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A critical analysis of current government plans and policies related to rural development

Lecture-27

Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) was initiated byPresent Government of Pakistan with

initial allocation of Rs.34 billion (US $ 425 million approximately) for the financial year 2008-09. BISP

is being implemented in all four provinces (Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa)

including Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Islamabad

Capital Territory(ICT).

1.Waseela-E-Haq Introduction an initiative of BISP

Benazir Income Support Programme is the main social safety net mechanism established by the

Government of Pakistan (GOP) to contribute to the alleviation of poverty. It was initiated to pay

unconditional cash benefits of Rs.1000/- to underprivileged families, worst hit by the high

inflation especially of food items resulting in reduction of their purchasing power.

Such unconditional cash benefits can potentially create dependency syndrome, and are not

sustainable for a long time;hence, it is necessary to start programme through which opportunities

can be created for these families to enable them to earn their livelihood effectively and come out

of poverty cycle.

As an exit strategy Waseela-e-Haq has been started as one of the BISP initiative. This is a

targeted scheme to provide loan amounting upto Rs.300,000/- to the randomly selected

beneficiary families currently receiving the cash transfers under BISP to be validated through the

programme eligibility criteria.

The loan for Waseela-e-Haq will only be used for establishing mutually identified businesses.

2. Waseela-e-Rozgar (Vocational & Technical Training )

LEARN TO SECURE THE FUTURE

MISSION & CONCEPT

The initiative aims to empower female beneficiary or her nominee through acquiring a skill;

become economically independent by acquiring vocational training through dynamic and

integrated technical education and vocational

BACKGROUND

The vocational training sector encompasses both a recognized training format that leads to the

development of a certificate-based skill, and a non-recognized training such as in-house or product-based

training under the BISP framework. Subsequently, it will lead towards capacity building and professional

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development.

OBJECTIVES

BISP has planned to provide complete rehabilitation of a beneficiary through vocational training

including guidance and counseling, vocational training facilities and vocational and professional training.

Trainees will be offered vocational trainings of 4 weeks, 3-6 months and one year. Further, advanced

diploma programmes of two or more years will be initiated.

METHODOLOGY

BISP will execute the vocational training programmes through National Vocational Training and

Technical Education Commission (NAVTEC), Ministry of Science & Technology, National Center for

Rural Development

(NCRD), Islamabad, TEVTA Punjab and other similar Provincial organizations

Waseela-e-Sehat (Health Insurance)

MISSION & CONCEPT

Improving access to health services and reducing income loss from catastrophic health shocks.

"Be Healthy – Be Productive"

Micro health insurance programme will provide the extreme and chronic underprivileged with basic

income support measures to access health care to cope with a variety of health shocks, and access to

opportunities for graduating out of poverty.

BACKGROUND

More than 70 percent of the people in Pakistan, including many underprivilegeds, seek better quality

health care in the private sector and pay out of pocket. This imposes extra financial burden on the

underprivileged, resulting in inequitable access to quality health care and relevant services including

emergency services, mother and child health services. To empowering this underserved fragment of the

nation BISP is launching Benazir Health Card through National/International Health Insurance

Companies initially in 15 Districts where poverty census has been completed.

Current Government Policies

1. Education Policy 2009

Education is surely the back bone of development in any county, In Pakistan the educational policy

commute very often. Every government strives to implement different practices with the aim to raise the

standard of education. However there are still huge discriminations about the exposure of education

among different segments of society. Unfortunately every education policy implemented in Pakistan has

failed to come up with one standard level of curriculum for all students. A lot of factors are responsible

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for it. including but not limited to, level of income, religious views & the existence of private schools &

colleges. The schools administered by the state are not completely capable for providing quality

education. Especially the subjects that are thought in English language are ignored by most of the teachers

& students. So there is still a big room of improvement.

As a matter of fact a new education policy is implemented this year. Education policy 2009 is

implemented with a focus to increase the literacy rate in tribal areas of Pakistan, which was & still is the

major ground for terrorist people since many years. The objective of this policy is to seek a steady

increase in literacy rate in that part of the country, by achieving the target of 86 per cent overall literacy

rate, according to the policy Grades 11 and 12 of the college will be merged into the school education in

near future.the higher education sector will also be raised by existing 4.7 per cent to 15 per cent by 2020.

While revealing the challenges Pakistan has in its education sector is a lengthy story. The first 10 years of

academic life is very important for students. However the schools run by private entities are good in

providing quality education with qualified teachers & where English is considered as the medium of

instruction. But that school are limited to rich families. We are here to talk about general public. The big

problem in the state run education system is English. Yet the policy makers have to accept that learning

more about English is very necessary at primary level of education. We are living in an era where if we

didn’t get command over English we cant expect big improvement in the quality of education.

Yes I admit that we are the unconditional slaves of English language. The reason is obvious; the epoch, in

which we are living, I can testify that it is now the Americans who identify worthwhile educational &

development ideas. The super powers & the global media empire chant in English. Most of books related

to different fields of the world are available in English over the internet. The growth of English language

courses in England & other countries of Europe & Asia is the example of how English is dominance

among all other languages. yes it is after all the lingo of global empire.

2, Alternative and Renewable Energy policy (ARE 2011)

Alternative and Renewable Energy policy (ARE 2011) will supplement government’s open door

initiatives for attracting investors in this sector, a statement said on Friday.

The alternative energy sector would strengthen and improve the power supply position of the country and

fuel environmentally sustainable economic growth, particularly in the rural areas, he said.

The government has also decided to announce upfront tariff for the wind projects, keeping in view the

success of this practice globally, he said.

The upfront tariff recently determined by NEPRA would be announced soon, he said.

He also asked to finalize the standard of Energy Purchase Agreement for wind power projects.

Draft of the ARE 2011 has been submitted to the Council of Common Interest (CCI) for approval. The

upfront tariff was initially for the first 1500 MW and would be examined after the target capacity was

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booked or after December 2012, whichever comes first.

3. National Health Policy 2009

The National Health Policy 2009: “Stepping Towards Better Health” outlines a shared resolve to ensure

progress towards a healthy Pakistan in which all citizens benefit from a better working health care

delivery system, particularly the poorest. The Policy builds upon the National Health Policy 2001 – The

Way Forward - under which modest progress was made. There was a felt need to reset the strategic

direction due to: a) slow progress in improving health outcomes; b) inadequate sector performance in

improving coverage and access to essential health care services especially for the poor; and; c) lack of

synchronization of various policy documents and their linkages with Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs). The Ministry of Health initiated the process to develop a new health policy in 2006 but the

process remained slow. The new Government as part of its manifesto decided to set a new agenda to

improve health care. The process included formulation of a Health Policy Task force including six

working groups which took stock of the present situation and outlined the future course of action. The

recommendations of the working groups, consultation with key stakeholders and strategic directions from

parliamentarians and top management in Ministry and Departments of Health contributed significantly to

the development of new policy.

Strategic priorities of National Health Policy

Addressing the gaps in the health sector requires a fundamental change in the thinking that informs health

policy at all levels. The paradigm shift requires that the objectives of the health policy would be to serve

the needs of the people especially poor and vulnerable. This implies changes in all health sector

parameters: what health services to offer; who benefits from health services; what programmatic and

systems reforms should be in place; and how the resource cost to be shared. In addition, it is critical that

the federal, provincial/area and district governments re-affirm achieving health related MDGs by 2015.

To transform this commitment into action, the federal and provincial/ area governments will develop,

implement and monitor health sector strategic frameworks to achieve health related MDGs and the

following policy objectives of the National Health Policy 2009.