ISLAMABAD: Demographic experts and politicians on Wednesday suggested moving the distribution of sources among provinces away from population-based shares in order to control the looming population explosion.

They said the overwhelming consideration existing resource distribution gives to population under the National Finance Commission (NFC) was incentivising an increase in population instead of controlling it, which could lead to a catastrophic situation in the future.

Those in support of separating NFC allocations and population included the prime minister’s spokesperson Dr Musadik Malik, former senator Farhatullah Babar, former State Bank governor Dr Ishrat Husain, former minister Javed Jabbar, United Nations Population Fund representative Dr Hassan Mohtashami and Population Council Country Director Dr Zeba Sathar, all of whom participated in a consultative meeting on ‘Framing a New Population Narrative for Pakistan organised by the Population Council.

Former senator, PM’s spokesperson suggest basing NFC award on performance, not population

Participants were told that Pakistan is an outlier among major Asian countries in terms of fertility decline; only Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Timor-Leste have higher rates of fertility and faster natural increase in population.

Countries such as India, Iran and Bangladesh have shown far better results in terms of the use of modern contraceptives. Saudi Arabia in 1997 was in a better situation than present-day Pakistan, they were told, where an estimated 2.2 million abortions are carried out every year.

Mr Babar said weapons of mass destruction would not protest Pakistan from threats of population explosion or water scarcity.

He said that since NFC awards are distributed on the basis of population, provinces prefer to have larger populations.

“The NFC award should be linked to the performance of provinces rather than population. Implementation on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) can be used for the distribution of funds. SDG centres should be established in the provinces and at the local government level,” he added.

Speaking in his personal capacity, Dr Malik said India has frozen the allocation of funds rather than allocate on the basis of the current population, and suggested that Pakistan do the same.

“As many as 100m people are illiterate, and 80m people do not have access to clean drinking water. It shows what planning departments did in the past.” Dr Malik agreed that the allocation of funds should be based on performance.

Former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani added that Pakistan could not look at things in isolation, and suggested the country follow Bangladesh’s example.

“They have set their priorities. On the other hand, every 10 years we have dictators and even the face of the Constitution was changed. Today we do not have system and have been living on ad hoc-ism. Governments fight for their existence,” he said.

Mr Rabbani added that while the 18th Amendment was not a perfect document, it had been passed unanimously in parliament and had strengthened the Council of Common Interest.

“There should be will and priorities, because only that is how we can achieve better results as compared to Bangladesh and Iran,” he said.

MNA Shafqat Mahmood from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf said that since the 1960s, educated people had been aware of population welfare, but the country had performed poorly because policies were made by those who were ignorant of the issue.

“Politicians did not speak about it as a taboo was linked to it. Even military rulers could not speak about it. Although people do not want to have children, they do not get facilities.

“On the other hand, some people see children as a resource and believe children will take care of them in old age. There is a special need to increase the female literacy rate to increase awareness of the issue,” he said.

Dr Husain added that most of the resistance to population welfare and the use of contraceptives comes from the low-income and lower middle classes, khateebs should be involved to raise awareness in their Friday sermons.

“Once, competent individuals worked in the population welfare ministry, but no bureaucrats are sent to the ministry as punishment,” he claimed, and added that Pakistan should also freeze the allocation of funds, like India has done on the basis of 1971 population figures.

Educationist Dr Nizamuddin said it was unfortunate that the issues being discussed should have been settled long ago.

He added that while Punjab has lost some National Assembly seats due to a reduction in population, this was proof that the province was developing.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2018