ISLAMABAD: Senate’s Special Committee on Marginalised Segments of Society on Thursday called for an early census in the country.
The body also asked the Planning and Development Ministry for identification and classification of population to ascertain their class of poverty to place them in the category of marginalised segment.
The committee also sought the details of category-wise funding during last three years for the various marginalised segments in the country. Committee Convener Senator Nisar Muhammad Khan observed that there is no anti-poverty policy in the country and that the existing programmes initiated by the government for this purpose, including Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Pakistan Baitul Maal have a limited reach and scope though these programmes are beneficial for the poor segments of the society.
In a letter to the ministry, he observed that social protection policy is focused towards institutions and not the people centric reach to the needs of marginalized segments of the society.
He was of the view that minorities, the oppressed and poor people fall within the definition of marginalized segments as per the constitution. However, the Ministry neither has proper data nor any categorization/grading for the marginalized segments, he added.
Article (3) and Article (4) of the constitution must be included in the policy framework. Grading of poverty and marginalized segments has not been done and no funding is made for these segments and the ministry does not have proper data pertaining to the marginalized segments existing in the country and is therefore dependent upon the survey teams whose authenticity is dubious.
The committee recommended that there should be a specialised and separate ministry on anti poverty for marginalised segments of the society to channalised and distribute the resources for these segments.
The recommendations suggested that a proper survey mechanism must be formulated and birth certificate should be a compulsory requirement and that the registration of the families and persons should be carried out through NADRA as the accuracy of the data pertaining to such segments mainly depends on this factor. The committee asked that there should be an advisor on marginalised segments to represent the country with regard to these issues Internationally and the Planning and Development Ministry should seek details of such international treaties where Pakistan is signatory with regard to the marginalized segments to have follow up of these agreements. The committee also sought the details of funding by the UN organisations for the marginalised segments. The body also decided to carry out visits across the country to witness the ground situation and to seek the input of the provinces with regard to efforts being done for betterment of marginalized segments of the society.
