June 19: JUNE 12 was Day against Child Labour. It is a shame that we still have to observe such a day. But we must if we have to make our society less insensitive towards children. On this occasion, Sparc, which has been struggling since 1992 for the protection of the rights of the child in Pakistan, launched a weeklong campaign focusing on child domestic labour. It demands a ban on it. This is a laudable move though the strategy needs to be well-thought-out. As is the case in Pakistan, anomalies abound. First of all, we do not even have reliable data. How many children are there in the labour force? The government has not conducted a survey to collect information since 1996 when it stated that three million children were working in the country. Today various agencies give much … [Read more...]
Beggars and rented infants
June 18: IT is a common scene on Lahore roads that women beggars are holding sleepy infants while begging at high noon, exposing the infants to 47 degrees Centigrade heat. It is reported by a television channel that infants are hired and it is surmised that they are administered opium pills to make them sleepy for the whole day. This has created a new breed of opium-addict population. It is proposed that the traffic police, helped by medical doctors, be deputed to check such drugged infants carried by women beggars to invite the sympathy of people for doling out money to them. We must save these children from being exposed to any hazardous condition of heat at high noon. If this practice of using helpless infants for getting alms spreads further, we may see scores of beggars … [Read more...]
Budget in focus…Towards development
June 17: With a planned budgetary allocation of Rs540 billion for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), the newly-elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is all set to initiate the process of economic revival. However, economic revival is linked with the timely implementation of various measures and the provincial governments building synergies with the federal government’s development programmes. While many of us will scrutinise the budget and its implications from different angles, this write-up sees the budget from the perspective of targeting the marginalised segments of society and the promise that the budget holds to generate significant employment opportunities in the country. The elimination of power sector’s circular debt within 60 days would add over … [Read more...]
The rural economy
June 17: Pakistan is an agrarian economy, where 63 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Since independence, the agriculture sector has played a key role in the countryís development as it contributes 21 percent to the GDP. The agriculture sector generates employment opportunities for a considerable segment of the labour force. Almost 45 percent of the labour force belongs directly or indirectly to agriculture sector production and 60 percent of the rural population depends on this sector for its living. Hence, it plays a vital role in the provision of food, income generation, reducing poverty and the transformation towards industrialisation. Women play an imperative role in the development of a society. The majority of the rural women bear the burden of domestic and other … [Read more...]