HYDERABAD, June 10: Intellectuals, scholars, economists and civil society activists have urged the government to allocate more funds for education, exploit Thar coal deposits and allocate special funds for women education in Sindh.

They were speaking at a seminar on “Sindh Budget Advocacy and Economic Literacy “ jointly organised by the Centre for Rural Development Communication (CRDC), University of Sindh, and Actionaid Pakistan Area Office Karachi at the Institute of Sindhology here on Saturday.

Speakers urged the government to announce handsome incentives for farmers to uplift agriculture. They said the government must consult and invite suggestions from experts of various fields prior to finalisation of annual budgets.

The government must involve experts, intellectuals, senior economic professors and civil society activists in the budget making to devise people-friendly budgets.

Mazharul Haq Siddiqui, in his presidential remarks, stressed the need for paying attention to all disciplines of education.

He said society had been neglecting education that was key to all developmental activities.

The vice-chancellor deplored the neglect of women education and urged society to pay special attention to girls literacy.

He said that it was due to poor quality of leadership in different areas, including education, that given targets had not been achieved.

He urged the CRDC and the Sindh Development Study Centre of the university to work hard for creating awareness among the masses about the paramount importance of education and rural development.

Actionaid representative Mr Fateh Mari said the federal budget was not a poor man’s budget, but a poor budget. Prof Dr Rajab Memon, HEC Merit Professor and coordinator of the seminar, in his speech highlighted the objectives of the seminar.

Miss Amar Sindhu said the Government must increase budget for education, health and other important sectors, especially agriculture.

Mr Mushtaq Rajpar said universities, social service organizations must hold dialogue and discussions on different social development issues, including budgets.

The director of the Institute of Women Development Studies, University of Sindh, Dr Parveen Shah said the government had not allocated enough funds for girls’ education and rural women development. She recommended that a special package for education and rural women development should be announced.

Mr Azizuddin Arian of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, highlighting the importance of Small Medium Enterprise (SME), emphasized on strengthening small and medium industry, instead of heavy industry.

He recommended the development of motorcycle industry in Hyderabad and different areas of the province.

Agriculturist Mr Ghulam Nabi Morai emphasized the need for introducing crop zoning system in Sindh. He suggested that the government must make efforts to set-up wind mills and solar energy projects.

Dr Akash Ansari, Syed Shafiq Hyder Moosvi, Zulfiqar Halepoto, Ibrar Kazi, Dr Rafia Ahmed Shaikh, Badar Soomro and other experts also expressed their views on the federal budget with special emphasis on rural development.