Annual Report 2009-10 - Sustainable Development Policy Institute

Annual Report2009 - 2010stakeholders discussions under these workshops would later evolve into the formation of largenetworks within the South Asia region so that eventually governments of these countries canbring about desired meaningful changes in their respective legal regimes.7th National Finance Commission (NFC) AwardThe speakers were of the opinion that the consensus on the 7th National Finance CommissionAward was a reflection of political maturity and the biggest achievement of the current democraticgovernment and other political forces of the country. They termed “NFC award as the rewardof democracy”. The earlier NFC distribution criteria were not based on the mutual consensusof all four provinces unlike this NFC developed with mutual consensus based on multiplecriteria involving population, poverty, revenue contribution and area density.50 Years of Indus Basin TreatyA major event was organized by SDPI on 50 Years of the Indus Basin Treaty. Speakers saidthat there were more than 5000 treaties dealing with water issues in the world as there were numerousdisputes pertaining to water issues. The most important for Pakistan was the disputewith India, which began not just because India blocked the water of the rivers Ravi and Sutlej,but because India also intended to block water from head-works located in its territory. Speakersalso emphasized the dangers of water shortages in Pakistan and referred to the threat of seaintrusion into Indus water where the river forms a delta and falls into the Arabian Sea. It wasmentioned that Pakistan runs non-perennial canals, as water has to be provided for farming purposes.It was opined that if the Indus Basin Treaty was not implemented, 118 million-acre feet ofwater would have reached Pakistan in 1985. It was maintained that India never gave Pakistan a6-month advance notice on any change in outflow despite its obligation under the Indus Basintreaty. They said that the treaty allows agricultural use of water to the amount of 13.3 millionacre land in Indian-held Kashmir but that the treaty did not allow India to use this water for otherparts of the country.Freedom of Press and Governance (International Press Day)A dialogue was organized on International Press Day at which senior journalists and columnistsparticipated. They said that after the creation of Pakistan, there existed a sense of professionalismamong journalists and in the field of journalism while citing names like Ahmad Ali Khan, AltafHussain and AT Chaudhry as Editors. It was felt that in recent years the trend was that commercialinterests were dominant over editorial policy.Economy of Pakistan and Value Added Tax (VAT)At a seminar of Value Added Tax (VAT) the speakers were of view that out of a 170 millionpopulation of the country, one million belonged to the salaried class whose taxes were deductedat source, making them the highest taxpayers whereas only 0.7 million businessmen paid taxes.They said that Japan and many Western countries paid tax rates in single digits because everycitizen paid 40 percent of their income in taxes.Degrees and DemocracyThe speaker of the seminar strongly condemned unearthing the culture of fake degrees amongparliamentarians and demanded that the mainstream political parties should seriously deal withthe fake degrees issue since it undermines the legitimacy and performance of the parliamentand ruins the prospects for true democracy. They urged that the fake degree issue should beinvestigated seriously and guilty parliamentarians should be banned as they have committedfraud and misconduct, which raises questions over the legitimacy of parliament. Speakers demandedthat the oversight of civil society should be ensured during the investigation process ofalleged fake degrees besides reformation; re-organization and re-engineering of what theytermed a 'criminally inefficient and inept' election commission of Pakistan.Productivity, Markets and Communities: a New Development ApproachSDPI and the Planning Commission of Pakistan jointly organized this event at SDPI. Highlight-48S u s t a I n a b l e D e v e l o p m e n t P o l I c y I n s t I t u t e