Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Prime Minister Imran Khan took to Twitter on Thursday and offered to assist the Indian government in providing support to its impoverished households.
Imran tweeted on Thursday that nearly 34 per cent households across India would not be able to survive for more than a week without assistance.
“I am ready to offer help & share our successful cash transfer prog, lauded internationally for its reach & transparency, with India,” said PM Imran.
According to the report, around 84 per cent households saw a decrease in their income since the lockdown prompted by the coronavirus was imposed in India. Nearly a third of all households would not be able to survive beyond a week without additional assistance.
The Indian government has announced three rounds of stimulus programmes amounting to nearly Rs21 trillion ($266 billion), and PM Imran offered to share the workings of the Ehsaas programme to assist with aid disbursement.
The Ehsaas programme, expanded upon the infrastructure of the Benazir Income Support Programme, with its scale and workings extended during Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s tenure, aimed to disburse Rs120 billion to millions of beneficiaries across the country with each family receiving Rs12,000 during the pandemic.
As of last week, roughly Rs117.49 billion had been successfully distributed among 96.63 million families across the country, according to Ehsaas officials, and further cash disbursement under the programme is ongoing.
The programme has been lauded by the World Bank, which deemed it instrumental in mitigating the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
