F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Minister of State and Chairperson BISP MNA Marvi Memon visited Gwadar Thursday to spot check progress of Waseela-e-Taleem (WeT) program in line with the uplift package for the development of Balochistan as announced by 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, said a press release. 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 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.
