On three years of completion of Ehsaas, Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the event today at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Islamabad. Addressing the ceremony, PM felicitated Ehsaas team on successful and fastest deployment of all social protection and poverty reduction programmes of Ehsaas in three years. He richly praised the hard work and commitment of Ehsaas team for alleviating poverty in the country.
Prime Minister also announced the nationwide deployment of Ehsaas Rashan Riayat that is globally first and fastest end-to-end digital targeted subsidies programme of national scale. “Every month, the Rashan programme of Ehsaas will disburse 30% commodity subsidy to 20 million deserving families on the purchase of flour, pulses, cooking oil and ghee”, stated PM.
Lauding Ehsaas further, PM termed the success of Ehsaas “phenomenal” mentioning that the World Bank recognized Ehsaas among top four social protection programmes globally.
At the event, PM was joined by Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar, SAPM, Shibli Faraz, Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Syed Fakhar Imam, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, and country heads of international development partners. Senator Faisal Javed moderated the event.
Regarding International Women’s Day tomorrow, PM expressed, “It is heartening that all cash transfers under Ehsaas are going in the hands of millions of poorest women through the digitized and rule-based system of Ehsaas. Every year, 98% Ehsaas budget is spent on women. Also, education centered Ehsaas Taleemi Wazaif offers higher stipend amount for girls to support their education across all Tehsils of Pakistan.” He also announced the nationwide scale up of anti-stunting programme, Ehsaas Nashonuma. “We are opening 160 Nashonuma Centers this year in all districts”, he added.
Reflecting on the programme progress, Dr. Sania said, “Through Ehsaas, we are reaching out to 14 different disadvantaged groups particularly women and girls. We have institutionalized integrity frameworks, and data and technology driven systems to ensure transparency. In three years, Ehsaas provided cash to half the country’s population. Despite COVID-19, we have accomplished Ehsaas survey which is South Asia’s first digital census of national scale.” This was due to these foundations, she highlighted, that Ehsaas delivered all projects faster than private sector in just three years. Today, 71 billion Ehsaas Kafaalat cash disbursements are also being mobilized nationwide.”
Alongside PM, beneficiaries of Ehsaas Taleemi Wazaif, Ehsaas Kafaalat, Ehsaas Nashonuma and Ehsaas Rashan Riayat, Ehsaas Amdan, Ehsaas Interest Free Loan and Ehsaas Tahafuz were also present in the ceremony. Girl recipients of Ehsaas Taleemi Wazaif and Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship also shared their transformational stories with the Prime Minister. PM also gave away cheques among women beneficiaries of Ehsaas.
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