'Universities will pave way for prosperity’

Politicians decry federal government’s ‘anti-people’ budget

BAHAWALPUR/ FAISALABAD/ SARGODHA: Pakistan has recorded its highest growth rate (4.7 per cent) in eight years, Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal said at an event at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad on Monday. “This has been possible because of the government’s focus on heavy investment in the energy, infrastructure and human resource sectors.” The minister was speaking at the launch of the Young Development Corps (YDC) at the UAF.

In 1998, Pakistan had only 350 PhD scholars in the country, he said. “We have more than 75,000 PhD scholars in the country now.”

He said one of the initiatives the government had taken in this regard was the Pak-US Knowledge Corridor under which 10,000 scholarships will be offered for studies in 200 universities in the US.

The minister said they were also working on Technology Innovation Research Fund, at a cost of Rs3 billion, to finance innovative ideas through competitive research grants. He said marketable research would help pave the way for economic growth.

“The nation has pinned its hopes on universities to steer the country out of crises.”

Iqbal said the government was making all-out efforts to uplift the agricultural sector.



He said the government had lowered the price of inputs and had waived GST on pesticides. “This sector has been facing a plethora of challenges especially climate change and low per acre productivity…we need enhanced efforts to address their issues.” He said significant damage to cotton crops last year had occurred because of climate change.

Speaking at the inauguration of Dhooda Minor Canal in Kot Momin tehsil in Sargodha district, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Mohsin Shah Nawaz Ranjha said on Monday that advancement of the agriculture sector was crucial for the growth of Pakistan’s economy. “The prosperity of farmers is linked to the prosperity of Pakistan,” the minister said.

Ranjha said the PML-N-led government had allocated billions of rupees under the Kissan Package. He said the Dhooda Minor Canal would facilitate farmers in eight village. The canal had been dug at a cost of Rs54 million.

Criticism

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf Bahawalpur’s Women’s Wing president Shazia Naureen Khan has criticised the federal budget saying it had been drawn up in accordance with the guidelines from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

“This government is on their payroll…the PML-N has drawn up an anti-people budget that will not provide anyone relief. Instead, it will lead to hyper-inflation.”

She said the budget had provisions that would encourage hoarding of essential items during Ramazan. “Governments come and go but the plight of the people remains the same.” Khan said a 10 per cent raise in salaries of government employees and pensioners was a joke and not in line with inflation.

Separately, Jamaat-i-Islami Bahawalpur ameer Muhammad Ashraf, City ameer Syed Zeeshan Akhtar, district general secretary Nasar Ullah and ameer deputy Khalid Iqbal said current budget was little more than rhetoric. In a joint statement issued on Monday, they called the 10 per cent raise in salaries and pensions inadequate.

“This is an anti-people budget. It only shows that our country’s leaders do not care about people’s problems. They seem to have adopted a policy of eliminating the poor rather than eliminating poverty.”

The statement says the policies framed as part of the budget would unleash a tsunami of inflation. “Raising the tax on Chinese vegetables and hundreds of other edibles and the raise in sales tax on electricity will damn us all.”

They said the treasury claimed that only 29 per cent of the people in Pakistan were below the poverty line. “If that’s true why are so many people committing suicides because of financial distress?”

They said the government had to pay Rs1,360 billion as interest on loans accrued over several years. Subsidies for the poor had been slashed from Rs196 billion to Rs140 billion and the subsidy given to WAPDA had been slashed from Rs117 billion to Rs95 billion.

According to the economic survey report, production of crops recorded a negative rate of 6.25 per cent.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2016.