PESHAWAR: Former federal minister Dr Javed Jabbar said here on Thursday that Pakistan had been ranked 136 on human development index and successive governments did not make efforts for its improvement.

He was speaking at two-day international conference on “Population and Development Policy, Prospects and Challenges” at University of Peshawar. Experts, academicians, ministers for population welfare from Baluchistan and Punjab and representatives of Unicef attended the conference and read papers.

In his address, Dr Javed Jabbar said that Pakistan being a nuclear power did not make remarkable progress in human development and was far behind from other countries. He said that Pakistan had been ranked 136 on the human development index that was a serious matter.

He said that suo moto notice taken by Chief Justice of Supreme Court Justice Saqib Nisar of rapid growth in population was very important. He said that organising international conference on population was positive step in the context of suo moto notice. He said that human development had been ignored in Pakistan and successive governments paid attention to other sectors.

Punjab Minister for Population Welfare Shamim Dogar in his address said that Punjab government would double the amount for population welfare in the next annual budget of the province. He said that on the pattern of Benazir Income Support Programme, the Punjab government would establish special fund to assist mothers for two years to look after their children properly.

He said that previous government spent Rs400 billion on metro train project but did not allocate funds for human development. He said that proposal was under consideration to make legislation to fix minimum marital age 18 and males would be bound to get marriage certificate population welfare counseling.

Prof Nizamuddin, the president of Pakistan Association of Population and chairman of Higher Education Commission, Punjab, in his address said that society could not move forward without human development. He said that subject of population should not be associated with family planning.

He said that reduction in poverty, investment in human development and free trade could help the country to control rapid population growth.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2018