Daily Times

LAHORE: South Asia Partnership Pakistan (SAP-PK), a non-government organisation (NGO), under it ‘Citizens First -Improving Human Security Programme’, on Friday organised a provincial conference on Punjab budget analysis.

The theme of the conference was ‘Analysing Punjab Budget 2016: Peoples Perspective’. Speakers on the occasion stressed that participation of people was an essential component in budget making process, adding that the process should be abundant with provisions of social protection, social services and people’s right to live with dignity and human security. However, they deplored that the federal as well as provincial governments never considered or prioritised the needs of citizens while contemplating on the budget. Due to such negative attitudes and discrimination towards social services by the government, it was clear that the government never focused on issues pertaining to human rights protection and human security during the budget-making process, they added.

Speakers said the government discriminated with the elected members of the parliament by not sharing budget details with them, which was totally undemocratic, adding that parliamentarians must protest on such treatment.

Dr Qais Aslam, an eminent economist, researcher and professor, highlighted the salient features of his presentation on trends, analysis and future dimensions of Punjab budget. He said that there were two economic systems in Pakistan, one for the poor and other for the rich or elite. “This classification is totally anti-people and undemocratic, as rich is becoming richer by not paying taxes, besides making the lives of the poor miserable,” he opined.

Talking about a new and positive trend emerging after appointment of a women as finance minister of Punjab, he said although she has been allocated more development budget, especially on gender development, health and education expenditures, but it was still not clear whether this budget was being utilised in a correct way or not, as apparently there has been no change in health, education as well as women development sector.

The eminent economist said due to non-existence of any local government system in Punjab, there was hardly any development at the grassroots level, as the federation the provinces were being allocated budget under the NSC Award. These funds were not further allocated to the local bodies, which was badly affecting the development of local communities, he lamented.

Dr Aslam said that most of the budget was being consumed on non-development expenditures or eaten by the government functionaries, which was shameful, adding that there was very little allocation for religious minorities and cultural activities in Punjab, depicting the wrong priorities of the government.

Women in Struggle for Empowerment (WISE) Executive Director Bushra Khaliq on the occasion spoke on ‘Provincial Budget and its Gender Dimensions’. She said that there was a dire need to address the issues of deprived people but this was not on the agenda of budgetary process of Punjab government. She said that affirmative measures must be taken by the government for the development of women at grassroots level.

Member Punjab Assembly Aleem Shah said that there was a lot to be reformed in the budget making process of Punjab. Talking on the allocation of budget for provinces under the NFC Award, he said the Punjab government was taking least chunk of this allocation (Rs 10 million for one million population) compared to other provinces. “This negative impression of the government is hampering the process to empower local bodies,” he added.

Cholistan Devalopment Council Bahawalpur Executive Director Farooq Khan and Sojhla Development Foundation Multan Executive Director Zahoor Joya along with various civil society activists participated in the conference. They were of the view that issues regarding citizens’ rights, their needs, social protection and services were not being provided, while development funds for health, education, safe drinking water and other needs were not being allocated in the Punjab budget.