With a slew of social safety programmes ranging from food stamps for the poor to free medical coverage for the elderly introduced in most developed countries after World War II gradually becoming unsustainable in today’s ageing societies, many prosperous nations are now increasingly forced to cut down on their social-sector spending.

However, for a developing country with a young population, low literacy and high poverty rates, social safety programmes need expansion rather than contraction, according to Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) Director General (Operations) Syed Iqbal Haider Zaidi.

EOBI operates under the federal Ministry of Human Resources Development, which provides employees with old-age pension and other benefits. Every employee is supposed to get his EOBI card made once in a lifetime, which remains valid and portable for the rest of his life no matter how many employers he works for. All industrial and commercial organisations that have at least five employees are required to contribute to the EOBI every month.