NA body suggests government to impose maximum import duty on dry milk

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination has recommended the government to impose maximum import duty on dry milk to give a boost to local livestock industry. The committee met here with Abdul Qahar Khan Wadan in the chair at the Parliament House on Friday and discussed the issues related to Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council (PVMC), National Internship Programme (NIP), duties on import items and others.
Some members of the committee said that the government should impose maximum import duty on dry milk. They said that the government should increase regulatory duty to give boost up to livestock industry in the country. However, it is interesting to note that the federal government in October last increased regulatory duty from 20 percent to 25 percent on import of milk and cream, concentrated or containing sugar or other sweetening matters and whey powder, etc. Earlier, the government had also increased import duty on dry milk in budget 2017-18.
After the discussion, the committee recommended the government to impose maximum import duty on dry milk. While briefing the committee, the director general NIP said that the total number of interns completing their one year internship up to October, 31, 2017 is 29,164 and amount of Rs 3.57 billion were paid to them as stipends. He said that an in-house exercise was conducted by the NIP to ascertain employment status from 29,164 graduated interns. All of them were contacted through email out of which 9,057 responded and 1,666 interns got employment in various organisations, he added.
The president Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council briefed the committee about the aims and objectives of the PVMC in detail. He apprised the committee that the PVMC was established in 1999 under PVMC Act with the mandate to regulate the registration, practice and conduct of veterinarians, and to establish a uniform standard of basic and higher qualification in veterinary medicine and surgery/animal husbandry in the country.
He said that the PVMC Secretariat is located in Islamabad and the Council consists of 18 members nominated by the federal and provincial governments, Pakistan Army, regional PVMAs and accredited universities, while its president and vice president are elected by the members from amongst themselves for a period of four years.
He said that members are not the employees of the Council and they work voluntarily. He further apprised the committee about the procedure adopted for accreditation of institutions. If minimum essential requirements are verified, the institutions are awarded accreditation otherwise they are given time to meet the laid down minimum standards and these institutions are revisited after three years to ensure their standards.
The committee recommended that the PVMC executive committee members should have a minimum postgraduate degree along with 15-year experience, and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) should allocate minimum of 100 PhD scholarships to address shortage of faculty in veterinary sciences. The committee further recommended that the professional bodies, like PVMC, should be headed by professionals on the recommendations of the search committee.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan, Khalid Hussain Magsi, Saeed Ahmed Khan Manais, Sardar Muhammad Shafqat Hayat Khan, Begum Tahira Bukhari, Sabiha Nazir, Dr Mahreen Razzaque Bhutto, Siraj Muhammad Khan, Mujahid Ali, Engineer Muhammad Usman Badiani and Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, besides officers of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, president PVMC and DG NIP.