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Poverty alleviation measures of Punjab govt

By: S A Hameed

AS a matter of current economic crisis and price hiking, the economy of highly developed countries has been affected drastically who impart assistance in the political and economic affairs of the developing countries but flow the hazards are looming around their economies. Pakistan is one of those countries of whom economy has come under the vicious shadow of inflation and worst price hiking.
According to the recent economic survey, approximately 50 million people are living below the poverty line. In such intricate circumstances, the responsibility is imposed on the government to take strenuous measurers for the betterment of its people in order to provide basic necessities of life.
Punjab is a biggest province of the country in proportion to its population so it is quite obvious that majority of the poor people of the country might be living in this province.
In the present scenario, the Punjab government under the leadership CM Punjab, Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, has taken some concrete measures to eliminate poverty. The Punjab government has started many schemes for the welfare of the people living below the poverty line. Resultantly, the completion of these schemes would pave the way for the betterment of poor segment of society. Most interesting, Punjab Food Support Scheme is one of the leading scheme through which more than 1.8m deserving families are getting Rs1,000 per month. This mega project is running successfully and Rs 22b are being disbursed among the beneficiaries.
It is worth mentioning that in 2008 more than 34.5 million people got assistance through programme like food stamp in United States of America which indicates that people below poverty line exist even in the most developed countries like United States, Canada, etc.
The amazing attribute of Punjab Food Support Scheme is that people do not need to go anywhere rather they receive their money orders at their respective homes through post office. Particulars of beneficiaries are properly verified and the exclusion of non-deserving beneficiaries makes this scheme transparent and independent from any sort of political barriers.
The hallmark of this scheme is that more than 1.6 million of beneficiaries are declared eligible out of 2.2m of beneficiaries and approximately 0.6m applications have been rejected after scrutinised and refined process.

The Nation: | Published: June 04, 2009