16 February 2004 Monday 24 Zilhaj 1424 Development budget and fiscal federalism While the National Finance Commission (NFC) is struggling to update its tax revenue sharing formula, a strong plea for an equitable distribution of development funds among provinces and the federation is being made outside the NFC ambit in Sindh. ... NFC: federal spending reduces provincial share The National Finance Commission, notified on 13th November 2003, has met about three times in as many months. After its last meeting in Islamabad all the five Finance Ministers claimed to have inched forward towards a consensus. ... US lets down the dollar The sustained fall of the dollar, with minor interruptions, has been upsetting many countries of the world and their economic thinkers. In the last two years the US dollar has fallen against the Euro by 40 per cent ... Corporate profits versus public health America's food giants have flatly refused to accept even a hint of blame that their businesses were contributing, in some ways, to the global pandemic of obesity which has subjected its victims, about 300 million worldwide ... Privatization: for whose benefit? The government's privatization programme is gathering steam. The next public sector enterprise to come under the gavel of the Privatization Commission (PC) is the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL). ... Patents do more harm than subsidies Commerce ministers of the developing countries are focusing on free trade in agricultural commodities in the WTO. The presumption is that farmers of the industrial countries would not be able to compete in crops like cotton ... Two future economic powers: India, China: "The economic dominance of the USA is already over", said Peter Drucker, the management guru in an interview with the editor-at-large of Fortune, Brent Schlender. "What is emerging is a world economy, blocks represented by NAFTA ... Rural poverty: a multi-faceted problem Poverty alleviation is of great topical interest, both at the international and national level. Pakistan is also committed to make efforts towards that end and is receiving help from international financial institutions for this very purpose. ... Requirements of public sector procurement Procurement activity has attained great importance due to manifold increase in public sector spending of these days. With the government waking up to the requirements of the day, its desire to move the engines of growth ... Fresh approach to solid waste management According to some news reports, the performance of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) and its constituent tiers, regarding solid waste management (SWM) was satisfactory during Eid-ul-Azha in the removal of offal. ... Disseminating statistics More than 100 years ago H. G. Wells said: "Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write". In Pakistan, statistics is very little known for several reasons. ... Delay in implementing decision on used cars The Cabinet's approval of allowing import of used cars and completely built up (CBU) cars of lower engine capacity (800cc), while proving a ray of hope for the general public, has fallen on local assemblers as a bombshell. ... Improving Balochistan's agriculture Balochistan is the largest province with a land mass of 34.7 million hectares comprising 44 per cent of the country's 79.6 million hectares geographic area. ... 'Azolla': a green compost for rice The aquatic term, 'azolla' together with the blue-green algae (anabaena azollae) provides a symbiotic association that can fix agronomically significant amounts of nitrogen (N). ... Potential of groundnut cultivation Groundnut, peanut or monkey nut is an important kharif oilseed crop and occupies second largest area among oilseed crops. It is cultivated in barani areas of Punjab, the NWFP, and on irrigated areas of Sindh. ... Investors not deterred by developments on the nuclear issue Stocks finished an eventful week, modestly lower but demonstrated in more than one ways that it may not be that easy to pull them down despite the negative fall-out of the nuclear proliferation issue. ...

© The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2004