Pakistan has launched the largest social protection effort in the country’s history with plans to pay close to $1 billion dollars to the poor in an effort to counter the economic fallout amid the new coronavirus — COVID-19 — outbreak, CNN reported.
The Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme is a financial assistance effort to assist parts of the population that have been worst hit by the ongoing lockdown in the country, according to Sania Nishtar, special assistant to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety.
The programme, which aims to cover 12 million families, is meant to assist them to “buy rations so that they don’t go hungry”.
The premier himself has also lauded the “historic” transfer of cash to the needy, terming it a “great achievement” of his government.
“Today saw the launch of the biggest cash distribution by any government in Pakistan’s history, directly to the most vulnerable and needy citizens in our society,” he said in a series of tweets.
Authorities have used SMS messages and Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) numbers from the country’s extensive National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) to identify and contact eligible families.
By the time this report was filed, the number of confirmed cases in Pakistan stood at 4,688 with 68 fatalities and 727 recoveries.
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