ISLAMABAD, June 18: Like other budgetary provisions, the defence budget should also be discussed in parliament so that the people could know about the use of national kitty.

This was stated by the leader of People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), Shah Mehmood Qureshi, while speaking at a two-day conference on Population and Future: What Lies Ahead. The conference was organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Wednesday.

“What is the use of such a huge army when we have nuclear deterrence against our enemies”, the PPP leader said, adding in the days to come, the economic and social issues would gain dominance in politics.

Chief Secretary of Sindh Mutawakkil Qazi said population growth was a global phenomenon. Believing that the gap between haves and have-nots is widening, he suggested that no one could address the issue alone, therefore, partnership between government and private sector was the need of hour.

The country representative of UNFPA, Dr Olivier Brasseur, in his message read out on the occasion, said Pakistan’s annual population growth rate was 2.1 per cent, which meant addition of 3.1 million people annually.

The population explosion has increased the pressure on recourses, therefore, water availability has declined from 5,300 cubic meter per capita in 1951 to 1200 cubic meter per capita per capita today, he added.

Ali Tauqeer Sheikh said in agrarian society, the net advantage of having children started appearing within five years, as a child of that age started helping his parents in some chores.

He suggested that the only way to achieve better environment and reduction in population was to invest in education and ensuring health for all.

He said immense investment in the human capital was need of the hour otherwise ten years down the line things would go out of control.

Earlier, in her opening remarks, the head of population and environment communication centre of SDPI, Dr Jennifer Bennett, said the over population had become a scapegoat for all economic failures on all fronts.

“Yes, over population is and will be a problem but to say that only population is responsible for the rise in poverty and retardation of economic growth is unacceptable.”

She said it was not the over population that caused poverty instead it was vice versa. She said the policy-makers should put more emphasis on poverty reduction strategies along with family planning.