LAHORE: The caretaker chief minister of Punjab, Najam Sethi, may not want to make major policy decisions nor would he like to incur new expenditures. Here are some suggestions that will not involve either but may still make his short stay as CM memorable.
1) Reverse the present policy on official language. The present policy states that English is the official language of the province but Urdu may also be used. The CM should reverse that to declare Urdu the official language with immediate effect, while English may continue to be used for the time being. There will be no change for quite some time but it may come gradually. Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir already use Urdu as the official language.
2) If Mr Sethi wants to declare two holidays a week, then Friday and Saturday should be the two days off in the week. It was an unwise decision to make Saturday and Sunday public holidays. Most people do not return to work after offering their Friday prayers, making the weekend 2 1/2 days long. If the holidays are Friday and Saturday, it will make the weekend shorter. Markets outside major cities already close on Fridays.
3) Replace publication of tender notices with display advertisement. The publication of tender notices involves paying newspapers and magazines billions of rupees but the government gets nothing in return. Instead, funds should be devoted to displaying advertisements for public awareness. It will give good value for money. Tender notices may be published on websites, sent through email or registered book posts to contractors.
4) Make all government publications available on the internet. The government should make available on the internet all of its publications, books, reports, studies, district gazetteers, etc. A cell in the information department should be created for revision and updating of district gazetteers. Their translation into Urdu should also be ensured.
5) Resume publication of annual yearbook. The information department used to publish a yearbook years ago that used to cover all major events of the year. It was a very useful reference work for students, teachers, journalists, scholars and interested persons. Unfortunately, its publication was stopped after One Unit was broken up and provinces were restored. The department should resume publication of the yearbook. It should be published online to save printing expenses and allow easy access.
6) Create an online directory of public servants. An online directory of all officials of the Punjab government, BS 17 and above, with their phone numbers and email addresses must be made available.
7) Start digitisation of all libraries. Digitisation of all content available in public and private libraries of the province must be made available on the internet. Teams may visit libraries to digitise on the spot. Perhaps, Unesco, USAID or other agencies can be asked to fund the project.
8) Create an Urdu version of the government website. Now that support for Urdu is available in Windows 7, it should be easy to create the Urdu version of the Punjab government’s website. All departments, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies and district governments should set up their websites in Urdu, using a standard uniform design. In addition, maps of all districts should be made available on the provincial government’s website.
Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2013.
