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Wednesday, November 14, 2012
India intends to learn from BISP experiences: Nitish Kumar
ISLAMABAD: Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is a commendable initiative aiming at poverty alleviation and women’s empowerment, said Nitish Kumar, chief minister of Indian province Bihar, during a meeting with BISP Chairperson Farzana Raja.“Various interventions, including those in health and education sectors, have been introduced to uplift the living standards of underprivileged segments of society. India wants to learn from the experiences and success of BISP,” the chief minister said.
He was accompanied by a high-level delegation consisting of Indian ministers, members of assembly and officials of Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
According to Kumar, poverty is beyond the border phenomenon. He said that various schemes aiming at poverty reduction and provision of job opportunities are being run in India, especially in Bihar.
However, he said, BISP is a unique intervention in the social sector as it is offering various services under one roof. He said that targeting and identification mechanisms adopted by BISP are laudable indeed which has made it a truly wonderful programme.
The chief minister said that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had played pivotal role for the sake of democracy.
“Attributing BISP with her name is one of the major factors behind the success of this programme... due to her struggle for poverty alleviation and women’s empowerment,” he said.
Earlier, Farzana Raja welcomed the Indian delegation and appraised its members about various initiatives of BISP. She said that BISP is ready to share its experiences with India.
She said that it is true that poverty is a trans-national menace, “hence Pakistan and India have similar sort of issues in the social sector that ought to be resolved by working together”. She added that BISP has introduced various measures to empower women, children and youth.
The BSIP chairperson said that one window operation is one of the prime factors of the success of BISP as it has reduced the non-developmental expenditures. She said that the programme is advancing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of UN in the field of health and education and has made children, women and youth its prime focus. pr
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk