Minister
of State and Chairperson BISP MNA Marvi Memon visited Gwadar today to spot
check progress of Waseela-e-Taleem (WeT) program in line with the uplift
package for the development of Balochistan as announced by the Prime Minister
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Under the newly-announced 10 year development package, all union councils in
Balochistan will receive education, electricity, water, gas and health
facilities. Federal government would provide 50 per cent of the funds for the
plan while the provincial government would finance the remaining half.
During
the visit, Chairperson BISP interacted with primary school students enrolled
under BISP Wet and held meetings with BISP Beneficiary Committee (BBC) and the
local notables. There are 60,000 BBCs, each
comprising of 25 to 30 women, across the country. BISP uses this platform to
spread awareness among beneficiaries on education, nutrition, basic counting,
the rights given to women by Islam and other local issues. In Balochistan,
there are 2018 BBCs while in Gwadar, there are 451 BBCs. Under Wet initiative,
BISP enrolls 5-12 years old children of its beneficiary families into primary
schools. The beneficiary families receive Rs. 750/- per quarter per child with
the condition of 70% attendance compliance other than unconditional cash
transfer (UCT) of Rs. 4834/- per quarter.
In the meeting with
BBC, the Minister stated that BISP is complementing Prime Minister’s uplift
package for Balochistan development as BISP is not only contributing in the
financial and educational uplift but also in nutrition, health and women
empowerment. She said that besides providing financial assistance to 1,95,145
beneficiaries, BISP has enrolled 33,320 children under WeT in Balochistan, 2151
children in Awaran, 13,166 in Gwadar, 8,472 in Jhal Magsi, 3,827 in Loralai,
1,009 in Musakhel and 4,695 children in Nushki. The Chairperson congratulated
mother beneficiaries of Gwadar for enrolling highest number of children into
schools in Balochistan.
She
added that the expansion of Wet to four more districts in consultation with
Balochistan Education department would start in Kohlu, Naseerabad, Qilla
Abdullah and Sherani from March 2018. Chairperson BISP encouraged the
beneficiaries to enable themselves in basic counting so that they are fully
aware of release, withdrawal and the savings from the quarterly stipend of Rs.
4,834. She informed them that to overcome the difficulty in using ATM by
beneficiaries, BISP would soon covert the payment mechanism to Biometric
Verification System (BVS).
She
also urged them to benefit from Nutrition Awareness Campaign launched by BISP
and feed their children nutritious food which would result into better IQ
levels, better education performance and ultimately better employment
opportunities.
In
order to increase their income and resolve the issue of unemployment, the
Minister urged the beneficiaries to save money from BISP stipend and invest
into making traditional handicrafts and products like shawls under BISP
E-Commerce Initiative so that they may graduate out of poverty. BISP E-Commerce is an initiative of
BISP to harness entrepreneurial potential of its beneficiaries by online
marketing and selling their products through its partners like Alibaba, Cheezmall
and TCS. The committee also
highlighted the problem of clean drinking water. The Minister ensured that she
would convey their concerns to the Federal Government and their problems would
be resolved.
In
the meeting with local government representatives and notables including
Chairman District Council Babu Gulab, Vice Chairman Distrct Council Haji
Inayat, Chairman Muncipal Committee Abid Sohrabi, Vice Chairman Municipal
Committee Maula Baksh and others, Ms. Marvi informed them that pilot of BISP
resurvey has been completed in Naseerabad, Qila Saifullah and Kech. She added
that national roll out of resurvey including whole of Balochistan will soon
start. BISP aims to enroll maximum number of deserving population in every area
of Balochistan as the security situation of the province has improved due to
the efforts of PML (N) Government. She urged them to facilitate and cooperate
with survey teams as a matter of national duty which will help BISP to develop
number one National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) in the world.
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