Benazir Income Support Programme: What Is It?
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) administration, which was headed by the late Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s first female prime minister, introduced the BISP in 2008. The program’s goal is to give the poorest families, particularly women, a social safety net.
BISP is one of the largest social protection programmes in the world and is widely regarded as a model for effectively reducing poverty.
Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP): What is it?
Goals of the BISP
To be eligible for financial aid under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), a household must meet a number of requirements. The programme employs a poverty scorecard to determine who is eligible for assistance. The scorecard evaluates household poverty using criteria for assets, income, education, and health.
The following criteria must be satisfied by households to be eligible for the BISP:
- The household must earn less than PKR 15,000 per month, which is the current definition of poverty.
- The household cannot own any productive assets, such as a business or land for farming.
- There cannot be any government employees or pensioners living in the household.
- There cannot be a car owner in the family.
- There cannot be a tax-paying family member living there.
- A member of the household cannot make more than PKR 20,000 per month in pay.
- At least one female member of the household must be either the head of the home or a spouse.
