KARACHI, Dec 8: Sindh Population Minister Imtiaz Shaikh, citing population issue a formidable and potential threat to the national development, has underscored the need for an aggressive but pragmatic approach to contain population growth.
Inaugurating a 6-weeks pre-service training programme for the newly recruited officers of the Sindh Population Welfare Department at the National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) on Monday, he said the Population Welfare Department had to achieve both short and long-term objectives and targets.
“The main short-term objectives is to achieve the growth rate target of 1.9 per cent by the end of 2004, declared by President General Pervez Musharraf,” he reminded, adding “the long-term goal is to achieve population stabilisation by the year 2020.”
Acknowledging that concerted efforts were required for the success of the programme, the minister hoped that the newly-inducted officers, along with their senior colleagues, would work for the emancipation of the society, which he said was still in the grip of ‘pseudo religious obsessions’ and social taboos.
In this context, Mr Sheikh urged the officials to develop strong linkages within the community to apprise the people of the population welfare programme, particularly in the backdrop of economic compulsions due to shrinking resources and disadvantages of large family size, to highlight the importance of family planning.
“This is high time, as achievements made on economic front would be nullified if population continues to grow at current pace,” he warned, maintaining that frequent episodes of water shortage and poor civic facilities were some of the consequences of high population rate.
On the occasion, he also mentioned that more inductions would be made in the Population Welfare Department through Sindh Public Service Commission to help streamline facilities being set up at taluka and district levels.
Sindh Population Secretary Mushtaq Ali Memon, at the ceremony said that a need of skilled managers was being seriously felt in the department, both at national as well as provincial levels, following the retirement of a fleet of officers from the departments.
Consequently, qualitative training of new officers, in coordination with the NIPA, with major emphasis on population issues and different aspects of financial management in public organizations, was arranged, he added.
Giving details of the fresh recruitment in the department, he said 16 candidates were selected in September this year through SPSC and presently were being provided training.
NIPA Director-General Badarul Islam, in his presentation termed population a major challenge for the nation, adding that poverty alleviation and infrastructure development were closely linked to it.
He said the country, through strong commitment and competence could bring down the population growth rate to a safe level.
NIPA Chief Course Coordinator Niaz Ahmed Siddiqui said the programme would concentrate on imparting the best of managerial skills and information technology know-how among the trainees.
Principal, Population Welfare Training Institute, Shakila Akhtar Zaidi and other senior officers of the department also attended the inaugural session.—APP
