Punjab focuses on poverty alleviation, gender discrimination

Chief Economist Punjab Arif Anwer Baloch said that the provincial government focuses on poverty alleviation and gender discrimination with the support of international donors by involving women in economic growth of Pakistan.
Addressing the participants in a workshop on 'Gender Response Budgeting' here on Thursday, he said that the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) and Punjab Planning and Development Board (P&D) are providing training to government officials for poverty alleviation by involving the female of the society. The workshop was jointly organised by the P&D Board and UNDP.
"In order to translate into reality the vision of Chief Minister Punjab Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, the P&D with the technical assistance of UNDP has undertaken various initiatives to empower womenfolk and bring them to the mainstream of development activity in the Province", he said. The Chief of Section P&D Board Khalid Sultan and Provincial Project Manager Strengthening Poverty Reduction Strategy Monitoring (SPRSM) Muhammad Zaman Watto also addressed with the participants in the workshop.
Arif Anwer Baloch said that role of female could not be ignored in the development of any society and Islam has given vital position to female in the human life. He opined if the women would be given their rights according to the orders of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) then there would not be any hindrance for female to contribute their potential towards the society and economic development of the country. He said that in the present scenario role of women is vital for the economic prosperity of the country.
He said the Punjab government has allocated huge budget for the women development projects. He said the P&D and UNDP are guiding the provincial government in budget making and allocation of resources for ignored and under developed segments of the society. He said that gender responsive budgeting is the need of the hour as without taking into account the needs of women and men separately, optimum utilisation of budgets could not be made and fruits of development could not be equally distributed among various segments of society.
He said participation of parliamentarians in gender awareness seminars and workshops proved the success of the P&D and UNDP for gender budgeting and poverty alleviation as government involved the suggestion and recommendations made by elected representatives in the budget making and resources' allocation.