The Minister of State
for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage has said
that the human development indicators plunge into a nosedive during dictatorship
whereas during the democratic era, they start showing upward trend. She said
this while speaking at a three-day 20th Sustainable Development Conference held
under the auspices of SDPI here today.
The
MOS said, during dictatorships foreign funding comes in the country and the GDP
also goes up but the fruits of development do not reach the masses. She said
that for the last four years the targets of sustainable development were being
achieved with better results. She said that Pakistan was striving for
sustainable development and the allocation of rupees one trillion in the budget
for 2016-17 for the PSDP which was the highest ever in the budgetary history of
Pakistan adequately reflected that commitment. She
said that no worthwhile planning could be undertaken without the availability
of authentic data and information. Marriyum said that the parliament had a key
role in the sustainable development and Pakistan was the first country where a
secretariat on Sustainable Development in the parliament was established
through the efforts of Speaker Ayaz Sadiq which was playing an active role in
the achievement of SDGs. She informed the audience that after the eighteenth
amendment some of the SDGS have been transferred to the provinces where
provincial task forces connected to the Sustainable Development Secretariat of
the parliament were also adequately contributing to that effort. Marriyum said
that when the millennium SDGS arrived they also became a casualty of
dictatorship.
The
Minister congratulated the organizers for convening a conference on Sustainable
Development like the previous years. She said that it was the best forum where
representatives of the government, the stakeholders working for human
development, media and international partners got together to find solutions to
the confronting challenges. Marriyum also eulogized service of Shahnaz Wazir
Ali for the development sector.
The
Minister observed that in the absence of census during the last nineteen years
the SDPI and other institutions from the development sectors extended full
cooperation to the government in the area of data management, policy
formulation and research.
The
MOS said that the participation of the foreign delegations in the conference
was a testimony to the fact that Pakistan was a peaceful country where
terrorism and extremism had been checked in their tracks. She said that the
government had also done a lot of work on the Access to Information Bill which
has been formulated in consultation with all the political parties represented
in the Senate and the National Assembly. She said that people could obtain
information regarding any development sector including Climate, Health,
Education, fatal diseases and health of the child and mother. The Minister also
distributed awards among the journalists from the electronic and print media
who had won distinction through their comments and writings on different areas
of human development.
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