4 days ago
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NA body orders urgent steps to end BISP staffing crisis
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety ordered immediate action to resolve the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP)'s staffing crisis, directing the Poverty Alleviation Ministry to urgently engage the Finance Ministry and lift the recruitment freeze hampering welfare operations.
The committee ordered immediate action to resolve BISP's staffing crisis, directing the Poverty Alleviation Ministry to urgently engage the Finance Ministry and lift the recruitment freeze hampering welfare operations.
The committee also expressed serious concern over the continuously resistance from commercial banks in opening accounts for beneficiaries, with Private Financial Institutions (PFIs) demonstrating marked preference for their conventional clients over welfare recipients.
The committee met with Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur in the chair at the Parliament house on Friday.
The committee was told that the BISP is facing a staffing crisis of a shortage of personnel at various levels. This shortage is impacting the programme's ability to effectively serve beneficiaries and manage its operations, leading to concerns about service delivery and potential hardships for those relying on BISP's assistance
The secretary Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety confirmed to the Committee that a draft National Poverty Alleviation Policy is ready for and they are currently awaiting provincial governments' feedback, with a federal-provincial Poverty Alleviation Coordination Council to be established upon final approval.
Presiding over a contentious review of Pakistan's welfare system, Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur led committee members in exposing banking sector roadblocks to BISP implementation while demanding urgent reforms to protect vulnerable beneficiaries.
The meeting commenced with an acknowledgment of the ministry's compliance with the committee direction from previous proceedings, while members expressed concerns regarding incomplete responses in the submitted compliance report, particularly concerning State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and demanded that Ministry to take up this matter with SBP.
In response, the secretary BISP provided detailed dual-track solution involving simultaneous physical BISP Sahulat and digital wallet account initiatives. He said that the physical account pilot would commence in Karachi on August 14, symbolically aligning with Independence Day to emphasise country's downtrodden women financial emancipation.
He said that concurrently, a digital account system will utilise biometric verification (BVS) through CNIC-linked mobile SIMs, mandated by recent SBP policy reforms. Both pilots will operate for six months, with comprehensive evaluations expected by January 2026.
The committee emphasised the necessity of beneficiary orientation programmes, particularly, in underserved regions, to ensure effective adoption of these financial mechanisms.
The committee raised questions regarding BISP's role in addressing the humanitarian crisis following recent building collapse in Karachi that left numerous poor women homeless.
The secretary Ministry Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety and BISP clarified constitutional limitations, noting that housing and shelter interventions fall under provincial jurisdiction.
The BISP advertisement budgetary transparency emerged as another critical discussion point, with committee members demanding detailed expenditure reports for BISP's media campaigns for the FY 2024-25 and current FY 2025-26, having found initial submissions insufficiently comprehensive.
Operational challenges received considerable attention, including measures to address disbursement delays through enhanced two-factor authentication at payment campsites. Contractual enforcement emerged as a key concern, with the committee noting the termination of Habib Bank Limited's contract due to non-compliance and plans for similar and even more stricter penalties against such underperforming contracting private banks. The committee members also highlighted the outdated nature of the 2019 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) data shared by Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives, directing them to produce updated and comparative analysis of the metrics in the next meeting.
The committee was informed by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) about their foreign-funded projects worth Rs11.7 billion that are currently operating across 253 union councils, covering diverse initiatives from livestock value chains to micro-hydel and nutritional programmes.
It is pertaining to mention here that the projects are focusing on poverty reduction and sustainable development in Pakistan. These projects, supported by organizations like the European Union and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau(KfW), target diverse areas such as agriculture, rural development, and access to energy. The Kfw is a German state-owned development bank, originally established after World War II. The KfW supports various development goals, including those related to climate action, energy efficiency, and sustainable development.
The committee was briefed on the continuation of the National Poverty Graduation Programme with new donor agency, now expanded to include five additional districts alongside the original twenty, though procedural issues have temporarily excluded it from PSDP allocations. This comprehensive session underscored the committee's commitment to rigorous oversight of social safety initiatives while highlighting both institutional progress and systemic challenges requiring continued attention.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
