Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
Alarming level of child labour
I am writing to your good-self to express my deep anguish over the alarming situation of child labour in our country. I feel a little attention of yours towards the problem will be enough to initiate a new campaign in eradicating the problem.
The problem of child labour is quite widespread across Pakistan. According to a recent survey, approximately 45% of the children in the country have been exposed to child labour in one form or another. In spite of the many anti-child labour laws, the problem continues to spoil the life of thousands of children. The adverse effects of this problem affect the growth, development and progress of our nation.
Not only millions of underage children are forced to work in factories, shops, glass-blowing industry, workshops they are paid the minimum wage. Our country needs more and more skilled manpower to achieve the objectives of growth, development and advancement. With so many millions of children working, without education, how can Pakistan achieve her goals?
Furthermore, laws prohibiting child labour should be strictly implemented across Pakistan in order to discourage parents from selling their children. For this, the educational system of the country must be reshaped and restructured according to national development goals so as to become more inclusive to children from all walks of life. Orphans and other deserving children must be helped financially on a prolonged basis.
AYESHA RAO
Lahore
Passport blues
Through the courtesy of your newspaper I wish to draw the attention of our interior ministry regarding some nasty things happening in passport office Saddar, Karachi. Even after 73 years of independence, we are yet to learn the meaning and importance of surname. I visited Saddar passport office last week to apply for my granddaughter’s passport who is just 7 months old accompanied by her parents.
When my son told the data operator to write our surname (which is Suriya) in the column given for surname, the data operator refused to comply and wrote my son’s name instead. Though our surname is mentioned on our CNICs as well. The passport office needs to be taught the difference between father’s name and surname.
Then the data operator demanded original B form which my son had unfortunately forgotten to carry in a hurry but he had a photocopy. He was made to go home and bring the original copy that took almost one hour. The data operator could have verified the photocopy of B form from his system because he had full access to NADRA database.
After completing all process, the officer refused to accept my granddaughter’s passport form and asked my son to get it attested by a grade 17 government official with his Name, Designation, CNIC and Cell no. My son insisted that he and his wife already has a passport and the child is just 7 months old but he did not listen. This process of attestation delayed the form submission by one whole day as the submission counter closes at 1 pm.
Last but not the least, a sum of Rs 25.00 is charged as bank charges along with Rs 4.00 as federal excise duty. I wonder if accepting a challan is such a herculean task for National Bank of Pakistan that they charge 25.00+4.00 (Rs.29.00) as bank charges. Will the interior minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed and his ministry take notice of the above and bring some improvement?
M RAFIQUE ZAKARIA
Karachi
Int’l day for women in science
February 11 is annually celebrated as International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The reason for this day is to appreciate all women who have contributed in the field of science by inventing easeful equipments.
The role of women in science is not hidden from anyone, they have crafted tens of thousands of inventions such as Electrical Refrigerator (by Florence Parpart), Modern Medical Syringe (by Letitia Mumford Geer), Wireless Transmission Technology (Hedy Lamarr), CCTV camera (Marie Van Brittan Brown) and much more. This shows the importance of women’s presence in science and technology.
Unfortunately, in Pakistan, February 11 means nothing. We show zero interest on this day for women. Majority of us consider women to be a housewife, nothing else. It is hard to make someone believe that women are their own beings, have their own choices, desires and dreams. It is heart wrenching to pen it down – from education to marriage women in most of the regions of Pakistan have no authority to speak up a single word. The Global Gender Gap Index 2020 ranked Pakistan at 151 out of total 153 countries; it means we are standing 3rd most vulnerable country for women. If our attitude does not change towards women, the country will not find a significant place in the comity of nations.
SAMEER UMRANI
Malir Karachi
Flourishing population
Despite knowing, that fast-growing population and joblessness are dangerous for a country’s economic well-being. Pakistan academia and policy research circles are not only updating the estimate of the country’s natural rate of unemployment but why the demography is also not a part of national economic discourse.
Currently, Pakistan is facing several problems in which unemployment and population control are major of them. Pakistan is the fifth most populous country in the world with a population of 220.9m. It is estimated that it will be 280m in 2030. Pakistan has a population density of 286.5 people per square kilometres.
Presently, Pakistan’s total fertility rate is 3.6pc, where needfulness for family planning is 17.3ec and the contraceptive prevalence rate is 34.2pc and population growth rate is 2.4pc which is double as compared to Bangladesh, India and Iran. A country needs to bring its growth rate down to two percent to reduce its population. At this critical time challenged by COVID-19, Pakistan needs to integrate population dimensions into socioeconomic development plan for full benefits.
Population control and unemployment are major concern of every government and almost every government’s priority has to ensure jobs. So, it is PTI manifesto for providing 10m jobs in 5 years. The incumbent government must own its responsibility to create opportunities for the working-age population. The policy-makers have to make strong family planning programmes, which can mitigate malnutrition and can create free-of-cost primary and preventive healthcare system.
ATIQ UR REHMAN
Via email
Career choices
According to the experts and career counsellors, we should always choose a profession of our interest. No profession is less respectable than the other. Unfortunately, In Pakistan there is a ranking of professions based on the grades of a student.
Here, you will be asked about your grade and then suggestions will be given to you about the profession that you should choose. For instance, with an A+ grade, you will be told to choose professions like engineering and medicine. And with a C grade, you will be suggested to choose Arts as a profession.
Personal interests are the basic source of motivation. Unfortunately, the society we live in does not even bother to consider this important factor. No matter you have interest in that field or not, you have to choose the field according to the so- called ranking/grade and if you opt for another profession, especially lower than that, you will be bashed, criticized and sometimes, even bullied.
This trend is increasing day by day. Students are forced to choose a profession according to their grades not according to their interests in order to be called sensible. Nowadays, we have thousands of degree holders of a profession but only a few professionals. Our students are not interested in the subjects they are studying. If students have zero interest in the professions, what quality of services they will provide?
AYESHA MALIK
Lahore
