Syed M. Muddassir Abbas Naqvi^1,, Hazoor Muhammad Sabir¹, Anisa Shamim¹, Muhammad Tariq²

Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) is an important safety net among the poverty reduction strategies. Although, cash transfer of PKR1000 per month cannot change the whole social status of the people in this era of rising inflation and frequently increasing oil prices, yet it provides some relief for daily household expenditures (especially food, education and health expenditures) for the poorest of the poor families. Primary data of 156 households (3.44 % of the beneficiaries’ households, which is equivalent to 0.58 % of the total population of the Tehsil), was collected from all the 7 union councils of Tehsil Mankera, District Bhakkar through proportionate sampling. The data was analyzed through SPSS for frequency distribution and Chow’s test was applied to check the structural stability in the social status of the beneficiaries before and after the program. The results showed that there was a structural stability in the life of the BISP beneficiaries after the program was started and their expenditure and thus consumption patterns had also increased. This improvement in consumption pattern means progress in the welfare of the beneficiary population which shows there is a trend towards reducing poverty.

BISP, poverty, welfare of the people, trend in reduction of poverty