KARACHI, April 9: Leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has issued recommendations for budget-making which, he said, incorporated public input viz-a-viz expenditure in various sectors. In the recommendations unveiled at a press conference, the PPP leader has recommended an up to 35 per cent increase in the allocations for new development schemes in the ADP.

The minimum wage has been recommended at Rs6,000 per month whereas a reduction in taxes on agricultural input has been urged.

MPAs Murad Ali Shah, Jam Mehtab Dahar, Shamim Ara Panhwar, Farheen Mughal, Nasreen Chandio, Mukesh Kumar and Shazia Marri were also present.

For effective budgeting, the PPP has sought increased role of legislators, having more time for pre-budget debates, demystifying the budget and inviting public input for all tiers of budget-making.

Given that women constitute over 50 per cent of the population, gender sensitization in the budget has been set as a priority, and the recommendations include establishment of a gender sensitization department to oversee gender policies in all other departments.

For health sector, provision of clean water has been described as a key preventive measure and an allocation of at least six per cent of the social sector budget for health has been recommended.

An increased allocation for public schools in order to bring them at par with private sector education and a uniform school system has been suggested.

For social sector, efforts to combat beggary, child labour and harassment of women, as well as allocations for the bills that address these issues and are with the assembly, have been stressed.

The need to build walkways and bridges on River Indus and widening of all inter-tehsil roads has also been stressed.

In light of the recent earthquake, it has been recommended that substantial funding must be allocated for various bills submitted with the assembly about construction standards and disaster management.

In addition to those mentioned above, the recommendations which have been sent to the Advisor on Finance, with copies to the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary also called for training of legislators on financial issues and the budget process

Budget must be gender sensitized. This can be achieved by immediate establishment of a gender sensitization department to oversee gender policies of all departments.

It called for setting out budget policies and priorities at least two months in advance of the budget speech to allow full debate before the new fiscal year. It also called for strengthening the finance/budget committee so that it may play a major role in the budget process   The PPP’s pre-budget proposals also call for encouraging the opposition leader to formulate proposals for amendment to the budget in cooperation with smaller opposition parties.

It also called for demystify the budget by gradually reducing secrecy and increasing transparency, abolish unnecessary provisions and provide more access to information (e.g. defence), ensure parliamentary accountability in defence budgets

It also called for providing the public and media with more access to information, including briefings on the budget

Different political parties, consumer groups, citizen groups and economic groups should be brought together in the budget making process, it said.

Among other things the PPP called for linking expenditure discussions with policies in every particular sector.

For education, it called for increasing funding for education, particularly technical education at all high schools.

It also called for increased allocation for public schools to bring them at par with private sector education, initiating a uniformed school system.