Benazir Income Support Program as well as the number of beneficiaries should be increased as it was a comprehensive tool to reduce poverty in the country, he added.

The PPP chairman said that it was sad to point out that Imran Khan used to say during his tenure that he had 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 pointed out. He said that they knew that Imran Khan had a doctor behind him, and if there was to be a cut from anywhere, it was done from the money of the Benazir Income Support Program.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that it was the result of the prayers of deserving women of Benazir Income Support Program that the conspirators against this program had failed and this revolutionary program continued.

He also appreciated the services of the German Ambassador regarding flood victims and BISP.

Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Chairperson BISP Shazia Atta Marri and others also spoke on the occasion.

Hanif Samoon is a senior journalist based at Thar/Badin and contributes reports from different districts of Sindh to Minute Mirror. He has won a number of awards, including the Agahi Award twice for his stories on health and child rights. He tweets @HanifSamoon1 and can be reached through email at [email protected]