First Lady Bibi Aseefa Bhutto Zardari on Monday attended a briefing by Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Senator Rubina Khalid and Secretary BISP Amir Ali Ahmed at Parliament House, where she was given a comprehensive overview of the programme’s progress, ongoing reforms and impact on deserving families across the country.
The first lady was informed that Rs 716 billion had been allocated for BISP during the financial year 2025-26, with a proposed budget of Rs 844 billion for 2026-27. She was informed that under the Benazir Kafaalat Programme, quarterly cash assistance of Rs 14,500 is currently being provided to 12 million households, with plans to increase the stipend to Rs 18,000 from January 2027, according to a press statement issued by the President House Media Wing.
The briefing also highlighted that under the Benazir Taleemi Wazaif Programme, educational support was being extended to 12.4 million children linked to a minimum 70 per cent school attendance condition, while the Benazir Nashonuma Programme was providing assistance to approximately two million pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of two, with 52,000 adolescent girls additionally included under a pilot phase.
She was informed that the Benazir Hunarmand Programme, launched by President Asif Ali Zardari and First Lady Bibi Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, is providing free skills training to deserving individuals, with more than 7,000 already enrolled in the programme.
On the digital front, more than 10 million beneficiaries are being connected to the formal financial system through Digital Social Protection Wallets under the Prime Minister’s Cashless Economy initiative, with more than 8.5 million free SIMs distributed and linked to wallets, and over 410,000 beneficiaries having received digital and financial literacy training. The briefing further highlighted that the National Socio-Economic Registry contains data on 38.7 million households, that 23 million households have updated their information under the Dynamic Registry, and that the recent recertification exercise has identified more than 3.5 million new potentially eligible families.
The first lady was also apprised of a World Bank study which found that BISP supports over 10.3 million families, covering approximately 24 percent of Pakistani households and that for every one rupee disbursed, Rs 2.34 in real income was generated through multiplier effects in local economies.
The study further found that 68 per cent of total income gains accrue to the poorest 40 per cent of households and that the programme supported 1.66 million full-time equivalent jobs. The briefing noted that economic activity generated by BISP returns an estimated Rs 174 billion annually to the national exchequer.
Speaking on the occasion, Bibi Aseefa Bhutto Zardari said that the Benazir Income Support Programme stood as a lasting reflection of the vision of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto to provide support and opportunity to vulnerable segments of society. She appreciated the efforts being made to strengthen transparency, financial inclusion and service delivery through ongoing reforms and emphasised that effective social protection programmes played a vital role in supporting deserving families and enabling women to participate more fully in economic and social life.
In her welcome remarks, Chairperson BISP Senator Rubina Khalid, stated that the programme, launched and established by President Asif Ali Zardari in 2008 following the vision of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, was the practical manifestation of her commitment to dignified social protection for vulnerable segments of society, and that BISP was moving beyond cash assistance towards an integrated, digital and empowering social protection system.
Deputy Speaker National Assembly Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Members National Assembly (MNAs) Shazia Marri and Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur, Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, were also present on the occasion.