PM Imran offers to share Pakistan’s cash transfer programme with India

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government successfully transferred Rs120 billion in 9 weeks to over 10 million families to deal with the COVID-19 fallout on the poor, ARY News reported.

Quoting a survey report, in a tweet, the prime minister said 34 percent of households across India will not be able to survive for more than a week without additional assistance. He, however, offered to help and share Pakistan’s successful cash transfer programme, lauded internationally for its reach and transparency, with India.

According to a survey report, titled “How Are Indian Households Coping Under the Covid-19 Lockdown? 8 Key Findings” nearly 84% of Indian households is seeing decreases in income since the lockdown began. Nearly a third of all households will not be able to survive beyond a week without additional assistance.

The survey report was carried out by experts at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago and the Mumbai-based Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE).

The fall in incomes affected people in the lower and middle segments of the income distribution most severely, the study found. “Households in the lowest of the five income groups had average monthly per-capital earnings of less than Rs3,800 (about $50), while those at the high end made between Rs. 12,374 and upwards of Rs1 lakh ($167 to $1,370 and more).”

Rural households have seen disproportionately more distress than those in urban India during the lockdowns. Incomes have fallen at some 88% of rural households, compared to 75% at urban households, the study found.