November 30, 2002	Saturday	Ramazan 24, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: The country’s four major social indicators, including the literacy rate, which increased from 45 per cent to 48 per cent in three years, have shown improvement “due to better planning,” government officials claimed on Monday.

According to the officially-sponsored Pakistan Integrated Household Survey, access to basic education, primary health, population welfare and rural water supply and sanitation have posted a rise. The survey has covered approximately one-third of urban and two-thirds of rural households.

It did not include poverty, the details of which would be released after Eid.

The officials admitted at a news conference that 30 per cent of the population of 140 million were living below the poverty line.

Economic advisor to the finance ministry, Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, Planning Commission Secretary Dr Mutawakkal Kazi and acting director-general of Federal Bureau of Statistics, Mazhar Hashmi, claimed that improvement in the social indicators was due to the government’s better planning and increased spending on social sectors.

“Social sector’s budget has increased from Rs116 billion to Rs161 billion over the last three years, which helped its key indicators show improvement, which is genuine,” Dr Ashfaque said.

The survey was conducted during January-December, 2001, which covered 14,831 households and did not include the results of Azad Kashmir, Northern Areas and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. It dealt with the period between 1998-99 and 2001-02.

The survey found that gross enrolment rate in primary schools increased from 71 per cent in 1998-99 to 84 per cent in 2001-02 and net enrolment rate increased from 42 per cent to 53 per cent.

No significant improvement has been observed in enrolment at the middle level in schools. Enrolment rates at the matric level increased marginally.

The literacy rate among those aged 10 years and above increased from 45 per cent in 1998-99 to 48 per cent in 2001-02.

The survey shows that infant mortality declined from 89 per 1,000 live births to 82.

The survey finds that contraceptive prevalence rate among married women of 15 to 49 years age has increased from 17 per cent to 19 per cent.

All rural health centres were being operated by women staff in 2001-02, a marked improvement from 1998-99, when 32 per cent of those were run by women.

The survey showed that hand or motor pump as the main source of drinking water increased from 57 per cent to 61 per cent. In the rural areas, 70 per cent households are using such pumps as a major source of drinking water as against 65 per cent in 1998-99.

Use of flush toilets increased from 41 per cent to 45 per cent, including an increase from 22 per cent to 26 per cent in the rural areas and from 88 per cent to 89 per cent in urban areas.

Responding to a question, Dr Kazi agreed that bacteria-free drinking water was not largely available according to the World Health Organization’s standards. “This is not possible unless chlorination and filtration plants for water purification are set up throughout the country,” he said.

The economic advisor disagreed with some reports and observations of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank stating that poverty had increased. “This is not correct, 30 per cent people are living below the poverty line and there is no increase in it,” he maintained.

He, however, said that details about poverty and its impact would be released after Eid.