Justice, housing and education neglected

[Naveed Yaseen]

Mehtab Haider
The justice administration, low cost housing and primary as well as secondary education remained the lowest priorities of the government in terms of pro-poor spending in the last financial year.

According to official data released by the Finance Ministry related to Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) or pro-poor spending for the first six months (July-Dec) 2007-08 on Thursday, the total spending stood at Rs287.496 billion on all major sectors of the national economy.

Law and order, irrigation and construction of roads and highways were the major priority areas of pro-poor spending in the last financial year.

Balochistan was not provided any amount for providing food subsidy to its poor people in a fiscal in which food inflation recorded highest growth.

The government spent Rs46.275 billion on construction of roads, highways and bridges in the first six months of 2007-08 out of which Punjab got the lion’s share of Rs34.290 billion, Sindh got Rs6.734 billion, NWFP Rs2.683 billion and Balochistan Rs1.812 billion.

On water supply and sanitation, the government spent a total amount of Rs5.248 billion in which Sindh got major spending share by consuming Rs2.283 billion, Punjab got Rs1.330 billion and NWFP and Balochistan got Rs928 million and Rs621 million respectively.

For education sector, total spending stood at Rs85.504 billion in which Punjab again got the major chunk by spending Rs34.702 billion, Sindh spend Rs16.732 billion and NWFP and Balochistan spend Rs10.706 billion and Rs3.720 billion respectively.

The primary education got Rs31 billion out of total education related spending but its development spending stood at Rs1.271 billion and major chunk of Rs29.453 billion was consumed by the current expenditures especially for payment of salaries.

For secondary education, the government spent Rs20.758 billion out of which the current expenditures were Rs19.867 billion and development expenditures Rs891 million only.

For teachers and vocational training, the government spent only Rs185 million out of which no money was spent in Punjab and Sindh.

The health sector consumed Rs23.355 billion out of which the current expenditures consumed Rs18.026 billion and development side cost Rs5.329 billion.

Mother and child healthcare remained the neglected sector as it consumed only Rs270 million all over the country out of which the spending in Balochistan and NWFP stood at only Rs7 million each.

On population planning, total spending was Rs5.110 billion in which the spending remained lower in Sindh and Balochistan.

Social security and social welfare consumed Rs4.116 billion with Punjab consuming Rs1.251 billion, Sindh Rs2.352 billion, NWFP Rs103 million and Balochistan Rs95 million.

For improving law and order, the government spent Rs38.111 billion out of which the centre consumed Rs11.022 billion, Punjab Rs14.260 billion, Sindh Rs7.447 billion, NWFP Rs2.689 billion and Balochistan Rs2.693 billion.

On low cost housing, total spending stood at Rs544 million and only Punjab consumed this money, while Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan remained deprived.

The justice administration consumed only Rs2.674 billion out of which the federal government spent Rs517 million, Punjab Rs1.040 billion, Sindh Rs633 million, NWFP Rs284 million and Balochistan Rs200 million.

For food subsidies, the government spent Rs1.361 billion with federal share of Rs927 million, Punjab Rs179 million, Sindh Rs5 million, NWFP Rs250 million and Balochistan did not spend any amount on this head.

The government also spent Rs3.022 billion on disaster management, Rs49.226 billion on irrigation sector, Rs1.096 billion on land reclamation, Rs14.711 billion on rural development, Rs3.748 billion on food support programme, Rs1.420 billion on Khushal Pakistan Fund and Rs1.975 billion on rural electrifications.

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