Daily Times

The internationally appraised Ehsaas program has touched the lives of half the country’s population amid the COVID-19 crises in the country during the year 2020 and continues to empower the weakest segments of society through its multi-faceted initiatives.

According to the annual report disclosed by the Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Division (PASSD) headed by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar , many transformative initiatives and policy reforms have effectively been implemented nationwide since the launch of Ehsaas as an umbrella programme on March 27, 2019 by the Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Some of the Ehsaas’ early wins across various sectors include Kafaalat, Emergency Cash, Undergraduate Scholarship, Nashonuma, Langars, Interest Free Loans, Amdan and several others.

The government has launched the Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme that has been widely acknowledged and showcased worldwide for mitigating the pandemic’s socioeconomic damage.

The programme was rolled out within ten days after lockdown began and delivered one-time cash grants to 14.8 million deserving households (100 million people) with disbursements reaching Rs. 179 billion.

In 2020, Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarships granted 50,762 need cum merit-based scholarships to undergraduate students from the low-income backgrounds; Ehsaas interest free loans supported more than 1 million borrowers (46% women) through loans worth Rs. 37 billion to run small enterprises, Ehsaas Amdan transferred small income-generating assets worth Rs. 2 billion to 34,812 deserving households to graduate them out of poverty and Ehsaas Nashonuma opened 29 centers in eight districts of the country to tackle stunting among pregnant and lactating mothers, and children under the age of two years through a mix of conditional cash transfers and specialized nutritious food. By the end of Feb 2021, 19 more centers are opening in six districts.

The Ehsaas Kafaalat program, in efforts to contribute to the socio-economic mainstreaming of the poorest, provided unconditional cash transfers along with saving bank accounts for millions of deserving households.

As part of the recent enhancement through PM’s approval, the number of Kafaalat recipients has been increased from currently 4.6 to 7 million; a new Ehsaas Kafaalat for Special Persons Policy has also been announced bringing 2 million deserving families with a disabled person into the fold of Kafaalat.

Consolidating high-end technology, widespread Ehsaas Kafaalat reforms have also been introduced to ensure integrity specifically payment through bank branches, device restrictions and many other transparency and safety protocols and measures.