More than 800,000 people who were struck off the list for government cash handouts in the last government will be added back on by the new minister for social protection and poverty alleviation.

Federal Minister Shazia Atta Marri plans to re-induct these Benazir Income Support Program beneficiaries who were removed from the list during former prime minister Imran Khan’s government. She is doing this under new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s orders.

They were deemed ineligible or “undeserving” persons for several reasons, explains Dr Sania Nishtar, who ran the BISP/Ehsaas program at the time. The previous government also revised the database to update the list of beneficiaries.

“Social status of citizens is linked to the Computerized National Identity Card in Pakistan,” explained Nishtar when asked how people are removed from BISP. “It includes possession of home, vehicle, employment, phone, executive services, tax services and international travel among other facilities availed by them.”

However, Shazia Marri felt that people should not be excluded if they traveled abroad for religious purposes.

Only low-income households are eligible for the BISP/Ehsaas program. If the person or their spouse has a government job, owns a car, or if they frequently travel abroad, they do not qualify.

BISP used data analytics to identify beneficiaries who were undeserving for multiple reasons. If they owned vehicles or had undertaken international travel.

The excluded people can send their CNIC number to 8178 for a reappraisal.

In a tweet, Nishtar had listed the reasons for excluding the beneficiaries from the BISP list.

Shazia Marri did not respond to an Aaj News request for comment on the procedure to re-induct people.

The then PTI government had claimed that thousands of government employees illegally benefitted from the cash support program which was meant for the poor.

The BISP is also confusingly called the Ehsaas program. The PPP and PTI fought over it. Either way, it gives millions of poor people a monthly stipend of Rs12,000 to Rs13,000. If you want to know more, this Soch fact check explains the difference

Rumours of using the BISP scheme for political gains surfaced in the PTI’s tenure when the “undeserving” beneficiaries were removed. “No new beneficiaries were included in the program after removing the undeserving ones since 2019 as the government conducted a fresh survey to assess the status of people who needed cash assistance,” Nishtar said when asked about allegations PPP supporters were removed and PTI ones inducted.

“I did not have knowledge of the beneficiaries’ support to any political party as the list used to strike down the names did not show their political affiliations.”

(The BISP/Ehsaas website archive data recently became inaccessible).

After “undeserving” beneficiaries were taken off the list, the number was nearly five million people in the program, said Nishtar.

In an interview to APP, Marri said the government has planned to raise the BISP reach to eight million people by June.