Daily Times

The concept of charity to society is found in almost all divine religions as well as man-made religions. Christianity has a concept of charity but mostly Church is considered its beneficiary.Judaism talks of charity and calls it Tzedakah and which means more than giving money to the poor but having empathy as well.In Sikhism “One who performs selfless service without thought of reward shall attain his Lord and Master”,(Guru Granth Sahib page 286) Sikhism teaches that everyone is equal and that people living in poverty and sufferingmalnutritionshould be helped. The way of charity to society is unique in Islam where amount, as well as the recipients, are well defines The literal meaning wordof Zakat in Arabic is “that which purifies”. It is the religiously mandated charity and the fifth pillar of the faith and the simplest definition refersto the obligation that an individual has to donate a certain proportion of wealth each year to charitable causes. Zakat plays critical role as socio economic activity leading to the formation of a welfare state.

Since the inception of Pakistan a confusion did prevail as far as the system of Government was concerned as the different regimes kept trying to amalgamating the modern democracy into the concept of the Islamic model of state, however it was under the military regime of General Zia ul Haq that various steps were introduced as a process to Islamize Pakistan a trueThe Zakat and Ushr Ordinance was issued on June 24, 1979 for the establishment of Zakat institutions at national provincial,district and sub-district levels.Subsequently the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance was promulgated on June 20,1989 with immediate effect,Ushr was made operative on March 15th 1983.At Federal level, the Ordinance is administered by Zakat and Ushr Division and ministry of finance.In the wake of 18th constitutional amendment, Zakat System was devolved to the Provinces. Zakat & Ushr control being dealt with the Ministry of Religious Affairs have been transferred to respective Provinces. Zakat & Ushr matters are dealt by Zakat & Ushr Department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Zakat & Ushr Act, 2011 was promulgated keeping in view the requirements/needs of the Mustahiqeen-e-Zakat.Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Zakat & Ushr Council, as per approved act, is the Apex Body to control/supervise all the matters relating to Zakat & Ushr Funds.The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Zakat Council (KPZC) exists as an advisory body under the act,The Provincial Zakat Council acts as a supervisory body along with policy development for collection disbursement and utility of the Zakat funds and monitoring purpose.

At Provincial level, the Zakat and Ushr Department functions under the Social Welfare department.Looking at the disbursement mechanism of Zakat the local Zakat Committees form the backbone of the disbursement system.Currently, KP is having 32 District Zakat Committees and 4396 Local Zakat Committees (LZCs) across the Province.EachLZC identify the Mustahiqeen (deserving) and after lengthy procedures of verification the mustahiq receives a stipend under the predefined categories like Guzara Allowance,Marriage Assistance Grant, Educational Stipend (Academic & Professional), Health Care grant, Deeni Madaris student allowance andSpecial Health Care grants under the KP Zakat and Ushr Act 2011.

The most crucial and critical concern have been the disbursement of Zakat manually turning this religious obligation into alengthy and blurr procedure and with issues of transparency and impediments making it almost impossible for the real deserving to access the category he/she wants to.The disbursement of Zakat is a step requiring great care and intricacy. Data collection and its accuracy from a mass of population, objective orientation, and rehabilitation of the mustahiqin are the trademark priorities in the process. For the process to be smooth, it should be simplified and well organized with rehabilitation programs (short and long term) blueprinted. Looking at the impediments.On May 21, 2003, the City District Council Peshawar adopted a unanimous resolution condemning and negating the political interference in the formation of the district-level Zakat committees in the province and urged the KP government to stop interfering in the distribution of Zakat funds. It was alleged that the ruling party used the Zakat and Ushr fund as “a political bribe,” funds on political grounds.

It seems to be a very a positive initiative as a public office associated with the marginalized segments of society has opted for technology that will ultimately benefit not only the smooth flow of assistance but also ensure transparency and accountability

Keeping in view the aforementioned challenges the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Zakat and Ushr Department took the lead amongst all the Provinces by digitalizing the system and procedures of this religious obligation and devised a comprehensive Management Information System(MIS) as a solution, it makes Zakat handout and distribution organized and transparent. For a welfare process to produce the most fruitful results, it is a prerequisite for it to be conducted on a platform which ensures transparency and efficiency. The KP Zakat and Ushr Department aiming for digital KP has come up with a platform with digitalization of the Zakat and Ushr collection, management and distribution via applications ofweband Android versions.

The in-house accomplished plans launched by the department are the Zakat Management Information System (ZMIS)andZakat Hospital Management Information System (ZHMIS),a web and android base applications for the determination of Mustahiqeenthrough different scoring parameters and filtration.The ZMIS is meant for transparency, efficiency, i.e. tobring ease in the provision of services and to speed up the government business routine, this system encompasses data collection of more than 35,000 orphans throughout the province, a complete category wise database of poor orphans, disabled population, widows and homeless persons, a record of unmarried adult girls that are eligible for Jahez Fund, guardian details in case parents are deceased, complete profiles of mustahiqeen residing in newly merged districts (NMDs), the unemployment ratio of each district throughout the province, the negation of human intervention in the process and to find out accurately the financial condition of an applicant/mustahiq through different parameters.Similarly,the Zakat Hospital Management Information System (ZHMIS)is in a form of comprehensive software which will allocate record compilations of Zakat fund utilization and treatment records of the Mustahiq-e-Zakat patients that are underprivileged at various hospitals, just a click away. The system comprises of various features as quick service delivery, transparent activities monitoring system, Hospital fund Utilization Management, Disbursement Access, Patient Tracking Facilities, Maintenance of electronic health records,Outdoor and Indoor Gender-wise Patient Management, different Statistical Analysis etc.As a way forward an informative, geo-mapping android application for public awareness named as “MUSTAHIQ”along with an Android application for the determination of most vulnerable orphans through scoring parameters (ZOMIS)andGeographical Information System (GIS) mapping for all District Offices, lands and their registered institutes are to be launched soon.

The aforementioned project plan will minimize the human interference and influence.It seems to be a very apositive initiative as a public office associated with the marginalized segments of society has opted for technology that will ultimately benefit not only the smooth flow of assistance but also ensure transparency and accountability.However, for the effective implementation,thedepartment needs to devise a communication and awareness campaign on print, electronic and social medias for maximum outreach the masses.ForNMDs,radio is the major source of information and amedia strategy can be initiated in this regard, so that the deserving segment of our society is aware of the digital initiative and its utility.It is also suggested thatthe success of the project demands collaboration and collective effort of all the departmentsinvolved. The capacity of the existing human resource is built under a rigorous training program by the Zakat and Usher Department however the addition of well trained human resource at all levels will definitely support the newly introduced system to meet the long term goals ,paving the way for a transparent socio economic activity with transparency.

The writer has experience in the field of education and is currently working as a resource person in the development sector