Surayya Bibi, 45 years old mother of five, lives in Mission Compound locality of Daska city in Sialkot district. Her husband, Muhammad Shabbir, is a labourer by profession and earns maximum Rs 5000 a month. The family learnt about the federal government's initiative of helping the poor families in December last year through Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). They requested an office bearer of Daska chapter of PPP to get the form. "In January we got the form and applied for the support programme. It took six months to get first instalment," Surayya tells TNS that they got a money order of Rs 5,000.

"It was a good amount for us. I decided to put this money in a local committee. I am paying an instalment of Rs 1,000 monthly for the committee of Rs 25,000. I will be able to marry off one of my daughters. It is a very supportive initiative for me at least," she would get next instalment of Rs 4,000 in October. "Rs 1,000 per month may not be a good amount for people who spend thousands in a day but for a family like me it does help a lot," she says.

Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) was initiated by PPP government last year. It was meant for the poorest families having income less than Rs 6,000 per month. The government announced to pay them Rs 2,000 after every two month through Pakistan Post Office Department. Its unique feature is that the payment is made directly to the female head of the family. In 2008-09 federal government allocated Rs 34 billion to the programme. This was the third largest head in the budget in terms of size. For the current year the allocation has been doubled to Rs 70 billion.

According to official estimates, the programme will provide relief to at least 25 percent of the population living below the poverty line. Ground realities show that so far it has not been able to expand its reach. Only a few thousand families so far have been able to get the assistance through this programme.

According to Akbar Alam Shamim, DG BISP Punjab, the programme has been initiated to partially compensate the impact of inflation on the purchasing power of the poor. "In the years 2005-07, inflation was almost 10 percent while food inflation was in the range of 13-15 percent. 2007-08 observed sharp rise in oil prices and primary products in the international as well as domestic market and it resulted in further increase in inflation rate, which has almost halved the purchasing power of the people. So, there was an urgent need for direct and speedy relief to the poor sections of the society and BISP is the prompt response to the given situation. A monthly payment of Rs 1000 per family will increase the income of a family earning Rs 5000 by 20 percent, which is a very healthy .increase," he says.

Many analysts are of the view that the programme is a repetition of the existing Baitul Maal scheme, run by the Federal Ministry of Social Welfare. Under this scheme, poor families get Rs 250 per month. Shamim clarifies that cases of duplication will be scrutinised, because Baitul Maal data is maintained by Nadra while BISP's record will also be managed by Nadra.

A large number of poor families still have to reap the benefits of this initiative. Most of the poor families, even in Surayya's area are not lucky like her family. She was lucky to get BISP form from a PPP leader and that may be the reason she got the money but most of the people who applied for this sum through local Member National Assembly Sahabzada Syed Murtaza Amin, who belongs to PML-N, have not been able to get even a penny through BISP.

"We applied for BISP in December last year but have not received even a single instalment so far," says Kashif Ali, 50 years old resident of Sohawa locality of Daska. He is father of six and works in a surgical instrument making unit in his city. "My monthly salary is Rs 4500. I got the form from the local MNA and submitted it back to him within a week," he says. Only a few poor people in his city have been getting Rs 1000 monthly through BISP.

Sahabzada Syed Murtaza Amin admits that majority of people who applied through him were unable to get payments. "I got 8,000 forms of BISP and distributed them among the needy and poor people of my constituency but so far not even 10 percent of them have got money. This programme is basically designed to increase the vote bank of PPP and only those who have political affiliation with the PPP are being entertained". The programme, according to him, is dually damaging the reputation of his party "as it carries the name of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, so even our voters have been developing a soft corner for PPP while on the other hand when most of them failed to get the payments, they think that their representatives are having that money. "On the other hand those who applied through PPP leaders, have not been facing problems in getting the money. In Daska not even a single MNA or MPA is from PPP but most of the forms are being distributed through PPP local leadership. So, we can easily say that it is a politically motivated programme, initiated to strengthen a particular political party".

Local PPP leaders on the other hand blame PML-N MNA of wasting the forms instead of distributing them among the poor people of the area. "He only distributed 2000 forms among the people while rest of them were wasted" Haji Muhammad Asif, vice-president PPP Daska tehsil chapter tells TNS. According to him PPP district and tehsil presidents have been granted only 50 forms each "PML-N people in fact have problem with the name of the programme and just because of political jealousy, are depriving thousands of poor families from getting monthly payment of Rs 1000 as subsidy from the government," he thinks.

The situation is almost the same throughout the Punjab as majority of MNAs and MPAs in Punjab belong to PML-N and many of them have problems with this programme. According to an official in BISP, 64 lawmakers from Punjab mostly belonging to PML-N, have either not received their quota of BISP forms or have not returned the forms to the concerned department for further investigation and payment of money. "Most of the members of the PML-N 40-member Punjab Assembly, including Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and his daughter Maimoona Hashmi have either not received the forms or have returned them to the department," he says.

Akbar Alam, DG BISP Punjab admits that some PML-N leaders have problems with the programme "but we are not discriminating people on the basis of party affiliations. It is for the poor and we are trying our level best to make it a flawless programme. We have already been conducting a poverty survey with the help of international as well as national organisation both governmental and non-governmental. The survey will be completed in next three or four months and the forms will be distributed among those who will come up as the poorest of the poor in the country through a transparent method. The BISP targets to provide support to 50 lakh families throughout the country".

Solo Photography Exhibition by Sana Khan to open on Sep 24 at Alhamra, The Mall. It will continue till Oct 3.

Khatati & Naqashi Exhibition at Shakir Ali Museum till Sep 30.

Exhibition of Sumera Jawad's paintings at Alhamra, The Mall till Sep 30.

Paintings Exhibition by various artists at Revivers Galleria

till Sep 25.

Shedding Load: An exhibition that brings together artists from

different backgrounds under one roof at Gallery 39K / Lahore. Today is the last day of exhibition.

Ghazal Night at Peerus Cafe every Friday at 9pm.

Jazz Night at Peerus Cafe every Saturday at 9pm featuring live performance by Jazz Moods.

by-polls

Mian Muhammad Hanif, 62, is witnessing 10th general election for the National Assembly in his area – considered one of the major constituencies of Lahore.

With the announcement of schedule for by-poll in the constituency, it will be the most attractive activity in the city till the elections are held, giving Lahoris an opportunity to revive politically. It will give time and opportunity to all political parties who have high claims in the political arena of the country – to test their popularity graph.

NA 123 comprises of three union councils including many underdeveloped areas of the provincial metropolis like China Scheme, Shalamar, Baghbanpura, Wassan Pura, Chah Meeran, and Kot Khawaja Saeed etc. The constituency which was historically spread till Shahdara and later divided, is now consisting of just underdeveloped small towns and localities of Lahore.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is the major contender this time. This is by poll of eighth general elections of Pakistan held in February 2008, a seat vacated by PML-N stalwart and party's senior vice president Makhdoom Javed Mahmood Hashmi.

This is the second time that by-polls are being held in this area. Previously, it was 1988 general elections when slain chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Benazir Bhutto won the seat. She vacated the seat later retaining her Larkana seat.

Hanif, running a small general store in the area near University of Engineering and Technology's huge campus in the city, is witness to the victory of PPP founding member Dr Mubashir Hasan, SM Yaqoob, Benazir Bhutto, three-time winner Umar Hayat, and Makhdoom Javed Hashmi in the general elections from this area since 1970. However, none of the elected representatives could make improvements in this constituency, a claim made by every contender.

Mostly, the constituency comprises of middle and lower middle class people to whom they have always been promising good in the name of "pro-people manifesto." Total number of the registered voters, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan, is 287,900 including 161,102 male and 126,813 female voters.

A visit to the area presents a pathetic picture of the constituency with bumpy roads, poor infrastructure and substandard and less facilities for the masses of the localities. "We have been witnessing all regimes including PPP and PML-N but no winner seems interested in the constituency after winning the election," says Azhar Manna, another old man of the locality.

The polls for NA-123 and NA 55 Rawalpindi, were scheduled for June 30 and July 4, respectively but the EC postponed them at the request of the Punjab government, fearing a bad law and order situation. The nomination papers can be submitted until October 3 and papers will be scrutinised between October 5 and October 7. The final list of the candidates would be announced on October 18 while the election will be held on November 7, 2009.

Though there are chances of unopposed victory of Sharif, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) have plans to launch their separate candidates in the poll to block the landslide victory of PMLN. PTI and JI boycotted the general elections 2008 and now have announced to take part in this democratic process.

One of the contenders from PPP Ilyas Gujjar has moved court that no new nominations should be accepted. If the court decides in his favour there will be one on one contest between PPP and PMLN, conditionally if PPP leadership does not withdraw its candidate in the name of "national reconciliation."

Sharif is contesting from this constituency for the first time with strong possibilities to get into the assembly after 1997, a time when he was thrown out of the power corridors by General Pervez Musharraf and later was legally barred from contesting elections.

The constituency has been a stronghold of PML since 1990. Previously, it was PPP that bagged this seat in 1970, 1977 and 1988 general elections. Salmaan Taseer, the sitting Punjab Governor, twice contested NA elections from the same area in 1990 and 1993 but lost. In 1997, Mian Abdul Waheed of PML won the election from the area. In 2002 Hashmi of the same party bagged this seat.

PML-N bagged 70 percent of the polled votes in this constituency in 2008 elections against an overall around 33 percent turn out.

Though overall environment is in favour of Sharif who is overwhelmingly being welcomed in the constituency being a national level political figure, Hanif believes that whether it is PML-N or PPP, it doesn't matter for the people of the constituency. Unless someone takes practical steps for the good of the people its meaningless. The candidate this time has remained prime minister of the country twice, let's see what's next.

vaqargillani@gmail.com

To market, to market for home-made food

Date: September 25 and my Facebook status read -- Naila Inayat is off to Shop 67...

And within seconds it was swarmed by comments, see that is how much we the Lahoris love food and anything that just involves this term.

"It is pretty close to my place, when Amma is out of town that is where I go for food," wrote Usman Shah, Senior Manager Client Services and Business Development Publicis in Lahore and also a Radio Jockey at FM100. However, this comment cost him a little as he got in a fix when 'X' wrote back: That sure saves your life... hahaha! Does your mom not let you go there when in town? And he responded:

Usman Shah: Who wants to buy "home-made food" from a shop when food is actually being cooked at home?

Yes, you read it right! Home-cooked food it is. Called Shop 67, it is a unique place in Model Town. Everything in the menu from vegetables, rice, curry to the roti all is home-made, giving the customers food that is fresh and is given at a reasonable price.

They say home is where the heart is or where at least the food is fresh and warm. If you have had a fight with your wife and she has refused to cook or if your mom is not in town, there's a place where food is fresh and is served warm, just like a home Shop 67 -- a small kitchen in Model Town.

Food is brilliant there and there's a vast variety available too.

It all began in the late 1980s when Shams Khan went to Malaysia and it was from there that he got this unique idea of starting a home-cooked food shop -- Shop 67. "This was the first shop of its kind in Lahore. We as a family have always been associated with this shop. My father thought it could be a promising business," says Shoaib Raza Khan, the owner of Shop 67, son of Shams Khan.

Talking about the initial response Shoaib tells TNS that in the beginning it was only the relatives or close friends that would visit the shop. Later, the word spread and the shop became popular not only in the adjoining offices of the Bank Square Market in Model Town but also amongst college and university students. Initially, we used to offer lunch only but now the shop is also open for dinner.

Having a fixed menu of more than 20 dishes of desi food, Shoaib and his wife divide the dishes amongst themselves and that is how they organise work at home. Shop 67 has a sitting place with capacity of 40 people in its basement. "All the cooking is done at home; we bring the food in dishes from home. There is a special dish every week which is a speciality of our shop," says Shoaib.

"This is our favourite dining place when in Lahore. Shop 67 has lovely ambience. You can eat as much boneless ginger chicken and vegetables and fresh tandoori roti with coke and it costs you something about Rs 340. I come all the way from Samnabad to enjoy this food," says Shabeena Malik, a young banker.

Shoaib feels that food being cheap is the USP (universal selling point) of Shop 67. "Over the years we have had customers who have complained that we should expand. We tried our hand at that but it was of no avail. We opened our shops on Davis Road, Mazang and Wahdat Road but it led to administrative mayhem and all these shops were closed down in a matter of few months," he says.

However, Kamran, who is also a regular Shop 67-goer says, "I think its time for the owners to expand this shop if not in different areas then at least in Model Town. This shop should be refurbished and the menu should not be fixed. The idea is unique but they need to move on from here."

Shoaib shrugging his shoulders doesn't agree with the idea. He says whenever one renews something it means increase in prices. "And I'm afraid we will loose our regular customers if we try to do that. We are content."