ISLAMABAD    -  Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Dr. Sania Nishtar on Saturday visited Tank and South Waziristan and launched the Ehsaas survey registration in South Waziristan. 

Briefing the elders of tribal jirgas on the purpose and approach of the ongoing Ehsaas survey, Dr. Sania Nishtar said that the survey had been completed 65% in Tank district. “Ehsaas has launched a new digital survey in southern districts of KP including Tank and South Waziristan to benefit deserving households through Ehsaas. Tank and South Waziristan are the most underprivileged districts of KP with high rate of poverty, malnutrition and infant mortality. To address the needs of the vulnerable, the survey approach is being accelerated across the southern tribal districts of KP. With the support of local teachers we are trying to complete the survey in these areas at the earliest,” said Dr. Sania.  

According to Ehsaas policy, the survey will ensure inclusion of poor families in several Ehsaas initiatives such as Kafaalat, Waseela-e-Taleem Digital, Undergraduate Scholarship, Amdan, Interest-Free Loan and Nashonuma.

“I appeal to tribal jirgas to facilitate survey teams when they go door to door in the region to collect household data. Poverty profiling of the households is being done through a computer aided digital system and will be completed in the next few months,” Dr. Sania said while addressing jirgas. The government, she said, had executed new Ehsaas survey on apolitical basis so that no deserving family was left out from the flagship social protection programme.

Replying to a question, Dr. Sania said that the “Ehsaas National Socio-Economic Registry Survey is apolitical and non-discriminatory in nature and has been rolled out nationwide to benefit the vulnerable irrespective of their religion, ethnicity or area. Tribal people should participate in the survey to get benefits from a multitude of conditional and unconditional cash transfer programmes under Ehsaas.” 

She thanked the local teachers for doing a commendable job in executing survey enumerations. “They are responsible citizens, that is why we have engaged them in this very sensitive responsibility of household data collection. Helping the vulnerable populations and lifting the lagging districts is one of the main priority goals of Ehsaas,” Dr. Sania concluded.