Farzana Raja is a Pakistani politician who served as chair of the

Benazir Income Support Programme The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is a federal unconditional cash transfer poverty reduction program in Pakistan. Launched in July 2008, it was the largest single social safety net program in the country with nearly Rs. 90 billion ($9 ...

and has been a Member of the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, Romanization, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower house, lower legislative house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which al ...

Early life and education

She was born on 2 January 1970. She received her early education from Government High School in

Chaklala, Rawalpindi Chaklala is a major suburban town of Rawalpindi in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is situated astride the Airport Road, to the east of Grand Trunk Road on the main railway line. The town has its own railway station Chaklala Railway Station w ...

and completed her college education from Viqar-u-Nisa College in Rawalpindi before obtaining a bachelor's degree from Punjab University in 1989.

Political career

She was elected to the

Provincial Assembly of Punjab The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Punjab, which is located in Lahore, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution of Paki ...

as a candidate of

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...

on a reserved seat for women in 2002 Pakistani general election. She was elected to the

as a candidate of

on a reserved seat for women from Punjab in

2008 Pakistani general election 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

. She became chairwoman of the

in 2008. In 2012, she was inducted into the federal cabinet of Prime Minister

Yousuf Raza Gilani Yusuf Raza Gilani (Urdu: ; born 9 June 1952), is a Pakistani politician who served as 18th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 25 March 2008, until his retroactive disqualification and ouster by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 26 April 2012. He ...

without portfolio and was give the status of a federal minister. She was retained in the federal cabinet of incoming Prime Minister

Raja Pervez Ashraf Raja Pervaiz Ashraf ( ur, ; born 26 December 1950) is a Pakistani politician, businessman and agriculturist who is the current Speaker of the National Assembly and a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from NA-58 (Rawalpindi-II). He ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raja, Farzana Pakistan People's Party MNAs 1970 births Living people University of the Punjab alumni Women members of the National Assembly of Pakistan People from Gujar Khanbr>Farzana Raja Was Chairman BISP