SPECIAL Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Dr Sania Nishtar said on Thursday that 70 per cent of the socioeconomic and poverty survey had been completed under the Ehsaas Programme, and the deserving people were being provided relief accordingly. Addressing a news conference, she said that the poverty survey was being conducted in all districts and tehsils of Punjab, while data collection had been launched last week, which would be completed by the end of June 2021.
The Ehsaas is a huge programme contributing much to the efforts directed at addressing the issue of abysmal poverty. Though the cash assistance distributed under the programme is not significant keeping in view the level of inflation in the country but still it is instrumental in alleviating sufferings of the poor to some extent. There were complaints that a large number of deserving families were outside the net of the welfare programme while many non-deserving families were getting the assistance. With this in view, the Government rightly decided to start a fresh survey and Prime Minister Imran Khan had issued clear directions to ensure hundred percent transparency in the exercise. However, it has been observed that the survey is more dependent on data collected from NADRA whereas full picture can only emerge if survey teams visit each and every home to gather genuine and correct data. As the survey is about to complete, there are still complaints that deserving families have been left out even in the rural areas of Islamabad and one can imagine the state of affairs in other areas of the country especially far-flung and comparatively inaccessible ones. The statement of Dr Sania Nishtar that the survey was being conducted irrespective of one’s caste, ethnic, religious or any political affiliation is appreciable and one cannot dispute the sincerity, honesty and commitment of the Special Assistant but the data collection is not as perfect as it should have been. Instead of depending on door-to-door visits of the voluntary teams, it would have been better if registration points are set up and publicized to enable all deserving people to have easy access to the registration process.
