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Speakers at the Pakistan-India Legislators and Public Officials Dialogue on Sharing of Experiences on Governance and Democracy
October 8; PILDAT hosted its second round of the Pakistan-India Legislators and Public Officials Dialogue on Sharing of Experiences on Governance and Democracy in Karachi today.
Members of Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha, Mr. Mangi Lal Garasiya (Indian National Congress) and Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Mr. Kuljit Singh Nagra (Indian National Congress) from India joined their counterparts from the Provincial Assemblies of Sindh and Balochistan in Pakistan to exchange views on subjects of Agriculture and Business and Investment.
Participants present at the Dialogue expressed a need for more and more avenues of exchange of ideas on issues of governance between India and Pakistan.
Speaking on the subject of Promotion of Agriculture in India, Professor Jagrup Singh Sekhon, Chairman, Dept. of Political Science, Guru Nanak University, Amritsar, said that Agriculture was a state subject and the role of the central Government in this regard was limited to policy formulation and the provision of finances. He spoke about how the Land Reforms, the Green Revolution and the Mechanization of Farming had greatly helped the Agriculture Sector in India. Prof. Sekhon spoke of how the production of food grains and their yield had increased from the 1950�s to date, however he did say that the percentage of Agriculture as part of GDP had declined. Some of the challenges that he spoke of were the problems associated with Land Acquisition and Lack of Availability of Food Grains in the Punjab region leading to an increase in poverty and the rising suicide rate. He felt that for the improvement of Agriculture in India there needed to be incentives given to the Agriculture Sector, Reforms made in the Institutions and an Increase in Investment. Some challenges that he pointed out in Punjab were the Lack of Awareness about the Schemes available in the State, the Falling Water Table and the Rising Inputs Costs, however in comparison to this in Rajasthan though there had been a development in the technology used in the Agriculture Sector the lack of skilled personnel in the sector had been a determent for the State.
Sharing the perspectives on Agriculture in Pakistan, Mr. Muhammad Asif Khan, Agricultural Economist, said that the major challenges faced by the Agriculture Sector in Pakistan included a Lax of the Enforcement of Rules, Adulteration and Smuggling of the Food Grain Seeds, Adulteration in Pesticides, High Electricity Tariffs, Corruption, Poor Water Pricing and Land Holding Issues, etc. However, Mr. Khan did say that he felt Pakistan had shown a potential for improvement in the areas of Cohesive National Water & Agriculture Policy, Flood Management, a Reduction in Electricity Tariff and the Construction of Mini Dams to deal with the problem of water shortage. He felt that if information was announced in a timely manner, an increased number of persons could avail of the agriculture equipment subsidies provided to farmers in Pakistan.
In the discussion session, participants raised questions about the strong links between the farmer community and the subject specific academics. They pointed out how links like these were not present in Pakistan. The issue of the efficient utilization of water in Balochistan, Rajasthan and Punjab were also discussed and the participants shared experiences regarding the rainwater utilization in Punjab, India and how those could be adopted by Pakistan. For the development of the Agriculture Sector it was unanimously agreed that the Governments needed to work to better the provision of facilities for the farmers. While quoting policies adopted in India, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Indian Punjab spoke of the need of people-centric policies. Many persons present felt the role played by the civil societies organization needed to be highlighted. Many members representing Pakistan raised questions about how India in the media had been projected as a growing economy in regards to agriculture, however it was unclear how with this, the incidence of poverty and suicide were so high. The success of the Land Reforms adopted in India were also discussed. Members also pointed out how garbage was being converted into fertilizers an idea adopted in Sindh, Pakistan after observing the practice in India.
Speaking on the subject of Investment, Mr. Muhammad Sabir, Principal Economist, Social Policy and Development Centre, Karachi, Pakistan, said that on the ease of doing business, Faisalabad had been ranked one of the best cities in Pakistan followed by Karachi. He said that due to terrorism and energy deficiency, business and investment in Pakistan had suffered over the years. However, Pakistan had displayed unprecedented political and security consensus on the issue of terrorism through the National Action Plan and was making huge progress through a successful Zarb-e-Azb operation against militants. In the future scenario of Pakistan-China Economic Corridor, Pakistan would benefit especially as crippling levels of energy shortage would be over. Mr. Sabir pointed out how Pakistan needed to work towards building alternative means of electricity generation for the development of business and investment in Pakistan. He spoke of how Pakistan needed to adopt policies like the generation of Special Economic Zones (SEZ). He pointed out that despite its risks, Pakistan was also a high-return country, a fact that Pakistan�s Government must use for the advantage of getting foreign investment.
Discussing the scenario of Investment in India, Prof. Hemant Kumar Shah, Head, Department of Economics, H. K. Arts College, Ahmadabad, India, pointed out how Gujarat had shown a great improvement in its economic growth over the years. He spoke about how the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investor�s (FII) investing in Gujarat had increased from the early 1990�s to date. Prof. Shah touched upon how the Gujarat Government had invested a large portion of its funds on the development of the Industrial Sector as compared to the other sectors. According to the statistics provided by him Gujarat had been ranked as one of the most Business Friendly States in India. Some of the developments in Gujarat that he outlined were the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZ), the Availability of Water and Electricity and Well Designed and Connected Roads and Railways, which according to him had contributed to Gujarat�s success.
Participants believed that growing of the Business sector in many States in India was because of the continued support of Governments there. They highlighted that the business friendly laws made in India, the investment done in the creation of Skill Development Centres at the sub-national level, the professional autonomy given to the private sector and e-governance had greatly helped the Business and Investment sector and had made all relevant information available to the concerned persons. The empowerment given to the provinces/ States of both countries was discussed at length and linked to the development of the business and investment sector in both countries. Participants felt Governments needed to invest in the education programmes for the persons involved in the business sector. On international forums representatives of both countries needed to be united for the improvement of the said subjects.
Members of the Sindh Assembly who joined the Dialogue included Syed Hafeezuddin, MPA, (PS-93 Karachi-V, Sindh, PTI), Ms. Mahtab Akbar Rashdi, MPA, (RSW-156, Sindh, PML-F), Mr. Shafi Muhammad Jamot, MPA, (PS-129 Karachi-XLI, Sindh, PML-N), Mr. Faqir Dad Khoso, MPA, (PS-72 Jamshoro-II(Old Dadu-II), Sindh, PPPP), Ms. Shamim Mumtaz, MPA, (RSW-138, Sindh, PPPP), Ms. Saira Shahliani, MPA, (RSW-144, Sindh, PPPP), Mr. Fayaz Ali Butt, MPA, (PS-77 Dadu-IV(Old Dadu-VII, Sindh, PPPP), Ms. Nusrat Bano Sehar Abbasi, MPA, (RSW-157, Sindh, PML-F), Dr. Muhammad Rafique, MPA, (PS-31 Khairpur-III, Sindh, PML-F), Ms. Sorath Thebo, MPA, (RSW-158, Sindh, PML-N) and Eng Pesu Mal, MPA, (RSM-163, Sindh, PPPP).
Members invited to join the Dialogue from the Balochistan Provincial Assembly included Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, Acting Speaker, Balochistan Provincial Assembly, MPA, (PB-41 Awaran, Balochistan, PML), Mr. Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti, Minister, Interior and Tribal Affairs and Prisons and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Balochistan Provincial Assembly, MPA, (PB-24 Dera Bugti, Balochistan, PML-N), Dr. Shama Ishaq, MPA, (PBW-59, Balochistan, National Party) and Sardar Raza Muhammad Barrech, MPA, (PB-4 Quetta-IV, Balochistan, Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party).
Other members invited to join the Dialogue included, Ms. Bushra Anjum Butt, MPA, (W-354, Punjab, PML-N), Abdul Fattah Bhangar, Secretary, Industries and Commerce Department, Government of Balochistan.
The concluding session on Tourism will take place on October 9 at 10 am in Karachi.
While PILDAT has been facilitating structured, theme-oriented India-Pakistan Parliamentarians� Dialogue on bilateral issues since 2011, it envisaged that beyond the countries� capitals and foreign policy issues, conversation must also include experience sharing on good governance on basic public issues. The aim of the dialogue is for Provinces in Pakistan and States in India to mutually benefit from each other on issues of mutual interest and to exercise more effective oversight on their respective Governments to improve governance and service delivery for the citizens of the two countries. |
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