CM extols WFP efforts in controlling malnutrition among children of Thatta, Sujawal
KARACHI: The stunting prevention programme being implemented in Thatta and Sujawal districts has helped in reducing malnutrition cases by 19.6 per cent while stunting cases have been controlled by eight per cent in Thatta.
This was stated by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah while talking to a delegation led by World Food Programme (WFP) executive director in Pakistan David M. Beasley.
He said the Sindh government was working hard to solve malnutrition and stunting issues with the WFP assistance and other donor agencies. Technical assistance was provided by the WFP to facilitate inter-sectoral coordination and policy alignment. The stunting prevention programme was being implemented in Thatta and Sujawal districts targeting children in the first 1,000 days of their life, he said.
He further said that since Jan-Sept 2016, cure rate for moderate acute malnutrition among children was 98.94pc and 95.19pc for pregnant and lactating women (PLW) while 2,153 tonnes of food was distributed through community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM).
The chief minister also stressed the need of special training, capacity building and other necessary support to the concerned staff of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority to help them meet any emergency situation.
Earlier, the CM recalled the history of providing humanitarian and development assistance by the WFP to Sindh working closely with the departments concerned, UN agencies and local partners of international NGOs to respond to emergencies in the province.
Tax policy
The Sindh government is pursuing a progressive tax policy rather than a regressive one with low tax rate as its cardinal component, that is why no new tax was levied in the budget 2017-18 announced on June 5, 2017, maintaining the standard rate at 13pc, the lowest in any tax domain in the country.
The CM stated this when Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) Chairman Khalid Mahmood presented him SRB annual report 2016-17 here on Thursday.
He said the revenue target of Rs100 billion set for fiscal 2017-18 posed an enormous challenge, however he was quite optimistic that the SRB employees had put in their best efforts to achieve this target without compromising organisation’s taxpayer-friendly image.
As per the report the standard rate was reduced from 14pc to 13pc while the annual target was scaled up 28pc over the previous year, to Rs78bn.
This was a daunting challenge given that the SRB was already confronted with a shrinking revenue space owing to the year-on-year incremental revenue expansion, since its start of operations in 2011-12.
Ports and terminal operators, telecommunication and insurance organisations and banks remained the principal contributors.
Contract execution, franchises and constructions also provided increased revenues. But a lot of areas remained uncharted and yet to be tapped.
The report says that considerable progress has been made on improving the IT-system and initiating necessary work for introduction of point of sales (POS) system for services involving cash transactions.
By the end of fiscal 2017-18 or thereabouts, the POS system is likely to be in place embracing the key service in that sector.
The chief minister directed the SRB chairman to put the report before the provincial assembly for scrutiny.
Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2018