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| May 29, 2006 | Monday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 1, 1427 |
Call for judicious distribution of water, resources
HYDERABAD, May 28: Prominent economists, financial experts and leaders of the farming community have stressed the need for equitable distribution of water and financial resources among provinces.
Speaking at a pre-budget dialogue here the other day, they demanded that injustices meted out to Sindh should be rectified.
The gathering was organised by the Centre for Social and Economic Change, Forum for Conflict Resolution and the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
They said that Sindh had been deprived of its due share of water and financial resources.
Former adviser on finance Dr Asad Shah said that since the government failed to announce national finance commission award, international arbitrators should be engaged to solve the problem.
He said that nowhere in the world finances were distributed exclusively on the basis of population.
“In India other factors like proportion of contribution to the national tax collection and deprivation also form part of the formula according to which national financial resources are distributed”, he said.
Similarly, sales tax collection all over the world fell within the ambit of provinces and in Pakistan too the tax used to be collected by provinces in its early years, he said.
Dr Shah demanded that the sales tax collection should be transferred to provinces to enable them to overcome their financial problems.
He said that Sindh contributed 70 per cent revenue to the federation but it received only 26 per cent in return.
While India spent huge amount on its development, “we in Pakistan are squandering money on the sale and purchase of plots and properties”, he said.
Dr Shah said that Pakistan had failed to focus on the development of human resources.
Independent economist Prof (Dr) Qaisar Bengali divided Pakistan into north and south parts and said that injustices were being done to Sindh and Balochistan in the south in the distribution of financial resources.
He disputed a government claim which put the ratio of poverty at just 25 per cent and said studies indicated that in Punjab, poverty stood at 26 per cent, in the NWFP at 29 per cent, in Sindh at 31 per cent and in Balochistan at 51 per cent.
He said that the GDP growth rate was 2.6 per cent in Punjab, 2.2 per cent in the NWFP, 1.7 per cent in Sindh and zero per cent in Balochistan.
He said the distribution of water and financial resources was unequal.
The country needed institutional changes and broad-based education to meet the present and future challenges, he said.
Prof Bengali proposed to make revenue generation part of the NFC award and said at present southern provinces were paying revenue to northern provinces.
He said that the statistics had laid it bare that the poor were paying more taxes than the rich and the 25 families of the country took away 24 per cent of GDP in which the share of the poor was only nine per cent.
Sindh Agriculture University former vice-chancellor Prof (Dr) Rajab Memon said that agriculture was country’s worst hit sector especially in Sindh where an acute shortage of water had led to wetlands being completely dried up.
He asserted that Punjab alone could not feed the country and demanded that Sindh which had comparative advantage in production of coarse rice, sugarcane, onion, chillies, banana, red rose, dates, Sindhri mangoes, medium fibre cotton, fisheries and livestock, should be given timely and due share of inputs and water.
Sindh Chamber of Agriculture president Syed Qamaruzzaman Shah said that the government had denied all kinds of facilities and support to agriculture which was the backbone of national economy.
He said that agricultural inputs were costlier than the produce and added that though the government had fixed the price of wheat at Rs415 per 40 kg but farmers were getting only Rs350 per 40 kg.
Prof Mushtaq Meerani said that Punjab took away 80 per cent of budget and was becoming rich by the day while Sindh was slipping into poverty.
H said that except the capital city of Sindh, other districts had always been neglected by the rulers.
Sindh University vice-chancellor Mazharul Haq Siddiqui said that without education neither development could take place nor could the poverty be reduced.
He stressed the need for the allocation of sufficient funds for education sector and added that ample funds should be earmarked to carry out development works in the rural areas of Sindh.
Shafique Ahmed Mousavi, Nazeer Memon, Prof J. H. Khaskheli, Dr H. B. Kolachi, HCC&I Vice-President Azizuddin, Prof Aijaz Qureshi and Zulfiqar Halepoto spoke on the occasion.
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