PRESS RELEASE FAISAL KARIM KUNDI URGES BIG POLLUTER TO HELP Pakistan DURING CLIMATE RELATED CALAMITIES
Islamabad; November, 2022: Mr. Faisal Karim Kundi, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) of Pakistan for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety has said that Pakistan has gone through one of the worst natural calamities in the form of floods and more than 40% of the country and crop fields were submerged under flood water. He was addressing WBG Pavilion Event at the COP-27 conference in Sharm-al-Shaikh, Egypt. Kundi informed the forum that people in the flood affected areas are living under the open sky as all houses and their villages have been devastated by floods. He noted that such ruins were result of climate change and global warming, therefore, it is the responsibility of big polluters to help Pakistan in these testing times. The SAPM while highlighted the Government of Pakistan’s initiatives for social protection and poverty alleviation apprised the forum that under Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Rs. 2500/- (US $ 100-115) were being paid to every household who lived below certain poverty level. He pointed out that that BISP is an effective and efficient digital program through which the level of poverty can be ascertained through National Identity Card (CNIC) into National Socio-economic Registry (NSER). Special Assistant to PM also briefed the forum on BISP’s various incentives such as, scholarships and mutation programmes with primary focus on gender parity and poverty alleviation. He specifically highlighted that Government provides more stipends to girls in order to encourage female literacy in the country.