Govt Plans To Form Population Commission To Curb High Growth Rate

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Govt plans to form Population Commission to curb high growth rate

ISLAMABAD, Jun 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Jun, 2018 ) :The government plans to formulate Population Commission of Pakistan and Population Task Force in order to sensitize policy makers about alarming population growth rate.

The task force will work under the proposed Commission andobjectives are to have a consolidated forum of all stakeholders fordevising plan of action according to national priorities ofPakistan by adhering to religious doctrines.

These are to deliberate on population control mechanismsby effectively engaging stakeholders, develop consensus onimplementation of other priority areas of population as mentionedin Vision 2025, 12th Five Year Plan (2018-23), London Summit onFamily Planning 2012 and SDGs.

A document highlighting plans for next fiscal year onSunday revealed that many historic and most important steps willbe taken to tackle the Population and Family Planning situation inPakistan.

In this regard, the Provincial and Federating governments will be taken on-board to achieve the desired objectives.

These include Formation of Population Commission of Pakistanwhich is direly needed and proposed to be formed.

It will have the highest commitments from Federaland Provincial governments and all other Private SectorStakeholders and Development Partners in matters related toPopulation, High Growth Rate and sustainable development.

The lead role for coordinating and overseeingthe Population and Family Planning issues will rest withdomain of the proposed Commission under the chairmanshipof Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission and Ministry ofPlanning, Development and Reform will have its Secretariat andcoordinating role.

A comprehensive National Action Plan for Family Planning and to control the high population growth rate should be the prime task of the Commission.

The role of Planning Commission will be enhanced inpopulation related matters as it has the foremost capacityto coordinate with the Provinces and Special Areas and toput them on the fast track for national priorities, betterimplementation of the Population Welfare Programme, for achievinggoals of national and international commitments.

The National Task Force for Population and Family Planningwould devise Action Plan and its best implementation, tasks givenby Population Commission, to achieve the desired objectives andtargets of the 12th Five Year Plan and to tackle other issues fromtime to time.

This task force will be headed by Secretary, Ministryof Planning, Development and Reform.

Meanwhile, when contacted, official sources saidPopulation Policy has been finalized and is expected to benotified within this year. For population planning,impact oriented approach has been adopted which would bear dividendin long run.

Ministry of Planning and Development, United Nations Fundfor Population (UNFPA) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)have started a joint project to deal effectively population relatedSustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The objective of the UNFPA contribution is to mainstream populationdynamics across core national and provincial development plans and strategies as thisis consistent with Agenda 2030 and this will improve general quality of development planning.

This project will cover support in research and analysis including impact ofpopulation growth and population dynamics on SDGs achievement in Pakistan.

This would also strengthen overall data ecosystem for SDGsand population including coordination, monitoring, reporting, capacitybuilding, online data dissemination Population Annual Plan 2018-19 andeffective use of integrated statistical frameworks for advancingsustainable development.

The sources said population sector has been accorded as ahigh priority sector by the government in order to controlaccelerated population growth rate and to improve the demographicindicators.

The Council of Common Interest (CCI) will decide aboutfuture funding and amount to be allocated to Population WelfareProgramme for 2018-19. The token money of Rs. 511 million has beenallocated in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP-2018-19) tothis project.

Highlighting the new initiatives, the sources said the governmentintends to bring reforms in population sector, so that a cross-cuttingstrategy is adopted and the Population Sector Organizations are revivedfor ensuring optimal efficiency