Brainstorming session: Pros and cons of Punjab budget discussed
Experts give input to improve the financial layout.
LAHORE:
Parliamentarians and the civil society should question the periodic revision in budgets, diversion of funds allocated for one department to another, non-utilisation and lapse of funds and block allocations made under different heads.
These were the suggestions made by participants of a roundtable Discussion on Provincial Budget 2014-2015 – Creating Spaces for Vulnerable and Poor Segment of Society. HomeNet Pakistan had organised the event.
The topics that were touched upon included the processes for the inclusion of recommendations for the informal sector in the provincial budget, engagement of the legislature and the executive in the budget-making process, the salient features of the Punjab budget for 2014-15, and the budgetary allocations for vulnerable and poor segments of society.
In her welcome address, Ume Laila, executive director of HomeNet Pakistan, said it was time that the stakeholders analysed the Punjab budget and gave their input to make it pro-poor.
She said this year’s budget was a bit different as the government had allocated Rs75 million for home-based workers.
Though this amount was not enough, she said, it could be called a good beginning. Laila said the government should also take care of the pre-budget and post-budget projections.
Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz member of the Punjab Assembly, termed the budget visionary and different from the previous ones.
She said the government aimed to take the growth rate to 8 per cent.
It had also set a target to generate one million jobs every year which would be in addition to the 0.8 million jobs created every year in the province, said Pasha who is also an economist.
She said the yield per acre had decreased over the years in the country and it was far less than that of India. To improve the situation, she said, the government had announced a Rs5 billion subsidy for farmers to improve fertilizer mix and increase agricultural production.
Pasha said the government had earmarked Rs273 billion for the education sector and Rs121 billion for the health sector in the budget.
The government wanted to raise the standard of teaching and provide missing facilities at schools.
She said a health insurance card scheme would be launched for the poor.
She said the scheme, to be started with the cooperation of private insurance companies, would provide medical cover worth Rs35,000 a year to each family. People could access health facilities at both private and public hospitals, she said.
Former PML-Quaid parliamentarian Mehnaz Rafi questioned the government’s practice of announcing block allocations for different sectors without going into detail of each and every project.
Tariq Awan, coordinator for Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, said the amount covered under the health insurance scheme was too little.
It seemed the government wanted to absolve itself of the responsibility of providing health services to the people, he said.
Pakistan People’s Party MPA Faiza Malik, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MPAs Nausheen Hamid and Abu Bakar, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MPA Salma Butt, Provincial Commission on Status of Women chairperson Fauzia Viqar and labour leader Shahina Kausar also attended.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2014.
Parliamentarians and the civil society should question the periodic revision in budgets, diversion of funds allocated for one department to another, non-utilisation and lapse of funds and block allocations made under different heads.
These were the suggestions made by participants of a roundtable Discussion on Provincial Budget 2014-2015 – Creating Spaces for Vulnerable and Poor Segment of Society. HomeNet Pakistan had organised the event.
The topics that were touched upon included the processes for the inclusion of recommendations for the informal sector in the provincial budget, engagement of the legislature and the executive in the budget-making process, the salient features of the Punjab budget for 2014-15, and the budgetary allocations for vulnerable and poor segments of society.
In her welcome address, Ume Laila, executive director of HomeNet Pakistan, said it was time that the stakeholders analysed the Punjab budget and gave their input to make it pro-poor.
She said this year’s budget was a bit different as the government had allocated Rs75 million for home-based workers.
Though this amount was not enough, she said, it could be called a good beginning. Laila said the government should also take care of the pre-budget and post-budget projections.
Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz member of the Punjab Assembly, termed the budget visionary and different from the previous ones.
She said the government aimed to take the growth rate to 8 per cent.
It had also set a target to generate one million jobs every year which would be in addition to the 0.8 million jobs created every year in the province, said Pasha who is also an economist.
She said the yield per acre had decreased over the years in the country and it was far less than that of India. To improve the situation, she said, the government had announced a Rs5 billion subsidy for farmers to improve fertilizer mix and increase agricultural production.
Pasha said the government had earmarked Rs273 billion for the education sector and Rs121 billion for the health sector in the budget.
The government wanted to raise the standard of teaching and provide missing facilities at schools.
She said a health insurance card scheme would be launched for the poor.
She said the scheme, to be started with the cooperation of private insurance companies, would provide medical cover worth Rs35,000 a year to each family. People could access health facilities at both private and public hospitals, she said.
Former PML-Quaid parliamentarian Mehnaz Rafi questioned the government’s practice of announcing block allocations for different sectors without going into detail of each and every project.
Tariq Awan, coordinator for Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, said the amount covered under the health insurance scheme was too little.
It seemed the government wanted to absolve itself of the responsibility of providing health services to the people, he said.
Pakistan People’s Party MPA Faiza Malik, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MPAs Nausheen Hamid and Abu Bakar, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MPA Salma Butt, Provincial Commission on Status of Women chairperson Fauzia Viqar and labour leader Shahina Kausar also attended.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2014.