9.6m families, 10,000 retailers registered in Ehsaas Rashan programme

ISLAMABAD: Around 9.6 million families and over 10,000 retail (Kiryana) stores have been registered under the ‘Ehsaas Rashan’ programme so far.

Introduced on the direct instructions of the prime minister, the ‘Ehsaas Rashan’ programme has registered 20 million families with income below Rs50,000. Those who fall below a certain poverty score will be entitled to receive a discount of Rs1,000 every month on the purchase of three grocery items: flour, pulses, cooking oil/ghee.

The cabinet approved this program in the first week of November and shortly thereafter a communication campaign was launched to solicit applications for this program. The public response to this has been overwhelming.

Government sources have confirmed that so far over 9 million families have registered to seek support from this program and over 10,000 retail units have also expressed their interest and have registered.

The ‘Ehsaas Rashan’ website has had more than 500 million visits over thelast month. The next phase in this program involves analysis which will be done later this month. Eligible families will receive confirmation of their eligibility status through an SMS from 8171, which is the Ehsaas SMS identity. This is an end-to-end digital program and involves processing of the subsidy through a mobile point of sale which will be downloadable by the ‘Kiryana’ (retailer). The government is encouraging more than more retailers to enrol in the programme.