One question always arises, and we think: why are these women on the road? Why can we not provide a solution for double income? Why can we not empower them like other countries? Why are we giving pain to these women, making them suffer more and live a worse life? Maybe some structural flaw remains embedded in its design: pure cash handouts, while crucial for immediate survival, risk engendering long-term dependency.

If we look at every BISP woman from any district of rural Sindh, the current modality of cash disbursement extracts a heavy social toll. Beneficiaries frequently face gruelling conditions. Worse still, once the cash is in hand, it is rapidly absorbed by local debt repayment, high-interest loans from neighbourhood kiryana shops, or immediate medical emergencies. This cycle leaves families with zero capital accumulation. Cash-in-hand without enterprise creation is a temporary band-aid on a chronic wound; it fails to build a sustainable economic model.

For over 2.6 million women from Sindh and 10 million needy women across Pakistan, the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has served as an........

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