ISLAMABAD: A legislative body of the Lower house of parliament on Tuesday recommended that the Pakistan Boys Scouts Association and the Pakistan Girls Guide Association might be transferred back to the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training. The recommendation was made during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on IPC at Parliament House with Abdul Qahar Khan Wadan, in the chair. In this regard, the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) recorded that they had no objection over the transfer of associations. The committee recommended that the government should initiate steps so that in future no private school could be awarded no-objection certificate (NOC) without fulfilling the requirement of a reasonable playground and sports facilities to students. The committee further recommended that the sports federations should be made independent and their funds should be enhanced. The committee also constituted a Sub-Committee to set the criteria for the selection of new Pakistan Sports Board director general. The committee also recommended that the import of dry milk should be banned in Pakistan. The Committee strongly recommended that the National Testing Services (NTS) should not be approached for the selection of employees for the ministries as the services of NTS were not up to the mark. A comprehensive briefing was given on livestock and dairy development, Animal Quarantine Department regarding export of animals to Iran and Afghanistan through Balochistan, establishment of independent and permanent secretariat of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) with provincial representation, working and performance of Inter-Provincial Coordination Committee (IPCC), criteria for posting of officers and staff in the offices of education attaches abroad, including number of Pakistani students studying there, status of preparation of hockey teams (men and women’s) for upcoming events during the years 2018-19 and HEC over the scholarship quota for veterinary education (clinical purposes), etc. The minister for IPC briefed the committee about the steps taken by the ministry for flourishing sports activities in the country. He also agreed with the committee that incentives should be awarded to the hockey players and also the independence / free hand should be given to the hockey federation. He said that Pakistan was losing in all the sports activities due to the federal control over the respective sports association. The director, Animal Quarantine Department (AQD), told the committee that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on a summary moved by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research had imposed a ban on the commercial export of live animals since 2013. The acting executive director, Higher Education Commission (HEC), briefed the committee that the HEC scholarships were open under all major disciplines and there was no bar for candidates to apply under any selected field. He said that in compliance with the recommendations made by the committee all the foreign scholarship holders were now bound to get NOC from their respective Pakistani embassy. The meeting was attended by Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan, Sardar Muhammad Shafqat Hayat Khan, Begum Tahira Bukhari, Sabiha Nazir, Dr Mahreen Razzaque Bhutto, Siraj Muhammad Khan, Mujahid Ali, Engineer Muhammad Usman Badini and Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani MNAs, officers of the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination and others. Published in Daily Times, January 31st 2018.