THE 51st Punjab cabinet meeting held under Chief Minister Usman Buzdar took important decisions with potential to improve the lot of different segments of the society and accelerate the pace of socio-economic development of the province.
It reserved 32% job quota for South Punjab, approved an amendment in Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 envisaging an oath about the finality of Prophethood (PBUH) at the time of Nikah, cleared in-principle a proposal to lease out state lands for corporate forming under CPEC and approved a birth control policy for pie dogs.
The Chief Minister also gave directions for submission of a policy for giving proprietary rights to dwellers of slum areas and regularization of contract employees of different departments.
Punjab has fertile land and an elaborate irrigation system but its agricultural potential mostly remains untapped in the absence of any prudent and long-term policy.
It is because of this that 8% of the total area of 20.63 million hectares of land in the province is marked as cultivable waste (an area that is not cultivated for more than three years and is a part of cultivated area) and even land use of the 14% area is unreported so far.
According to the provincial agriculture department, 3.8 million acres of land in Punjab is barren, which can be converted into fertile land in order to benefit the country’s agriculture sector.
Presently, barren land is allotted to individuals in recognition of their services in different fields, which is purely a waste of this precious resource and the proposal to lease it out for corporate farming is a step in the right direction.
Allocation of job quota for less developed areas seems to be a right approach but in fact this is in sheer violation of the spirit of the Constitution that seeks abolition of all quotas and introduction of merit for recruitment as this is the major factor that affects performance and output of the civil service.
The problem of stray/pie dogs is assuming alarming proportions as their population has reached four hundred and sixty thousand in the province creating health, security and sanitation problems for citizens.
The new birth control policy should be implemented on a war footing to cope with this menacing challenge.
Regularization of contract employees and grant of proprietary rights to the dwellers of slum areas are also positive developments for under-privileged people.
