Eligibility of 19m applicants being checked, says Dr Sania

Islamabad : Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, Dr. Sania Nishtar Thursday revealed that overall, 19 million applicants have registered for the ‘Ehsaas Rashan Riayat programme’.

Dr. Sania was chairing the meeting of the steering committee for the ‘Ehsaas Rashan Riayat programme’ at the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD).

The steering committee has been re-constituted to oversee the roll out of the Ehsaas Rashan Riayat through PASSD and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP). Speaking on the occasion, she said that Ehsaas National Socio-economic Registry is being used to target beneficiary families. On the ratification of the steering committee, the applicants data is currently being analyzed with Ehsaas data analytics to determine the eligibility.

Data Analytics are hardwired in the design of programme to enhance the accuracy of targeting for the country’s first ever targeted subsidies programme. She then continued, the nationwide rollout of the ‘Ehsaas Rashan Riayat’ is just on the anvil in partnership with National Bank of Pakistan. The meeting began with the briefing on ‘Ehsaas Rashan Riayat’ design and roll out progress.

The steering committee discussed and took beneficiary targeting decisions in line with guidance from the Federal Cabinet to support deserving families through the Rashan programme.

Ehsaas 8171 SMS registration service has been closed for families to register for ‘Ehsaas Rashan’ on Jan 26, 2022 at 12 midnight. Families earning below Rs50,000 monthly are eligible for the Rashan programme.

Allowing the maximum number of families to benefit, the committee endorsed the criteria previously approved by the Cabinet to include government servants with salary less than Rs31,500 a month, passport holders who had travelled abroad and persons with average monthly phone bill in excess of Rs1,000. In addition, beneficiaries who have availed NADRA’s executive center services was also approved by the steering committee since the principle was linked to the criterion for travel abroad, which the Cabinet had already approved.

Under the stewardship of the steering committee, a Project Management Unit (PMU) has also been established within the Division.

PMU will provide oversight over the project’s fiscal management, monitoring and evaluation, and policy.

With Dr. Sania in chair, Additional Secretary PASSD, Additional Secretary Finance, Chief Secretary Punjab, Chief Secretary KP, Chief Secretary AJK, Secretary Finance Balochistan, Secretary Industries Punjab, Secretary Social Welfare KP came to the table together with MD Utility Stores, Group Head Digital Banking NBP, DG Social Protection Authority Punjab, DG Technology Ehsaas and DG Ehsaas National Socio-Economic Registry. On the other hand, the registration of Kiryana retailers for Ehsaas Rashan Riayat is underway all over the country in collaboration with NBP, participating provinces (Punjab, KP, GB, AJK) and district administrations.

After the scrutiny, families declared eligible will be able to avail a subsidy of Rs. 1000 monthly to buy flour, cooking oil/ghee and pulses from NBP’s network of Kiryana retail shops and Utility stores.