PRIME Minister Imran Khan, while addressing the nation, announced the much-talked-about package in a bid to mitigate sufferings of the people hard-pressed by spiralling prices.
Under the Rs120 billion subsidy programme, eligible families will be able to purchase ghee, wheat flour and pulses at 30 per cent lower prices for the next six months.
The Prime Minister described the package as the biggest welfare package in the history of Pakistan adding that it would take the country towards becoming a welfare state.
Going by the fact that the Government has already allocated a substantial amount of Rs. 260 billion under Ehsaas Programme aimed at providing financial assistance to the disadvantaged segments of the population, the new programme would help the poor manage their household budget, at least, to some extent.
The Government has already launched some other programmes including Kamyab Pakistan with an allocation of Rs. 1400 billion to provide interest- free loans to four million families, health cards and skill education to about two hundred thousand people that would go a long way in financial empowerment of the underprivileged people.
The Government’s Ehsaas team, working diligently under the dynamic leadership of Dr. Sania Nishtar, deserves credit for its comprehensive preparatory work that made it possible for the Prime Minister to announce the package and ensure that it reaches the really deserving families.
The data collected for the purpose can also be utilized by other organizations for launching welfare schemes for the poor as it is an authentic source on the subject.
The package would jointly be implemented by the Federal and Provincial Governments with latter sharing the major burden and it was, perhaps, with this in view that the Sindh Government did not opt to participate in a programme that has the label of PTI initiative.
Non-participation of Sindh might create a sense of deprivation among the deserving people in the province and, therefore, we hope the provincial government would either review its decision or launch its own version of the programme for the sake of the poor.
The opposition parties have rejected the package terming it as a joke, fraud and of no consequence in view of the level of inflation prevailing in the country.
There is no doubt that a subsidy of just one thousand rupee a month for just three food items and for just six months is unlikely to counter effectively the ongoing wave of inflation that is going beyond the absorbing capacity of the people.
Inflation is not confined to mere three food items and allocation of only one thousand rupees for a family for a month would not compensate for the overall inflation.
And what would happen after six months? The price-hike is not expected to roll back during this period but there are indications that it would go further up as the Prime Minister has hinted at passing on any increase in the prices of oil in the international market to the domestic consumers.
Similarly, depreciation of rupee against dollar is continuing and gas and electricity rates are adjusted upward every now and then to reduce the so-called circular debt.
Under these circumstances, the package would prove to be a temporary relief and ultimately people will have to compromise on the quality of their life in their efforts to meet their needs in the given budget.
The Prime Minister has rightly urged the private sector to increase salaries of their employees to offset the impact of the inflation and we hope a beginning would be made by the Government itself.
The relief that the Government provided during the announcement of the federal budget is not enough to compensate for the hefty increase in the prices of edible oil and petroleum products.
Without going into details about justification offered by the Prime Minister for the unprecedented price-hike (he linked it to global trends and corruption of the opposition leaders), the speech has strengthen the widespread impression that the government is not oblivious to the plight of the inflation-hit masses but is unable to offer any substantive solution.
The Prime Minister has also warned about shortage of gas in the winter but it is not the job of the Government to warn but make advance arrangements to avert such an eventuality and that too when you have a fair idea about what is going to happen.
