The Punjab Social Protection Authority (PSPA) and the Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC) entered into an agreement on Friday to launch an Income Generation Scheme for people with disabilities (PWDs).
All people with disabilities who have prior skills training will be entitled to receive interest-free loans for setting up their own businesses under the scheme.
Under this scheme to be launched within the next two months, the two sides committed to joining hands for creating an enabling environment for the economic uplift of PWDs through the provision of skills, internships, and interest-free loans.
Chaired by the Punjab Finance Minister Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha, the signing ceremony was also attended by PSPA CEO Dr Sohail Anwar and PSIC MD Bilal Butt. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha said that the government realised that PWDs were more likely to be unemployed and generally earned less even when employed. She observed that it is difficult for PWDs to escape from poverty due to discrimination in employment, limited access to transport, and lack of access to resources to promote self-employment and livelihood activities.
It was for this reason, she added, that the government was taking concrete steps for the rehabilitation of PWDs. The scheme was earlier approved by the PSPA Board in its sixth quarterly meeting held on November 16, 2016.
PSIC will act as a fund manager and implement the scheme through a service provider. It will develop a training module and arrange orientation sessions for the PWDs benefitting from the loan. Three to four weeks internship/ entrepreneurial skill training would be arranged for the Khidmat Card Beneficiaries so that they might utilise the interest-free loan optimally.
PSPA CEO Dr Sohail Anwar said that the PSPA would sponsor and the PSIC would execute the scheme in close liaison with each other. “The PSPA will provide Rs 250 million for loan disbursement to PWDs,” he said. “An effective M&E framework would be developed for impact assessment of the intended objectives.”
