Ehsaas benefited half of population in 2020: report

ISLAMABAD: The internationally appreciated Ehsaas Programme of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government touched the lives of half the country’s population amid the COVID-19 crisis during the year 2020 and continues to empower the weakest segments of society through its multi-faceted initiatives.

According to the annual report, launched by the Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Division (PASSD), many transformative initiatives and policy reforms have effectively been implemented nationwide since the launch of Ehsaas as an umbrella programme on March 27, 2019 by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Some of the Ehsaas’ early wins across various sectors include Kifaalat, Emergency Cash, Undergraduate Scholarships, Nashonuma, Langars, Interest Free Loans, Amdan and several others.

The government has launched the Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme that has been widely acknowledged and showcased worldwide for mitigating the pandemic’s socioeconomic damage. The programme was rolled out within 10 days after lockdown began and delivered one-time cash grants to 14.8 million deserving households (100 million people) with disbursements reaching Rs179 billion.

In 2020, Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarships granted 50,762 need-cum merit-based scholarships to undergraduate students from the low-income backgrounds; Ehsaas interest free loans supported more than 1 million borrowers (46% women) through loans worth Rs37 billion to run small enterprises, Ehsaas Amdan transferred small income-generating assets worth Rs2 billion to 34,812 deserving households.