Social welfare is concerned with the well-being and uplift of the community at large and the vulnerable groups in particular and is the prime responsibility of every state and government. Since the welfare of masses is essential for the national development, therefore no nation or state can ever progress without the well-being of its people. In every society, welfare services are provided to help with people’s living conditions and financial problems. Similarly, for the social welfare of demographically vulnerable individuals living in acute poverty, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif recently launched Punjab Khidmat Card Programme for providing interest free loans, free technical training, rehabilitation and welfare and financial assistance to disabled persons in the province. The programme is the first of its kind in the history of the country as in its first phase, it aims to support over 200,000 lowest-income disabled people in the province through a financial assistance of Rs3600 on quarterly basis.
People with disabilities have abilities too. This programme not only aims at giving financial support to the poor disabled people in the province but also to equip them with diverse livelihood opportunities including technical training, micro-finance and paid internships.
This initiative by the Punjab government to reach out to the most vulnerable and marginalised people in the province and help them alleviate their difficult socio-economic circumstances is a welcome step as it will make the disabled people active and useful member of the society.
In order to ensure transparency in disbursement of the financial assistance, district committees have been set up. Moreover, for the smooth functioning of this programme, registration centres have also been established at district and tehsil headquarter hospitals which will help/facilitate the process of disability assessment and issuance of card under one roof. We must understand that having disability does not mean having a disease. The disabled persons may walk, talk and move differently than others but on the inside they are not so different. In fact, the problem is not the person’s disability but the society’s view of the person’s abilities as kindness is a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see as well.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities promotes, protects and ensures full and equal availability of all human rights and fundamental civil freedom to all persons with disabilities and promotes respect for their inherent dignity. Therefore, every effort should be made to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disabilities and such persons must be given their due rights and share so that they could be enabled to contribute in the development of the country in an active manner. Moreover, we need to understand that it is not our disabilities but our abilities that count. It is hoped that such initiatives by the government will continue in the future as well and will help in the socio-economic uplift of the society.
SYED ALI QASIM
Lahore
